NEW AUSTRALIA.

Wairoa Bell, Volume V, Issue 208, 28 July 1893, Page 6

NEW AUSTRALIA.

If the ‘workingman’s paradise’ has any earthly habitat, it is surely in these colonies, where, as foreign critics are always assuring us, ‘ labour is king.’ And yet the month has witnessed the beginning, of a new Exodus, a flight of workingmen as from a house of bondage—and mainly from Queensland, where the Labour party is strongest—in search of a New Australia with yet happier conditions tinder South American skies. The ‘ Mayflower ’ of these new Pilgrim Fathers is the barque ‘Royal Tar’ which has been purchased by the promoters of New Australia, and is on the point of sailing with the first batch of settlers. A large tract of territory has been secured in Central Paraguay,

n the batiks of the Tibicuarv, the modest sum 'f £220 having been paid to the Paraguay Government as deposit The settlement is remote from the sea cosat, and a South American Republic scarcely offers those conditions of social order aDd political freedom Englishmen lore. It seems indeed mere lunacy which makes the citizens of free, orderly, self -governing colonies like these of Australia, commit themselves to the tender mercies of a South American Republio in search of a liberty they say is denied to them under Australian skies. New Australia, however, represents a socialistic impulse. The leader of the movement, Mr William Lane, in an interesting interview, says, as an explanation of the enterprise, ‘We want the world at large to see riiat socialism is practical. Our gospel has been sufficiently long preached, and we arc now going to lire it.' Paraguay is chosen partly on the very ground of its remoteness. ‘ Only enthusiasts,’ Mr Lane explains, will go there. Half the world lies between the new and the old Return is difficult. Weak ones will not go ; the dangers real and apparent frighten them. Our worst enemies do us the best service by abusing us and libelling the land we are to go to. They help us to weed out the timid, and thereby strengthen our chances of success.’ The socialism of New Australia is uncompromising. ‘ The settlement will be run on a communistic basis. Each adult man and woman will have a share in the common profits irrespeotive of occupation or ability. The director and the scavenger will be treated alike as regards sharing out the wealth,’ Children are to be the common charge of the community ; the supreme governing authority is a single director elected by a two-thirdi majority. New Australia is in a sense, a satire en the supposed ‘ triumphs ’ of the Labour party in these colonies ; and there is no roason to believe it will have a brighter history than so many other socialistic settlements which have been begun with enthusiasm and have ended in general bankruptcy and strife. But the oolonies may well grudge to Paraguay the enthusiasts who are to sail in the hoyal Tar and the following ships. Mr Lane claims that 1500 settlers have already been enlisted ; the minimum capital each must subscribe is £6O ; and, with a droll descent into px-osaic details, he claims that, taking the first 1000 members, ‘ their average weight it 1561 b, and their height sft 8 j in. They are the pick of the ‘ tall, straight, Western men ’; 30 per cent, of them are sft lOin and over ’ Now Australia, that is, if it includes seine cranks and many simpletons, also includes some splendid physical material. The members represent all professions, except ‘ lawyers, auctioneers, and commission ag ents,’ who arc regarded as dangerous classes, and are sternly warned off ! Amongst the members of New Australia are a few meu of education, like Mr James Murdoch, M.A., a well-known scholar, formerly headmaster of Maryborough Grammar School, who throws up an important appointment iu Japan to join the new expedition. N'sw Australia, in fact, will carry away from these shores much capital—physical, financial, and intellectual—which cau be ill spared. Review of Reviewers.