The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. THURSDAY, MAY 3, 1888.

Waikato Times, Volume XXX, Issue 2467, 3 May 1888, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

THURSDAY, MAY 3, 1888.

Equal and exact justice to all men, Ot whatsoever state or persuasion, religions or political.

« [N r order to successfully build up a nation, the first essential material is population. The boast of every rich 'Hid powerful nation is the nuiltitudo of its inhabitants. One of the greatest of divine promises bestowed upon a chosen people was that they should become as the sands of the sea-shore for number. The chief bulwark of a nation lies in the extent of its population, not only for its defence in the time of external danger, but also by the aggregate pursuit of industrial arts and commerce to add to its wealth and distributable capacity to provide for the requirements of the State. No country can make any real progress without a steady increase to its population. Any country whose population becomes, or threatens to become, stationary gives cause for great anxiety to its statesmen, and drops behind more favoured nations in the great race. Especially is it absolutely necessary to a young country to make it one of the conditions of its rule of national life to gather population. The most eminent example of modern times is the United States of America. A century ago, after the Declaration of Independence, America possessed only seven millions of inhabitants, barely fringing the chief portions of a long coastline, and with an enormous continent in a state of primeval wilderness occupied by ruthless savages behind them. Had that great territory remained sparsely populated slowly adding to its numbers by a natural increase, it would have been comparatively a little more to-day than a collection of scattered colonies with the same wilderness at their back. There would not be that mighty republic with its sixty millions of active, energetic people, who have become a great power amongst the nations of the earth. There would not be magni h'cent triumphs of colonisation which have filled the wilderness with great and splendid cities, and with the roar of thousands of busy forges and factories, whose products fill every mart throughout the world. The wealthy, powerful, and ever growing United States of America would not exist had it not been for the unceasing volume of people seeking the shores of the great West from over-popu-lated and discontented Europe, who have pushed on steadily from the east of the great continent to the west, rapidly filling the entire face of the country from Lake Ontario to the Mississippi with a settled population. The elements of unbounded wealth and power possessed by the United States lie iu its phenoininal growth of population; the vast supply of consumers to make increased demands on the produce and resources of the country. If wo come nearer home we will find the same spectacle, though not on a scale of such magnitude, in the remarkable growth of Australia. Although Australia has been somewhat dillerently circumstanced to America, inasmuch as she contains a number of independent colonies animated by a certain sense of rivalry and diversity of legislation, her aggregate population has increased, more particularly within the last quarter of a century, by large accessions from the Mother Country and other lands. With her, also, population has been the primary factor in enriching her and bestowing upon her great national strength and economic expansion. Our own colony of New Zealand, up to a very recent period, exhibited a wonderful celerity iu adding to its population. But we have dealt unwisely with them when they came to us ; we have allowed the largest proportion of the people to congregate in towns, aud create a few great centres. We have not profited by the colonising lessons of other Anglo-Saxon countries tosettle the waste lands with a permanent, industrious, and contented population, and what little inducement we formerly held out to the emigrating people of the United Kingdom to come and live with us, we no longer possess or have altogether withdrawn. Our population is not increasing ; numbers of those we value are leaving us, though probably they may return. The country districts are witnessing an exodus of settlers, which is a very grave state of things. We cannot afford to allow this evil to continue. Population we must have, otherwise we can make no progress. We must renew our efforts to attract people to this country ; and, above all, the class of people we must have are those that will enter into immediate and profitable occupation of the soil, and create the sireatest source of national wealth. We need a purely agricultural population; of mechanics and artisans accustomed to urban life we have already more than enough. Population we must have in order to spread over the burden of our enormous indebtedness to more shoulders, and lighten the weight of it now so oppressively felt by the comparatively few taxpayers in the country. Large additions of new people to our population will increase the circulation of ready money, bring capital in large and small sums to bo invested in industrial pnrsuitsr.nd the dovelopementof our abundant natural resources. Population will reanimate trade in every channel and, by furnishing an increase in the number of consumers, stimulate both supply and demand. We cannot do without a steady and constant stream of desirablo immigration. The most liberal measures must bo introduced by tho Legislature to revive iuamigr tiou, aud fa doing so the greatest object to bo

attained must bo the real settlement of the rural sinrt waste lauds of the colony.