The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. THURSDAY JAN. 17, 1889.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 2577, 17 January 1889, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

THURSDAY JAN. 17, 1889.

Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political.

The pauperising effects of the poor laws of the colon}-, the increase in the ranks of the indigent class created by those laws, and the distress existing beneath the surface of society in New Zealand can bo gathered from a study of a return laid beforo the House of Kepresentatives lust session, showing the cost of administering the Hospitals and Charitable Institutions Act since it camo into operation. The return also shows the separate amounts received from Government, local bodies, and voluntary contributions; and also the cost pro rata of the total population. During the first period of the operation of the Act, from Ist November, 1885, to 31st March, 188(5, the total expenditure was over £30,000, equal to one shilling and three farthings per head of the population. During the following year, from Ist April 1886, to olst March, 1887 the total expenditure for all the districts was over £142,000, or equivalent to a cost per head of the population of four shillings and elevenpence three farthings. For the corresponding period, ending 31st March, 1838, the expenditure had reached the sum of £160,000, or an average cost of five shillings and sevenpence per head of the population of the colony. During that last named period the contributions from the General Government were £70,000; from local bodies, £51,000; and from voluntary donations £12,600. Compared with the English poor law expenditure there is scarcely any appreciable difference between the state of pauperism in this colony and that of the Old Country. The total cost of pauper relief in England and Wales, amounts to less than eight and a half millions per annum,'which is at the same rate to what our own expenditure in that direction has already attained. The English per centage of cost is about six shillings and threepence per head of the population, whiistin New Zealand it is, as we have seen, only eightpence less. It is not a pleasant subject to dwell upon, it forms a bitter reproach to a young country so rich in natural gifts and of such limited population, that such eleemosynary legislation should ever have been deemed necessary. But the necessity arose from the profligate career into which ths colony plunged itself without looking whither it was leaping. Unpleasant and shameful as the topic is, it is nevertheless our duty to face it and endeavour to discover some means for freeing the country from the growth of such an excrescence, such a fearful incubus on the national prosperity, as a recognised permanent order of paupers. The terrible dimensions of the evil in Great Britain, where it is felt so keenly in consequence of the great pressure of over-popu-lation and large congested cities, has awakened thoughtful anxiety in the minds of public men and prominent social reformers. It is conceded on all sides that some decisive plan of action must be entered upon, and very speedily, to solve the great soda! problem and relieve the country of the evils of extreme poverty amongst a, large section of its people. Opinions are gravitating towards but one source'for the discovery of the real remedy. That source is the soil, from which mankind derives almost the whole of its sustenance —the benign Mother of us all. Had past legislation been sufficiently far-seeing, the

national stigma of pauperism would never have been attached to the British Empire to-day. With the splendid opportunities contained in tiio world-wide and magnificent posessions of the Anglo-Saxon. nation, means could and should have bar«n devised l>y the State to remove the surplus population of its oldo and over-grown portions to parts unsettled and reijuirmg population : n chance could have? been aftbrded evfii'y unit, in the great community to find home and comfort iu new localities situ vtf-.'l within the control oi the Timigratpu carried ou( Oil an extensive and systematic scak i) V the Htate is, undoubteely the true cure. The nation, without f.eai of committing an unpardonable offence fi gainst the laws oi j old - fashioned conservatism, car well undertake to set aside f autlicicnt quota of the public

revenue to create more breathing room for its vast population by drawing off the excess of numbers. The Imperial Government can become filled with the same indomit able spirit of enterprise which has distinguished the energies of the British people, by whom all our colonies have been founded. They can annually transport thousands of the country's super-abundant inhabitants in their own ships, plant new settlements with them on the immense tracts of waste lands in different parts of the Empire, and gradually train them up to become contented, prosperous and independent communities. This is the most feasible channel for the practical solution of the greatest social difficulty which besets our race. Public opinion is converging more and more to that view. The past folly of alienating the lands o£ new colonies from the Grown has become apparent to modern statesmen as being contrary to the first principles in their foundation, which intended that the soil should be shared on equal terms by the settlers, who fled from old-time evils in their native country to begin life under happier and more just auspices in that of their adoption. In future the Crown evidently intends to retain its lands for the purpose of lontt fide settlement and industrial enterprise, and not to become a mere commercial commodity. It has been pertinently pointed out by an journal that the fabulous sum of one hundred and fifty millions of money has been expended by the British taxpayer on pauper relief in the course of fifteen years. All this great wealth has been misapplied, speaking economically, and has been entirely unproductive, altogether lost. The same amount of money in the same space of time could have been employed in pursuit of a system of State-emigration, by which no less than one hundred thousand people would have been conveyed out of the Mother Country annually, and transplanted in State-created colonies in many portions of the British dominions. Communities so established would have been ere now in an advanced stage of progress ; local industries would have couie into being, new markets for English trade and commerce would have been created, and there would have been already a return, a productive yield on the nation's outlay. Then, not amongst the least of the results that would have accrued, would be the immense relief from the pressure of population and the better opportunities for honest labour conferred on the Mother Country herself. The time is not far off when this great duty will be acknowledged and undertaken by the Imperial Government; and not only will State-colonies be established in the distant possessions of Great Britain, but also relief will be sought from the congestion of the crowded cities by creating labour, settlements, and otherwise facilitating the acquirement of small homesteads by the people, on the large areas of unoccupied lands in the three Kingdoms themselves. The same view must be accepted in this colony, and action on lines similar to that sketched above be taken by the Colonial Government. The large and increasing expenditure for charitable aid is perfectly unjustifiable in the face of the fact that the bulk of the area of the colony is yet unpeopled. There should be no such thing as pauperism in existence in so new, so promising and so generously endowed a country. To us the disgrace of having given birth to the evil is greater than what attaches to the Old Couutry ;to breed and foster it will bring a curse upon us. The money wo are now spending so wastefully on pauper aid would assist the same people to build up homes for themselnes on the land, were the utmost facilities given them to do so. There should be no excuse for " unemployed" clamours for work and pauper relief so long as we can say "The land is open to you all; go and take up your section and cultivate it. We will help you as much as we can until you feel your feet and can do without assistance." A few years of an energetic practical application of this system would eradicate every vestige of pauperism from our country.