THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF OUR COLONY. AUCKLAND.
OtTE Superintendent, Mr Williamson, is a thoughtful and sagacious man. 1 was much struck with a remark he made in one of his recent •peeches. Talking of our immigration policy he said, "If you examine critically the condition of our large centres of population at home, you will find they are the abodes of suffering, misery, anguish and despair." Making allowance for a little rhetorical exaggeration, this is but too true. But does Mr Williamson mean to bring out here, to better their condition or to benefit the colony, the wretched beings who occupy the dismal abodes he des< ribes ? Another thing, if in a country such as England, covered as it is with a network of railroads, so much misery is found to exist among the industrial orders of society, are we not indulging in Utopian visions of the future when we expect that the railways we are now building in this colony are to be the mean* of securing prosperity tmd happiness to our industrial orders? VVhut is it thai creates the wide spread misery in England, winch Mr Williamson so forcibly brings before our imagination? Is it the want of railways, the want ol capital, the want of local industries or manufactures, those things on which we set our hearts m this colony so much ? No. It is the want ol something else which we but little regard. It is the want of principle ; the want of disinterestedness ; the want of justice iv the capitalists ; the want of temperance and prudence in the people. Ihe capitalist us a rule now knows no n^ercy. Tnere are of course many honorable exceptions ; but generally the capitalist has but one aim, that is to increase his capital. He 'cares not who may suffer if he only gain. Tins is notably ihe case with that class whose enormous and overgrown capital is embarke-i iv the ii vior traffic They are pre eminently the despots of the age ; and ultimately the cause of the greatei part of the misery and degradation w'lich fids the abodes of so many ot our working men at home. In every a^e and country there has been vici, crime, and misejy, arising from the abuse of capital and liquor ; but never, I believe, bucli vice, crime, and misery as now exist in Xi gland from these sources. Are we not in this newcountry preparing the way for a similar state of things by introducing the worst vices of English legislation and English manners among us? 1 fear we are. The Catholic Church, if her people were only united and loyal to their priuciples, might do something to counteract this dreadlul state of things ; something to resist or diminish that torrent of irreligion, greed, and licentiousness, which now carries down to ruin so many Catholics and Protestants alike, and which threatens to increase in its destructive, violence year by year, unless adequately resisted somehow. Ji the Cathoho Church— using that term as embracing pastors and people— did not act as the reformers of public manners and the defenders of public virtue, they would fail in their mission ; aud we know they cannot fail, but will succeed in the end though success may be long deferred. What real social or political benefit does Christendom now enjoy which did not originally emanate from the Catholic Church ? Everything connected with her is solid and stable, and profitable j what she reject* ia ephemeral, and unstable and vain. ' J. W Auckland, 6th November, 1873.
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New Zealand Tablet, Volume I, Issue 36, 3 January 1874, Page 10
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590THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF OUR COLONY. AUCKLAND. New Zealand Tablet, Volume I, Issue 36, 3 January 1874, Page 10
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