The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE Published every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday Morning. Saturday, February 11, 1890. IMMIGRATION WANTED.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume III, Issue 417, 15 February 1890, Page 2

The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE Published every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday Morning.

Saturday, February 11, 1890. IMMIGRATION WANTED.

Be just and fear not; Let all the ends thou aim’st at be thy country’s, Thy God’s, and truth’s.

Mr Stead, of Christchurch, is a man of uncommon shrewdness, and the opinions to which he gives expression are entitled to careful consideration. In a speech a short time ago he made a plea for renewed immigration, and cites America as an example by which we should be guided. Accepting his illustration and admitting, as any sensible person must, the good results that would accrue from immigration of a desirable character ; there is still a very important point to be considered. What good would a stream of immigration do us unless the people could be induced to settle down and assist in the development of the country? We do not want a roving population, to have the labor market still further swamped and competition among the wageearning classes made still keener. The example cited is an admirable one. Did America induce a population and then have nothing to offer the immigrants ? No; land was thrown open to them under the most favorable circumstances, and any man of energy could obtain a footing on the soil. How different things are in New Zealand ? Vast territories locked up, thousands of acres in the hands of a few Europeans, some of them absentees and others merely dummies controlled by the financial institutions, and Maori landlords unable to make use of the land themselves and yet not in a position to dispose of it. But the remarkable feature of Mr Stead’s speech is that while he urges the necessity for renewed immigration he quotes figures to prove the phenomenal progress of New Zealand during the last ten years; he informs us that there has been an increase in our products by nearly 63 per cent, a ratio “ probably unequalled in any other part of the globe." Has this wealth been fairly distributed ? Or has it gone into the pockets of the few ? To an employer of labor like Mr Stead increased population would mean increased labor at reduced prices, and more people in the country to consume the products ; but unless those people have an opportunity of settling on the land and themselves becoming producers, it naturally follows that they will’quit the country directly an opportunity of something better is offered them. Or, which is much worse, the flower of the population, because better able to command an independence, will drift away while many of those who could well be spared will remain. State-aided immigration always has been a failure, but if the attractiveness of the country is increased the population is certain to come. While our legislators continue to ignore the great land question this glorious country will gradually become embraced by those difficulties which has been Such a curse in other parts of the world.