29

A.—2

2. The next proposition is that " British colonisation is always a profit to the Empire," and is also too well proved by history to require demonstration. 3. The succeeding propositions, which apportion the duty among the parties concerned, and endeavour to arrive at the principles on which their action should proceed, are those which require and deserve that further study and consideration for which they were submitted, and they are circulated also in this journal in order that they may receive that sympathetic and friendly support or criticism, or both, from distant parts of the Empire, which all good Britishers, it is hoped, will bo willing to give to any proposals for the common good of our nation, and of those other friendly peoples who have joined with and settled among us to aid in the great work of civilisation. These propositions are as follows : — (a.) That the duty of the Mother-country should be to select and despatch the settlers, with the approval of the agent of the colony to which they are to be sent. (b.) That the colonies should select the land and receive the settlers, prepare their homesteads, and have the administration of the money raised. (c.) That the money required (which should include the particulars after mentioned) should be raised in the open money-market in London by the co-operation of both the Mother-country and the colony, at the lowest cost which the credit of both and the security presently mentioned can procure it, which would not exceed 3 per cent. (d.) That the money to be raised should be calculated at the rate of £300 per group or family of five settlers, out of which should be paid the expenses of their passage, the erection of their homestead (in which some of them might be themselves employed), seed and implements of husbandry or industry, domestic animals, and enough food to supplement their production during the first twelve months ; and the balance of the £300 to the colonial authorities for making roads and improvements and public markets or other buildings in the new settlement. (c.) That fifty acres, besides his homestead and garden, should be allotted to each head of family. (/.) That repayment of the £300 capital provided for him need not be required, seeing that it is invested in what to him is a permanent form, land and home, of which it is necessory he should always remain in possession and occupation without fear of having to sell it to raise the money ; and seeing also, per contra, that the capitalists who provide the money will be always satisfied if the payment of their interest is permanently secured. The settler should have a freehold grant of his land and home, subject only to the payment to the Colonial Government of a rentcharge of, say, 4 per cent, on £300, or £12 a year, or more if thought fit. No mortgage and no expense is required for this ; a simple clause of reservation in the grant would do all that is necessary. (</.) That the security to be offered to those who subscribe the money should be some permanent stock of a homogeneous character, and large enough in volume to make a good market in it, and transferable and negotiable like Consols. It might have any name. Mr. Kimber suggested " The Land Kentcharge Consols of the Colony of ." (/..) Assuming it to be raised at 3 per cent., and that the colony received 5 per cent, rent from the settlers, the colonial Government could pay the Imperial Government 4 per cent, and retain 1 per cent, for itself, while the Imperial Government would only pay the 3 per cent., and retain 1 per cent., so that each Government would be paid for its trouble and risk. The rentcharges on the land and houses would constitute the ultimate security to the two Governments, and the Colonial Government would receive them, and would, in addition, have the profit and benefit of the fresh taxpayers and workers in their country, and the application of a large and abundant capital, and could therefore safely afford to counter-guarantee the Imperial Government the 3 per cent, which it would have guaranteed the subscribers of the money. (i.) That the Colonial Government would in its arrangements with the settler reserve a lien upon all crops, stock, and utensils for at least the first five years of the settler's occupation, after which he might be considered to have made his property worth the rentcharge without any additional security. (j.) That the settler should have a very simple method of relieving himself from his rentcharge, or any part of it, if he chooses, at any time, by redeeming it in the same way that land-tax is redeemed in England, viz., by paying the Government the amount of the capital represented by it, in which case the Government will write a clean discharge upon his title-deed and cancel an equivalent amount of the stock or Consols. [Or, as an alternative, it might be arranged that the rentcharge payable by the settler should be so calculated as to include a sinking fund, so that by paying the rentcharge for a fixed number of years he should then be free of it for ever, on the same principle as is given to Irish tenant farmers buying their holdings. Thus, if they pay a rentcharge of 5 per cent, for thirty-five years, it might be allowed so to extinguish itself, or 4 per cent, for forty-nine years, and so for longer or shorter periods, according to the rate. Although the settler will thus by one means or other pay off the money advanced to him, the stock upon which the money is raised in the market should nevertheless be a permanent one in its form, because this is the most economical way of raising the money, which could be used over and over again—when paid off by one set of settlers being used for others, and so on—the rentcharges redeemed being replaced by others. The stock purchased or redeemed by the sinking fund could be made reissuable, or new issues of stock made from time to time within fixed limits, so long as the interest was covered by sufficient amount of rentcharges. The £300 per group is estimated to be sufficient to enable the payment out of it of the first year's rentcharge.] (/..) That the plan of settlement should be the planting of village communities as new centres in open country, say at first twenty families or a hundred persons in each village. They should be selected and grouped so as to comprise among their number at least one craftsman from each trade which provides the necessaries of life. Thus—carpenter, mason, builder, tailor, bootmaker, blacksmith, &c, and the rest agriculturists. Great care should be exercised in the selection ; and their being sent out, backed with capital as they would be, should be made a premium or reward for good testimonials.