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Public Works and Immigration Scheme.

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I propose to offer you a few observations on the Public Works and Immigration Scheme started and in part carried out by the present Government of this Colony. I have been in no hurry to offer them, for one might have expected that the late loan placed on the London market would have been a failure—a circumstance which, had it happened, would have effectually settled the question. Though the loan was by no means "a great success," yet a sufficient sum was subscribed within the limit. It seems therefore not impossible but that the Colony may be permitted—London being careless, and as long as our waste lands appear as a sort of security—to incur an utterly hopeless indebtedness. Argument and a sounder public opinion is then the only hope of safety.

The Government propose to benefit New Zealand by raising a loan of some millions, at not more than 6 per cent, to be expended chiefly on immigration, roads, and railways in the North Island, railways in the Middle Island, and on water-races for the goldfields of both islands. They say it is our duty to colonise New Zealand, and to enrich the inhabitants thereof. Without our interference the land will remain far too long a desert, and the people at present on it will be shortly ruined. They think that between the £6 paid annually on each hundred page 29 and the returns from public works, there will accrue a sum sufficient to enrich the present and immediately future population of New Zealand.

Now, at the outset, one or two things must occur to every man of the most ordinary abilities. First, that if such a plan as this will enrich a country, it must seem strange that it has not been more often put in practice. It is altogether a simple plan. It is precisely similar to that so often tried in private life, which, in nine cases out of ten, brings the trier to ruin. Further, that it is by a loan we are to attempt to get enriched, not by labour or by feeding our own labourers, but by foreign capital; not by the sweat of our own brows, but in great part at least by the sweat of other people's. One would think that in a weak and distant Colony like this, pressed hard by foreign countries in the race of production, and peculiarly liable to be shaken and shivered by the woes of life, that a rather light load of debt would suit it best. And this the more so since our public debt at this moment is greater per head, I believe, than that of any community on earth; and since at last balance i our income would not have equalled our expenditure I without additional taxation.

A third thought must have struck nearly everyone. It was necessary to prove the existence of page 30 New Zealand's poverty. This was not very clear. How such a poverty could exist, requiring foreign capital to aid and alleviate it, seemed strange. Three bushels of oats cost 6s., a fat sheep from 5s. to 10s., and a day's wage is about 6s. This compares very well with many a country, be the same old or new. I have been reading Mr. Laing's Tour in Sweden in 1838. He mentions that during a season of scarcity there it needed the labour of 11 days to exchange for a bushel of rye—an inferior grain to oats. This is an extreme case, of course, and bark bread was being used to supplement other provisions. Still the difference between one and thirty-three, though everything be considered, is enormous. Ornament and luxury may be wanting in the Colony, yet if labour is prudently directed, and its fruits as prudently husbanded, poverty is impossible. It is worth remembering too, that this scheme was never called for by the people, but forced upon them in great measure by their Government; and also that it is founded on mere conjecture. Mr Vogel's Financial Statement will be searched in vain for any reliable data on which to found his prospects.

But to return. If it can be shown that there is no existent poverty in New Zealand, then it follows that this visionary scheme, however desirable as a last resource elsewhere, is not needed here. But I may page 31 suppose that such poverty is in the Colony, and will enquire how far the scheme, with its additional millions of public debt, its railways, &c., will relieve it. It will be necessary to enquire into the cause of a country's poverty. Having discovered these, there may be a chance of finding a cure. The causes may be manifestly of two kinds, moral or material—pertaining to the people especially, or to the land itself. The chief of these will be perhaps as follow:—

1.—Immorality, sensuality, crime, mental and bodily indolence, if chargeable to anyone, will rapidly bring him to poverty. I have no wish to traduce the people of New Zealand, yet it is not to be doubted that intemperance is terribly prevalent. Statistics, daily observation, and William Fox, declare this a most drunken country. It damages potently not only our material but our moral power. In view of the latter, who can recollect without a blush the circumstance that when Dr Featherston was in England, imploring on bended knees the aid of the Queen's Government to save our fellow-colonists from massacre, the Premier of New Zealand was travelling here disclosing the truth that we spend on drink more than sufficient to extirpate the Maori, root and branch.

2.—Bad laws and government, and political institutions of low and imperfect development, are page 32 inimical to a country's welfare. I do not know that bad laws can be said to prevail in New Zealand. It may be confidently said, however, that there are by far too many laws.

3.—Ignorance of one's business is very often the cause of failure, and that in this Colony. In agriculture, to take an instance, it is above all things necessary that one knows the business, when competition comes, as it will come. Yet I think that a very high proportion of failure may be set against this cause. When oats are at 5s. a bushel, general knowledge will do; when at 1s. 6d., special knowledge is wanted.

4.—A too heavy population manifestly does not exist in New Zealand, and is no cause of common poverty.

5.—Outside or inside enemies may bring a land to ruin. The inevitable Maori now appears on the scene—the Maori whom the eloquent Charles Hursthouse predicted would become the Colony's ornament in peace, the Colony's stoutest defender in war. Yet I cannot understand how these millions will solve the Maori difficulty. I have great doubts about the roads to be constructed having such beneficial results. As long as the bush remains, rebellion will remain. Were it cleared away to a page 33 distance of 1000 yards on each side of the roads, we might hope to penetrate those fastnesses, or at least to move with some freedom. The expense of doing this would be enormous. On reflection, the causes of Maori wars seem to be mainly three—to the fact that two distinct races exist in the country; that these races do not commingle; and that the warlike strength of the one is not much greater than the other, arising from natural obstacles, chiefly bush. It is true those roads during peace may tend to promote an intercourse between the races, but this may be interrupted or totally destroyed by a hundred accidents. With enemies from the outside we have not as yet been disturbed.

6.—Extravagant and unproductive expenditure New Zealand is certainly not free from. We do not maintain fleets and armies or a very heavy priesthood, but the cost of Government is very great. There is no need for supposing, as many do, that a change is needed in its form. What is wanted is a cheaper and better administration. If bankruptcy follows a Province, the County will not escape either.

7.—Reckless borrowing, and recklessly incurring engagements, is a dangerous and poverty-bringing thing. It is manifest that if, say, a settler borrows largely, and expends the money no matter how page 34 carefully, if his produce cannot find a market he has a high chance of becoming a ruined man. I have supposed the most favourable case. A Government is seldom so good a judge of productive and unproductive expenditure, can never so carefully expend as the individual, and does not borrow (all things counted) much cheaper than he. Out of these seven evils it is absurd, I think, to look for a cure in the scheme.

8.—Coming to material causes: deficient natural resources in a country will go far to produce poverty, such deficiency being not probably absolute; yet comparative want must remain. If two countries offer pieces of land for sale which differ widely in fertility, the one will be chosen and the other left. No man will buy a blunt instrument when a sharp one can be got as cheaply and easily. I am obliged to confess that in my opinion the natural resources of New Zealand are not great. It is but a hilly, pastoral country, covered in many parts with heavy and useless timber. Nor, as many have supposed and been disappointed in, is the pasturage capable of much improvement. For instance, through the southern parts of Otago English grasses are a total failure—a failure meaning millions. Oats and potatoes are the only crops suitable there, and for these no market can be found. Will the Government page 35 scheme, with its railways, get a market for them? Will emigration agents and colony touters return us the clover and green (yea, very green) hills of Otago? To both questions we may say, No; for in many parts of New Zealand where farming is unprofitable, it is on the coast, and does not therefore require railways, much less such on borrowed money. The most sanguine cannot expect the difference in the carriage of a bushel of oats on a road and on a railway, on such, short distances as prevail in this little Colony, to be so great as to provide an outside market, and a market so remote.

9.—Physical disasters, as earthquakes, droughts or floods, may destroy much of the capital of a country. Though the climate of New Zealand is not the very best, yet it is not the worst. It has a good pastoral climate and a light winter; but its high winds are a drawback to agriculture, and in some parts its rain.

10.—A bad position on the globe, and consequent distance from wealth, population, and markets, is perhaps the greatest misfortune of New Zealand. Other natural difficulties may be gradully overcome, but this one never. Though after a sense we may be said to bridge the ocean, yet a better situated country can always say the same, and in a higher sense. Every farmer, and others rurally inclined, knows page 36 what is meant by position value. Hence it is that in lands whose civilisation dates from of yore, an acre here is worth a pound, an acre there half-a-crown. This does not arise because Mr. Vogel was but lately born. This Colony is, for this reason, obliged to pay heavy sums as passage-money for immigrants; in other words, to bribe them past the shores of the United States, whose position is superior, and saves them from this burden. And when the immigrant has been bribed and brought, and if fairly inclined to work, it is ten to one but that he finds the produce of his labour exchanging for less than he expected, and this again consequent on international competition. He must therefore be somehow bribed to remain, and the old doctrine, as dangerous as it is French and revolutionary, comes to the surface—to wit, that it is the duty of the Government to find work and wages for the people. The table is then spread for the demagogue, and found-out humbug reigns.

II.—A want of capital may hinder the development of a country's resources. Capital is that which feeds the workmen when engaged in production. If this be wanting, there can be no production. It seems to be the opinion of the Government that this is what this Colony mainly wants, and with it I cannot coincide. I venture to say that were an avenue of enterprise to open just page 37 now in the country, with but a moderately good chance of success at the end of it, neither capital nor labour will be wanting a day. Let the flax and meat-curing industries bear witness. For many years past there has been no want of money seeking investments. Gold and wool are the chief products which it will pay the people of this remote land to produce. From gold-mining the glory soon departs, and a few years suffices to stock a country whose grasses are economically unimprovable. In Dunedin at this moment there are hundreds of thousands of pounds seeking investment, and finding none. When it is said then that want of capital hinders the progress of New Zealand, all private experience contradicts the assertion: and the Government must think that though the individual is a fool, they, his representatives, are wise—a strange opinion certainly.

These are the chief causes which occur to me as likely to war with our or any country's prosperity, and I think scarcely a sane man will be found to argue that the Government scheme will remove any one of them. It is not by scheming, but by labour and abstinence, that men grow rich. Every dog has his day, and New Zealand must take time. Among a number of equally intelligent competitors for labour and capital, but having better positions than ourselves, we must wait our turn.

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But it may be asked if the scheme is not likely to cure directly these ills, will it not cure them indirectly? A weed may be hoed up or smothered down. Now, perhaps, few instruments have a wider bearing on economical and political conditions than railways, and they form part of the scheme, the chief part. It strikes me then that if it be impolitic and an economical blunder for a Government to construct railroads, it will be a waste of time enquiring whether it is worth their while to engage in any save the most ordinary colonising operations. If the railway division of the scheme fails, Mr. Vogel should have moved on immortality from some other quarter. Railways are powerful developers of certain resources.

Let us now see what railways have done in the world in this way, and are likely to do, and whether they are required by New Zealand, and this as briefly as possible.

1.—A heavy population and consequent traffic require and can support a railway; a saving of time is effected, and if the population is wealthy many will travel both on business and pleasure. There is no heavy population in New Zealand.

2.—Railways are required for minerals of certain kinds, chiefly coal and iron, when in consort with a heavy population. Gold, which is one of the most page 39 valuable metals, and which sustains a population scattered about in the most inaccessible parts of the country, manifestly needs no railway. With the exception of gold, there are no minerals found as yet that can support a railway here; and it is surely time enough to make the railway after they have been found. In a distant Colony such as this, copper and minerals of a rather precious kind only will pay to work. We need nor hope to compete in iron or coal with far more favoured lands. Great things were said the other day of the steel sand of Taranaki, which lies on the coast, things which may be received cum nota.

3.—Unless in a flat and extensive country, and having an outside market, agriculture alone—that is, without a heavy population—will not support a railway. The railroads of America—a land comparatively lightly inhabited—would not for an age have been made, had the old world not purchased the fruits they carry. Otherwise, what could have been got for them to do? The corn of one State could not differ much from that of its neighbour: and even if it did, the settler might have found it not easy to find another product with which to supplement it in its inferiority. With high farming, such as that of England, and a dense population, railways are needed. If agriculture, then, but page 40 barely supports a railroad, I need not say that depasturing stock decidedly will not. If what is asserted above is correct, New Zealand cannot claim a railway as an agricultural or pastoral country. Even were the Colony not a mass of mountains, covered with fern, bush, rocks, snow, and ice, but largely containing cultivable land, the smallness of its districts, and their comparative nearness to the coast, rivers, and firths, could not for a long time have greatly needed a railway. For American competition should not be forgotten.

4.—A railroad is useful in war. Suppose a war breaks out between two nations, the one with, the other without, railroads. It is manifest that the railways of the one, by rapidly concentrating men and material, would gain a hold on the ground of the other, and perhaps overwhelm it. An exception is to be noted where the defender is protected by nature, as by mountains. And this exception pertains certainly to New Zealand. If aid comes from hills, we shall not have far to look for either.

5.—A part of the expense of maintaining the common roads is saved by railways. This is a great point with the railway-maniacs. But I think if this saving is set against the maintaining and working the railway, and the interest on the money borrowed to page 41 make it, it will not be boasted of. Indeed, to argue thus is a palpable absurdity, unless we can show that we have something to carry more than sufficient for a road. It is true that roads do, or rather did, cost much money. They cost a great deal when a day's wage nearly equalled three-fourths of the present week's wage, and their maintenance was costly, and when the former night traffic equalled the present day traffic. Although these things hold against any general system of railways (against just the system proposed to be pursued), yet there may be found exceptional cases, where a railway, if not much required, may be useful, as where the configuration of the country concentrates on one route the traffic. Thus the produce of this district passes and ever will pass by the Taieri Plain to Dunedin and its port; and the Canterbury tunnel is not to be hastily condemned, for a like reason. In other words, a railway must pay by its work the expense of its existence and maintenance. The tolls on a road do not always do this, because the meshes of the net are are not close enough, and the benefitted get through free; with a railway you open and shut the door with a key.

6.—This railway system will tend to the stronger political unification of the Colony. Most will not deny this tendency. But before much practical good page 42 can result a connecting population is needed, as well as a connecting railway; and before the former can be settled and relied upon to remain, sundry economical conditions, not recognised by some of our political philosophers, must combine and act. "If the people will make the railway, the railway will make the people:" so said Mr. Pease, and so say some of us. They do not say at what rate of speed the making goes on. Where different railways in different parts of the world compete for this making, I suspect the rate of speed will vary, and that in a distant land, possessing wealth of low exchange value, it may be pronounced slow.

7.—It has been urged, however, that though a railway might not pay in the ordinary commercial sense of the word, yet that in very many unseen ways they enrich a community. Now, I think this a very dangerous notion, and evidently so. It would be dangerous in any community, the most educated and moral; much more so is it here with a population far from firmly settled, and who are compelled to trust their interests to a lot of bankrupts and broken-down fanatics, utterly unreliable in their judgment of right and expediency. This opinion, too, is mere conjecture, unsupported by data or figures. Has any one ever named a sum warranted to approximate that which shall accrue as profit? Much less than page 43 this indeed can be done, I suspect. Was ever the probable traffic and receipts counted on any of the proposed railways at all? In his financial statement Mr. Vogel founds his figures on such words as, "I am going to put before you a conjectural sketch—merely as conjecture, recollect;" "is it extravagant to suppose?" "is it unreasonable to suppose?" "is it unreasonable to estimate?" &c.

8.—Railways will supersede common roads, some allege. That they may, under certain conditions, as by cheap carriage, supersede roads to some extent is possible. If the Colony is unable, as is also possible, after making these railroads, to make roads or anything else, roads will be still further superseded. But many may be excused for believing that the day is still distant when the commonality will go to church and market on a railroad.

All things considered then, I defy anyone to name a civilised country where railroads are less required than here, Iceland perhaps excepted. I now hasten to conclude with a word on immigration. The plan of the Government must herein too be condemned. To colonise and people these Islands in the wholesale way proposed by them is impossible, consistent with modern notions of liberty. Such a plan would require despotic power and unbounded page 44 wealth, coupled perhaps with a subject as docile and plastic as the Hindoo. In these tines the requisites of Teutonic migration are rather numerous and interesting. If we forget these, we shall only enrich the neighbouring colonies to our cost. If by a too heavy addition to our population industry is not rewarded up to the general level, that population will emigrate till it does; the best of it (those who have laboured and; saved) will do this, and the paupers will remain.

I shall conclude with this remark: Government interference is excessive in this Colony. The bad results which follow where everything is done for a people, and not by a people, I need not particularise. It is not the duty of a Government to work, but to oversee; and it will remain a blot on our economical history that it did such and such things. The efforts of the New Zealand reformer should be directed towards defining the limits of the province of Government. Her weak and light population, and the fewness of her cities, call aloud for this. A heavy civil service is apt to be uncontrollable in such circumstances.