Immigration

Is essentially necessary to enable the great resources of the Southland district to be fully developed; not an introduction of working men only, although a very large number of our best settlers and many of our public men originally worked for wages. A recent writer on New Zealand, referring to self-made men, says—"Perhaps Invercargill is more remarkable for this class of men than any other town in New Zealand, where three-fourths of the merchant class are self-made men. All honor to the industry and perseverance of such citizens. They have the pith and stamina of prosperous communities, and if they will continue to exert their influence in the direction they have hitherto done they will not only sustain the trade of Otago in its present prominent position, but increase it to the extent of their own requirements, a point which New Zealand has not yet reached." The real working page 10 man, whatever his occupation may be, will assuredly succeed in the end, but if any large number of immigrants were introduced a risk would arise from the possibility of flooding the labor market. A continuous stream of immigration on the nominated system, and the dissemination of information throughout the United Kingdom, especially in the agricultural counties, of the price of land in New Zealand, the facilities for reaching any part of the colony by steam or rail, the advantages offered by our system of State schools and High Schools for the education of children and youth, the average yield of crops and the average market price of grain and live stock, would tend to induce people to make this colony their home, and thus aid in developing its resources.