The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-12-19 00:00:00

Ely 3tourbribge Obstrber.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER, 19th, 1874.

THE NATIONS OF THE FUTURE.

During the past two or three years the emi-
gration movement has steadily increased in
strength. Vast numbers of our mechanics and
labourers have turned their faces towards the
setting sun and have left the land of their fathers
for ever. Gallant ships, bearing crowds of
emigrants, have made their way over the Atlan-
tic, and the settlers have taken up their homes
either in the backwoods of Cauada, or in the
busy cities of the United States. Westward the
course of civilization takes its way. Time was
when Assyria and Persia, Niueveh and Babylon,
Tyre and Sidon monopolised the commerce as
well as the empire of the known world. By
degrees the tide of prosperity ebbed away; and
even proud Carthage herself, the Queen of east-
ern cities, at length found herself doomed to
desolation. At successive stages of history it
became the duty of Greece and of Rome to give
laws to less highly-cultivated peoples, but the
banks of the Missile and the Tiber are no longer
alive with the presence of these energetic and
powerful population of olden times. The ruins
of the Parthenon at Athens, and of the Colosseum
at Rome tell of the transfer of the influence of
intellect to other lands. To-day it is the Thames
and the Seine upon whose surface are fleets of
stately ships, and these rivers now flow past
miles of houses tilled with active and busy peo-
ples. Yet there are political seers who believe
in the westward flow of civilization as in the
course of Destiny itself. They point to Canada
and the United States, and declare that the
woods and prairies of these colossal coun-
tries shall teem viith life and activity long after
the cathedral towers of Paris shall have become
a erJek, when the waters of the metropolitan ,
tivers shall WB9ll the wilderness awl the solitary
place, and when the famous New Zeal-ander
painted by Macaulay, shall have sketched the
ruins of St. Paul's from one of the broken and
deserted arches of London-bridge.
It is not, however, entirely to the west that 1
the tide of emigration sets. Australia and New
Zealand come in for a fair share of att tetion,
and the vast distance of these colonies from the
mother land at home render it nearly, if not ,
absolutely impossible, that those who go out
can hove ever to return. The water-way to be
traversed is something tremendous, and is at
least four times as long as that between Great
Britaia and America. Soule of stout old liners
were accustomed to make nothing of a voyage
of five or six months from England to Australia,
and to spend half the year upon the surface of
the sea. Therefore, when a man sets out en
such a journey, every consideration ought to be
weight ed and every calculation made which can
have any effect as the result of such a change.
Now, it is being confidently asserted that the
emige.tion nioveinent has of late been overdone.
Encouraged by the liberal terms offered by
Colonial Governments the agents in this country
have put forth unusual exertions, and the conse-
quence is a glut in nearly all the labour markets,
which even in times of the most prosperous
activity it woald be nearly impossible to absorb.
Thouaands of mechanics and labourers have beet
poured into the colonies without any idea that
the supply would exceed the demand. The
colonists are l‘egintring to cry "Hold I enough !"
The complaints of overstocking are loudest from
Australia and New Zealand, and these are made
not oely of the quantity, but of the quality of the
emigrants. While they will take as many martins
and labourers as ate can send them, they object
to our exporting them the more off-scouring of
the towns, and depositing them bodily upon the
soil of the new countries. These men are nei-
ther able nor willing to work, and they &Lim ttely
become a public burden. It would appear, how-
ever, that even were they willing to work, such
is the state of th • labour market that at present
they cannot obtain employment. According to
New Zealand advices, 20,000 emigrants have
during the last six months been landed there,
and finding it impessible to get anything to do,
have to be mnint .ined by the Government. Tills
.vould appear to show that the emigration move-
ment, so far as that particular place is concerned,
has been carried on too rapidly. Its results is
to discredit the colony in the eyes of intending
settlers. While the free and assisted emigrants
are so numerous, there is a class which should
not be overlooked in dealing with this question,
that is the small capitalist—The man who has
already had experience in buisness or farming
operations. It is only by encouraging him to
get to the colonies and invest his money that
employment can be found for those who are now
there without occupation. It can scarcely be
said that this class has received the attention
which it deserved. It possesses every induce-
ment to work and to persevere in the hope of
success, for it is likely enough that in the majority
of CAS(' the chit -it vhieh hie been invested is
all that its owner is possessed of, and that with
its failure ruin is before him.

There is every disposition on the part of the
British Government and its people to encourage
judicious and wholesome emigration. There is
no doubt that with us many trades and professions
are overstocked, and that it is necessary to re-
lieve the crowded markets of competition. Two
events within a comparatively recent date have
given a great impetus to emigration. The
paralysis of trada in MI departments of industry
which succeeded the last financial panic, threw
out of employment thousands of the artisan
class, and rendered silent many a shipyard on
the Thames and the Medway. No sooner had
the towns somewhat recovered than the agitation
amongst the agricultural populations of the
counties was the means of sending out of the
coh nies large numbers A farm labourers. Thus
the soil, as well as the spindle and the loom, has
contributed to that increase of emigration which
has so strongly been noted. We do not act like
the Chinese, and endeavour to restrict the move-
ments of our people to the limits of their native
land ; but we like to see them going forth to the
ends of the earth and by their industry and
enterprise laying the foundation of future
communities, which shall be strong and flou-
rishing when perhaps the old country may not
exhibit her present vigour. But it is obvious
that discrimination should be used in the case
of persons which make their homes in the new
land and it is hoped that in the interests of the
colonies this subject may receive that attention
which its importance merits.