The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-10-23 00:00:00

AN EX-COLONIAL GOVERNOR ON
EMIGRATION.

Sir Charles Du Cane, K.C.M.G., late Governor of
Tasmania, in distributing the prizes at the Braxted
Agricultural Society, Essex, gave an account of the
strange sights he had seen in that Province, and men-
tioned that on one occasion a man there came 800 miles
to win a £5O prize for ploughiug. In many respects
it was a charming country, but there are two sides to
every picture, and let them remember before they
went that it was not every man who emigrated who
could win £5O prizes or become a farmer on his own
account. The fact was that in all these cases we
heard a great deal about the successful men—and
many are successful—but we heard very little about
the number who did not succeed, and who found
themselves after a hard struggle to keep body and
soul together worse off than they were here. If a
man was young, able-bodied, honest, thrifty, and in-
telligent, no doubt he had a chance of doing well for
himself, and of becoming independect. But he would
have to work quite as hard, if not harder, than he ever
did here, and he had to run the risk of his health and
strength giving way under it and failing just at the
critical moment. If he set up farming on his own
account, he would most probably have to live in a
small hut in the bush, far away from friends and
neighbours. But then it was said, "No doubt the
work is hard but it is sweetened with the bread of in-
dependence, and a man can get meat to eat every
day ; " and that again was perfectly true. He could
tell them also that the Australian colonies had
their bad as well as their good times; and when
times were bad the labour market got overstocked and
labourers were thrown out of employ just as they were
here in England. Just now in New Zealand, New
South Wales and in Tasmania able-bodied labour
of all kinds was in very great demand, and when hc
was in New Zealand a year and a half ago, a railway
contractor told him he could not get men enough to
cart ballast on his line at 88. per day. But only two
or three years before that time there were large
numbers of able-bodied men in all the Australian
colonies destitute of employment, and if anything
were to happen to send the price of wool suddenly
down to any great extent, most likely the same thing
would occur again. Now, he did not say these things
to discourage any strong able-bodied young man who
set his heart on emigration from trying his fortune at
it. On the contrary, he only wished him to know
that there was shadow to be met with in the
colonies as well as sunshine, and if when he
had balanced both sides of the account, he was
still desirous of emigrating, he should' say to him
heartily, "God speed you," and give him his best
wishes for his good fortune. Above all, he would say
that when a man is thoroughly unhappy and dis-
contented with his lot in his mother country, the best
thing he can do is to leave it. Such a man would
"leave his country for his country's good" in more
senses than one; and let us hope he would do so for
his own good also. But when a man is happy and
contented at home he should recommend him to stay
at home, and, to his mind, the same qualities which
were required to get a man on in the colonies would
in nine cases out of ten get him on equally well at
home.