and fortunes doomed to destruction in a horrid war.
Those of us who look on cannot but ask why all these thousands of emigrants go there,—rushing into the most awful tragedy now enacting under Heaven, when England has literally half-a-hundred colonies, in any one of which they might fare better than in the American States at this day? The only thing that can be said is, that the people are possessed with the idea of going where their countrymen have gone hitherto, and where there is a promise of blessings, which, however, they might see cannot coexist with civil war. Thus we find that there is but a very small sprinkling of Irish among the emigrants now flocking to our Australian colonies, though the facilities for getting land are, in some of them, as great as they ever were in the United States, and though, as labourers and domestic servants, the new settlers might hold a higher and safer position than anywhere in the Republic.
I do not mean to compare the English rage for going to Queensland with the Irish rage for going to New York or Philadelphia, further than as an illustration of working on one idea. The only mischief of it is that it would, if indulged, restrict the number that could be transplanted from Lancashire, and would be an injustice to other colonies. If Queensland receives as many as can be provided for, we have ten times more to whom emigration would be a blessing, and who would be a blessing to any colony which might secure them.
The estimate on the spot is that Queensland could receive and provide for 2000 duly qualified immigrants per month, for a long time to come. These 2000 must be men, women, and children, of all ages below five-and-thirty or so; they must be able and disposed to work heartily and steadily; and this includes steadiness and temperance of character and habits. If they are good-humoured and cheerful and sensible, they may begin to prosper at once,—may have land, may grow cotton for their old comrades to work up at home, and may be better off than they ever were, or ever could have been, in Lancashire. This is one side of the case.
As for the other, Mr. John Platt of Oldham declared at a recent public meeting at Manchester that he had seen letters from Queensland, in which the writers complained sorely of their lot, and entreated their Lancashire acquaintances not to go out to meet starvation on the Australian shores, instead of in Lancashire. No doubt, most readers of this anecdote anticipated what the explanation would be. Among the large number of letters from the emigrants, a very small per centage comes from discontented writers, while the rest are satisfied and thankful. The complainants are discontented because they are unreasonable. Some had no conception what hard labour was. Some had become so accustomed to be maintained in idleness from the Relief funds that all self-dependence appeared a hardship. Some had gone out in a romantic mood and found the poetry of adventure turn to very rough prose in the experience. (This is probably the case, more or less, with all,—from the wisest to the weakest.) But the main difficulty seems to lie in the reluctance of the new-comers to leave the spot they land on. The invitation to two thousand persons per month supposes that they will spread themselves over the country, to develop its resources in every way: whereas the discontented will not be persuaded to leave the port; and, when they cannot get an engagement there, where the labour-market is overstocked by such as themselves, they write home about being starved. Such are the explanations given, in reply to Mr. Platt’s statement: and there is plenty of evidence that they are true. The returns of the rate of wages in the labour-market form a part of this evidence.
The merest glance at these lists carries one all over the colony. Bullock-drivers, stock-riders, married couples for country stations, and “families for the bush,” command very high terms. So do wheelwrights, and blacksmiths, and shepherds, and gardeners, and house-carpenters, and plasterers, and saddlers, and cooks, and general servants, and farm-labourers. All these seem to be more highly paid than townspeople, and, certainly, much more highly than they could be if the colony was not underhanded on the whole. If there is anywhere a glut of new labour, there is a dearth almost everywhere else.
All this is outside of the distinctive benefit which attracts so much attention to Queensland,—its cotton culture. There are five companies now employing a great amount of labour in the production of cotton: and “many of the recent arrivals,” says the “Queensland Guardian,” “are taking up their farms, under the land-order system, and settling down upon them, with their families, for the purpose of cultivating the cotton-plant. Others are turning their attention to sugar, tobacco,” &c. After having gone through a good deal of rough work, and discomfort, and disappointment of one sort or another, these cultivators have sent home some capital cotton. Two of the companies have sent twenty-nine bales, and promise more and more every season.
Besides these recommendations of the colonies, there is the special encouragement offered by the local government, in the form, not only of land-grants, but of free passages for emigrants; and there is the aid offered by the colonists, in the form of subscriptions for the outfit of emigrants. The Government will carry over 1000 adults, which will cost it 16,000l. in passage-money; and the colonists have subscribed largely, and have been effectually supported by subscriptions here; so that the fortunate thousand will actually go. This is a great event, though it may be despised by the visionary patriots who recommend the removal of five hundred times the number.
The colony of Victoria is less favourably regarded here for the purposes of Lancashire relief; and this is natural, after all that has happened there since the discovery of the gold-fields. But the gold mania is calming down; the government policy about the disposal of land is improved; and agriculture is advancing in honour and profit. We may be glad, therefore, to hear of free passages being provided, and more hoped for. The Government has sent 5000l., which is laid out in providing passages for married couples not over