Agricultural colonies; Poor -- Great Britain; Salvation Army; Unemployed -- Great Britain
and thereby drive down wages. We shall avoid that mistake. We need
not wonder that Australians and other Colonists should object to their
countries being converted into a sort of dumping ground, on which to
deposit men and women totally unsuited for the new circumstances in
which they find themselves.
Moreover, looking at it from the aspect of the class itself, would such
emigration be of any enduring value? It is not merely more favourable
circumstances that are required by these crowds, but those habits of
industry, truthfulness, and self-restraint, which will enable them to
profit by better conditions if they could only come to possess them.
According to the most reliable information there are already sadly too
many of the same classes we want to help in countries supposed to be
the paradise of the working-man.
What could be done with a people whose first enquiry on reaching
a foreign land would be for a whisky shop, and who were utterly
ignorant of those forms of labour and habits of industry absolutely
indispensable to the earning of a subsistence amid the hardships of an
Emigrant's life? Such would naturally shrink from the self-denial the
new circumstances inevitably called for, and rather than suffer the
inconveniences connected with a settler's life, would probably sink
down into helpless despair, or settle in the slums of the first city
they came to.
These difficulties, in my estimation, bar the way to the emigration on
any considerable scale of the "submerged tenth," and yet I am strongly
of opinion, with the majority of those who have thought and written on
political economy, that emigration is the only remedy for this
mighty evil. Now, the Over-Sea Colony plan, I think, meets these
difficulties: --
(1) In the preparation of the Colony for the people.
(2) In the preparation of the people for the Colony.
(3) In the arrangements that are rendered possible for the transport
of the people when prepared.
It is proposed to secure a large tract of land in some country suitable
to our purpose. We have thought of South Africa, to begin with.
We are in no way pledged to this part of the world, or to it alone.
There is nothing to prevent our establishing similar settlements in
Canada, Australia, or some other land. British Columbia has been
strongly urged upon our notice. Indeed, it is certain if this Scheme
proves the success we anticipate, the first Colony will be the
forerunner of similar communities elsewhere. Africa, however, presents
to us great advantages for the moment. There is any amount of land
suitable for our purpose which can be obtained, we think, without
difficulty. The climate is healthy. Labour is in great demand,
so that if by any means work failed on the Colony, there would be
abundant opportunities for securing good wages from the neighbouring
Companies.
SECTION 1.--THE COLONY AND THE COLONISTS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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