It seems to be the ambition of every new country to secure immigration at all costs, regardless of the prospects that really exist there, and also of the true interests of the country. The result of this policy at its best leads only to a boom, with its inevitable reaction. The wiser plan of letting the country gradually develop itself, admitting cheerfully the adventurous spirits who are ready to come without invitation or advertisement rarely seems to commend itself to colonial politicians. Argentina at one time seemed more than likely to compete with Australia and Canada in this respect, trying to allure colonists with impossible promises of free land and gigantic crops, and only the untiring efforts of the Englishmen already established there have prevented that country realising the inevitable consequence. The present Argentine Government admit the unsuitable nature of the country for impecunious Englishmen, and confine their attentions to attracting Italians and other foreigners, for whom the climate and conditions of labour are certainly more adapted. But even these are beginning to discover that expectations and fulfilments do not always coincide. The truth is that, as is heard from all parts of the world, special knowledge or capital is indispensable in every new country, but that with these the chances of success in life are considerably greater than at home. To the Englishman, however, in the Argentine, there is the additional difficulty of the language--a difficulty which were he not an Englishman would be almost negligible, for Spanish is an easy language of which to acquire a working command.