[27] "The Missionaries have been successful, but I think a greater effect might be given to them if their minds were relieved from those secular things which press upon them on behalf of their children. If they could devote their lives to the service of Christianity instead of trying to better the condition of their own children. At present they are cultivating their land. To use the words of the Rev. Henry Williams--They are just holding on for their children, seeing no other prospect for them than the cultivation of those lands. They cannot send them home to England, for that would be too expensive; New South Wales would not be desirable for them, and this is their only chance."--Evidence of Mr. John Flatt (formerly a catechist of the C.M.S.) before a Parliamentary Committee. CHAPTER II SEEKING A WAY The cry for better Government was thus becoming imperative, and the demand was not a new one. Both the House of Lords and the House of Commons had entered upon exhaustive enquiries into the subject. The former had reported that the responsibility of extending the colonial possessions of the Crown was one that rested solely with the Government, while the latter had declared in spirited terms that "however pressing the nation's need for a vigorous emigration policy, and whatever action the Government might take to meet that need by finding a soil to which its surplus population might retreat, the House would tolerate no scheme which implied violence or fraud in taking possession of such territory." The reference to "surplus population" in the House of Commons' report introduces a new factor into the problem. It indicates internal as well as external pressure; it tells of clamour from the teeming cities, and a rural population discontented with their lot. It suggests that the nation's mind had moved faster than the politicians, and that already many of England's artisans were seeking to escape to some new country where they might live under freer conditions. The popular theory of the political economists of those days was "over population," and the panacea for the existing national poverty was emigration. In spite of the fact that people are the most precious asset a country can ever have, both doctrines found much favour with the different sections of the community whose interest they seemed best to serve; the spirit of colonisation had got into the air, and the question of finding new fields for the energies of the "surplus" people became a practical issue which no Government could afford to ignore. The necessity for doing something appeared impossible of evasion. Poverty at home and crime unchecked abroad clamoured for redress, but just what to do, or how to do it, was not easy of decision.