THE HEAD-MONEY OF EMIGRATION.
IF Sir John Pakington, student in the Art of Colonization, were to ask why it is that the machinery of emigration proves so weak for the duties cast upon it, he might be told that the weakness lies partly in the sudden application of reluctant hands to new labours of willingness, partly in the insufficient number of those hands for the new conception of their duties, but most chiefly in the choice of them and in their distribution. That it is not for want of money bestowed on some part of the process, we may be sure ; but money may be ill bestowed. We do not know how far the Com- missioners are performing their promise of sending out so many thousands before the beginning of July ; but we do know that the pressure to go has not in any degree abated, and yet that emigrants still encounter delays in the official machinery. Sir John Paking- ton delights the colonists in London by the willingness which he displays ; the Commissioners, " ad exemplar regis," astonish the colonists by a newborn cordiality ; and yet the people don't go, and yet again those who patronize efforts of the labouring class to emigrate find their clients obstructed by the old difficulties.
A journey to "the cellars" in Park Street does not settle the matter ; for the candidate finds himself amid an unsorted crowd in those nether regions, waiting even there for selection. He Asks, of what use is it to dance attendance in Park Street, when he is not sure that his qualifications can be made clear to the official re- sidents of that abode ? He asks why he should have to go to Park Street at all t And, really, the patron who has sent him thither finds some difficulty in answering the question. It is a usual course after a man has been "selected"; but if he has been select- ed, why repeat the process ?
The justification must be, we suppose, that the selecting is not efficiently performed. The candidates for emigration are col- lected, but not selected, and the chaff is sent up to Park Street to be winnowed. Is that the solution ? If so, the selecting machi- nery, to which we recently adverted, has broken down to a de- gree which we did not anticipate, though it certainly does not sur- prise us. The fault, however, ought to be repaired without delay. The Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners are appointed wholly and solely to conduct the sale of Colonial lands in this country and to facilitate the conveyance of emigrants. At present we will say nothing as to the performance of their functions, on the spore of land-sales, until the suitable time shall come for reopening the dormant subject of active colonization ; only observing by the way, that intending purchasers axe not impressed with the idea that the Commissioners are zealous or confident agents for the sale of land. But in the matter of emigration they have both the sup- ply and the demand pressing upon them in the most intense degree ; so that if they suffer their machinery to miss the opportunity for displaying its usefulness, they will supersede themselves by the avowal of sheer incompetency.
We are prepared for the defensive reply, that the fault lies with the subordinate officers ; subordinate officers are so convenient to be blamed ; and in this case there really is some warrant for the passing of the charge. It may be that the emigrants are per- mitted to come to the august abode of the commissioners them- selves, because the selection exercised by the selecting officers can- not be trusted. It may be that the very principle of paying those officers head-money, in the present manner, fosters a rude and perfect selection. But if so, the plan should be corrected. It has already been corrected once. Not very long since, the selecting officers were chosen from all sorts of classes, trades, and professions; more recently, military men, officers and non-commissioned officers or corporals, have filled the recruiting staff. But even in its im- proved form the machinery is not perfect. Female emigrants do not like to traverse the barrack-yard for inspection ; and it is now conjectured that soldiers are not the best qualified to judge of men who will do for ploughing, for tending sheep, or filling the artisan occupations for which there is demand in the great Australian towns. Selection by their lights must need revision. But the superior agents don't revise.
What, then, do they do ? We cannot learn, unless it is to issue " forms " to the emigrants, that the blanks may be filled up, and to return the same to the place whence they eame. The agents do not, in fact, appear to be more, in many cases, than a kind of spe- cial postmaster and lettercarrier at the service of the Commis- sioners; but the trade must be an uncommonly good one in brisk times. We have no means of learning the sums afloat just now ; but we know what they have been, and we can imagine what they may be in presence of a roaring emigration-trade. By a return made to the House of Commons in 1849, if we remember rightly, it appeared that one fortunate gentleman, in addition to other em- ployments which he managed to carry on at the same time, as postmasters do, netted, for transmitting "application forms," in one year, a sum between 20001. and 30001. How few ordinary postmasters bag such sums as that ! The object of the machinery, however, is not to have " forms" distributed by special postmasters at a cost of two or three thou- sand pounds in a brisk season, and to have the emigrants actually selected by letter, or winnowed from the chaff by some subordinate clerks in the cellars at Westminster ; for that is a process in every way unsuitable. Paper selection is no selection at all. If those clerks are competent to their work, they should be sent to winnow the grain from the chaff on the place of its native growth. If it is necessary to have collecting-officers under them, locally acquainted with the classes that supply working emigrants, unquestionably men can be found far better fitted for such task than soldiers, far less costly than the special postmasters who revel in the favour of the Commission. The system of head-money, which most wastes the emigration-funds when most they are wanted, at once marks that branch of the present system with the badge of condemnation and indicates where funds may be found for a real working system.
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