8 THE EMIGRATION QUESTION. 



colonial life ? This class cannot possibly be all absorbed 

 into the army and navy and learned professions. What 

 is to become of all the drones, unless a bloody war breaks 

 out? And assuredly the life of a squatter or a back 

 settler is far before that of a loafer. Wages are very 

 much higher in most colonies than they are at home, 

 mechanics', artificers', and tradesmen's wages especially, 

 and the demand for such men is nearly always greater 

 than the supply ; so that the emigrant labourer or trades- 

 man runs no risk. It is otherwise, however, with the 

 penniless gentleman, who is at first unable to work with 

 his hands, and has to endure much hardship during an 

 irksome apprenticeship. In preparing young men for 

 colonial life, in addition to their other education, they 

 should each be taught thoroughly at least one trade or 

 handicraft, such as carpentering, saddlery, turning, &c. ; 

 they should be made to shear sheep with their own hands, 

 feed stock, and acquire a practical knowledge of the 

 hundred things which the squatter or backwoods farmer 

 may any day have to turn his hand to. 



I do not pretend to be competent myself to prescribe 

 an exact course of education for would-be colonists ; but I 

 desire to direct attention to the necessity of some special 

 training, in the hope that a properly qualified person may 

 be induced to take up the idea and elaborate it. Of this 

 I am sure, that a trade or handicraft should form part of 

 the curriculum of every young man destined for colonial 

 life, and I can speak strongly on this point, as I often felt 

 the want of such myself. It would possess the double ad- 

 vantage of ensuring its possessor against want, and would 

 teach him early and this is a great point how to work. 



