The Dunstan Times FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1873.

Dunstan Times, Issue 602, 31 October 1873, Page 2

The Dunstan Times FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1873.

Beneath the Tiule of Men kvitrelt jttst the pes is mioiitter than theawniiD.

The "Honorable Julius Vogel is perfectly uh'qnitous We no sooner find biai in n difficulty than he assumes the ninuiurement of things himself. This appears to bo the cse with the. Immigration Department. Its acknowledged or snopospd head, Mr. O’Horko, has proved himself utterly incapable to the duties of Domnrssioner of Immigration, as rea'ly to endanger the pet ideas of the Premier, who having made the Public Works scli'-me the business of his life, re10"ves his colleague from office, and takes over tin- command. Whether Mr. Vogel will he any more successful in inducing immigrants to s-eek the shores of New Zealand than Mr O’Porke we have yet to learn. Mr. A r ogeh after his usual vigorous stvle, has resorted (o the experiment of free immigration. Persons can now obtain passages for nothing, either by nomination of residents in the Colony or seh ction hv the Home Agent The move is a hold one, I.ut we are doubtful of its success. Queensland is already in the field upon precisely the same terms, while tlie inducements to settle in Victoria under ilie provi-ions ot the new Land B ll are so enticing that we fear few really desirable colo nists will look in this direction In Victoria the immigrant can now take up six hundred and torty acivs of land at one pound per acre, and make payment at the rate of two shillings per acre per annum, extending over a period often years, without interest This, in a flue climate, iich soil, and where almost all the fruits of the earth can he produced with very little trouble, with plenty ot building and fencing material available for the mere trouble of getting, is an at traction that f w can resist ; in fact, we ha\e already heard persons in this di trict express an intention to return to Victoria and take up land under the new Hill People in the Old Country will no doubt be so >n apprised—if such lias not already been done by telegraph—of (his liberal measure, and we may almost venture to ass°rt that the attraction will prove almost in-bistable. We have always argued that the hestimmigralion agent is to make a country sufficiently at tractive to immigrants that they wiM seek to come of then - o\vn accord rather than he shipped as paupers. An industrious sober man is usually of an enterprising disposition, desirous of bettering his condition, and consequently nnsetthd at the same time. Such an one will eagerly sh-ze upon the opportunity of acquiring a hom p for himself, and would prefer setting to .work to save the money to pnv his passage out than dunning at the office of a Home Agent for an assisted or free passage. Most intelligent workmen would prefer such a course, and at the present rate of wages in England, co"ld quickly save money enough t > pay his passage out to tl e Antipodes, even if he had not suffi cient already by him. These are the class of men that m ke gool colonists, and speaking from actual experience,

we can safely assei t that, with few j excej timis, one such is worth six . brought (.ut at the Government/ ex- I Dense. .•> n intelligent man offered a free passage to New Zealand would ! naturally ask what is, he to do or what are his prospects when he gets there 1 We have nothing to offer him equal to Victoria ; no induccmeut Utc to throw his strength into the 1 her market, anil become a “ h'‘\vi-r of wood and a drawer of water,” as in the Old Country. With n liberal land law, after the fashion of Victoria, New Zea'aiid might be the most prosperous of the Australasian Colonies. There is p! my ol land to throw open in blocks of, say from ait hundred and forty to live thousand acres —the former for agricultural, or pan agricultural and part pastoral, according to the choice ol the settler, and the latter for purely pastoral purpo cs With inducements such as these, we need not go to Europe lor colonists, neither be required to contriUite anything in theslnqe of passage money and we venture to assert lint, wer the experiment tried - and there is a good opportunity to make a beginning in the already unoccupied runs at Wakatip and Tuapeka, which might be easily apportioned off and the experiment tested. With a small herd of cattle and a thousand sheep, anv industrious man could make a lir-t----class living, he at no expense, while he could improve his property at the tani" time : ai d wo feel assured (hat to off.-r inducements to a chi-s of -mall pastoral Ireeholders would prove an immense attraction, and one of the best immigration agents to be found. Unless we can obtain population it is imp \ssible to predict the results of our Public Works scheme It is so exhausting the labor of the Colo y that up-country districts are !»• i-.g seiiou ly injured, aod we may very safe y predict that, unless something is done, our great staple iiulustriesgold mining and agriculture—will be I seriously interrupted.