The Evening Star TUESDAY, JULY 9, 1872.

Evening Star, Issue 2929, 9 July 1872, Page 2

The Evening Star TUESDAY, JULY 9, 1872.

It is very plain that the Agent General has views of his own on immigration, and that those views do not coincide with onr notions in Otago. Whatever may have been the shortcomings of the Province—and we do not shut our eye« to the fact that they have been many—its agency is not chargeable with such roundabout ways of going about a very straightforward matter as have characterised the doings of Dr Featheßston. One would almost imagine the air of England was contagious, or that as soon as the Doctor left New Zealand, he contrived to forget its geography, otherwise he would never have shipped a number of immigrants for Otago on board a vessel for Napier, to pass the port of their destination, be prisoners on board a ship for some month or perhaps two, and then be brought back some three or four hundred miles to Dunedin. One almost wonders that the shipowners themselves did not give the Doctor some little sound practical advice in the matter. It is inconceivable that such an arrangement could ever have entered into the mind of a man who had the slightest notion of business ; and very clear and mercantile explanations must be given, before the General Assembly will be satisfied with the Agent-General’s system of going about his work. It is perhaps unfair too hastily to condemn him, although the complaints that come from all quarters are so loud, and apparently well sustained, that there must be something in them. It is not a mere isolated case, such as that of Jessie Campbell, that calls for remark and condemnation. There was never yet a system that did not press hardly upon individuals. But Dr Feather--STON seems to Lave a notion that all that has been done in times past is wrong. Tho machinery is wrong ; the agents arc wrong: the shippers are wrong : and he is the man to introduce a new system. Had he initiated one that manifestly commended itself as better than the old one, adverse criticism would have been silenced. But at both ends of the voyage emigrants suitable for Otago are treated in such a way as to discourage them from coming hither. They ai’e subjected to the annoyance, expense, and inconvenience of travelling from Scotland to take shipping in London ; and this under the plea of saving some ten shillings a head in the rate of passage. There is thus loss of time and cost of transit of themselves and luggage which must necessarily be very much more, individually, than three times that sum. We have already shown the folly of taking Otago emigrants to Napier instead of sending them direct to Dunedin as hitherto. It might be urged that Dr Featherston may imagine he is under no necessity to go to Scotland for emigrants, and will be able to send out

plenty of suitable men and families from the Agricultural districts of England. Even supposing so, we doubt very much whether this will be so agreeable to the settlers in Otago or so advantageous to the immigrants themselves. Men like to be witli their own countrymen ; they feel more at home : they sooner accommodate their ideas to their new position, when they find themselves among people of their own nation and kindred ; their habits of life and modes of thoughts are identical : the change is less felt, and they feel more certain of sympathy and of that help which every immigrant needs. Were there no other grounds for discontent, therefore, assuming the Doctor’s idea is that our immigrants are henceforth to be drawn from the agricultural districts of England, Otago would have a right to complain that the wishes of its inhabitants were altogether ignored. We have no hesitation in avowing that we consider, under proper arrangements, immigration is a Colonial rather than a Provincial duty ] but it does not follow as a consequence that the Provinces are not to be considered. So far from this, a judicious man would have made the requirements of each province a speciality. It is not merely men and women who are wanted : it is suitable men and women : men and women who can not only make themselves useful, but who arc able to make themselves rich and happy. Dr. Featherston found an agency in existence that had worked well for Otago: an agency on which we had been accustomed to rely: an agency with the experience of twenty years. One would have thought that he would have been only too glad to avail himself of the help that such u ready-made instrument could have given. But instead of this, we find him preparing to mark out a course

for himself. It is quite possible that the old system, well as it has worked, might be improved ; but there appears to be no attempt at this. We could have understood tiie Doctor taking a decided stand had there been a refusal to co-operate by the established agencies, But we hear nothing of this kind. His sole object seems to have been to get rid of them. He has the reputation of being a good businessman : but if so, he must have known that he had all to learn, while the experienced men whom ho has thrust aside knew well what they had to do and how to do it. His first essays have been just as clumsy as one might expect those of a greenhorn to be ; and we doubt much whether either the Government or the Colony will be content to pay the cost of the apprenticeship the Doctor must serve before he becomes efficient.