DEATHS.

Evening Star, Issue 3081, 3 January 1873, Page 2

DEATHS.

CaiiiNM. On the 2nd January, suddenly, at A.rnob Hill, Walker street, Henrietta Wilson, the beloved wife of Alexander Cairns, aged 54 years. Cnmfioi.H.—At Roslyn, on the 3rd January, Mary, youngest daughter of Robert and Agnes Chisholm. M'Caktney. On the 30th December, 1872, John M‘Cartnoy, suddenly, from heart-disease, 50. Glasgow and Ayr papers please copy,

Tiff, letter wo published foom Messrs Broo hex's agent is instructive on several j First, it proves the immense demand for labor in the Province ; soeondly, the difficulty ot enforcing contracts entered info with the labor,ng classes of England ; thirdly it suggests that immigration must be looked upon as a Colonial rather than a local work ; and. fourthly, we must say it proves that i. the men who have contracted with Messrs Buogdex have shown an utter absence ot moral principle in disregarding the obligations into which they have entered, an equal moral obliquity Ims been oa nn (c 13 those who have engaged their services. "\Yc can \\ar*A\v ililll tllO COIOIUSIS are so ignorant of the nature of the agreement made by Messrs Brogden & koxs, as not to know the conditions on wnum they agreed to import laborers to construct the Railways. There has been outcry enough made by stump orators and Opposition journals condemnatory of the terms they obtained. We ourselves did not approve of one or two clauses, but we felt perfectly satisfied that no Colonial contractors would be able to carry out the works with profit to themselves and the country, on account of the inadequate supply of labor. The result proves the truth of this opinion. Had there been no provision made for bringing in hands to carry out the extra work now in progress, many forms of industry AAOiild have been brought to a stand-still, or it could not have been done. As it is. (ho rapid extension of farming, mining, building, engineering, and other cognate employments throughout the Province, readily absorbs all the assisted immigrants that the Provincial and General Governments introduce. It is, lion on or, very plain that special agreements arc not felt to bo binding by the men, who have taken advantage ot them to escape from less remunerative einplo3 r meuts at Home. Nothing can bo fairer than that laborers, who are brought from a land where to obtain a living is difficult, to one abounding in work at good wages, should repay the cost of the" passage money on such easy terms as tiny bargain with Messrs Bkogdfx provides. They are not placed at the disadvantage of seeking work : there is no loss of time ; as soon as they land, their earnings begin, and although for a short time they may be receiving less than the current wages of the day. that is more than made up'lo them by not having to run the risk of being compelled to accept an engagement which may he hut temporary, and which may involve several changes at much cost and inconvenience before they settle down to the regular employment for which they are best lilted. The ease with which the Buogdknimmigrants have thrown off their obligations, proves that any Province may very easily expend its revenues in bringing out immigrants that may find it convenient to settle down in another. Yv r e are no longer the isolated communities of a few years hack, when migration from Otago to Canterbury was almost as expensive and difficult as from England to Otago.. Just as the ninetyfour navvies, out of ninety-live brought out by the Bebiiigton, have left Messrs BiiorrDKN’semploy, might (he hundreds introduced by one Province become dwellers in (hut most remote from it; and just as it will 1)0 difficult for Messrs Erogdkx to obtain repayment of the passage-money from (hose who have shown so little regard for right and wrong, the Province advancing the money would find it impossible to enforce its claims. But we think Messrs Brogden have not been fairly treated in this matter by our Southland colonists, ft may have been very useful to them to Rave had (heimmigrants by the Behingtou to fall back upon for the supply of labor ; but as far as we can understand the agent’s letter, they have not placed themselves in Messrs Buogi>ex*s position in relation to the men. They have not gone to tin* firm and said, like honest and honorable men, “We will take this bargain off your hands in regard to A or E, and repay yon the passage money on his behalf, if you will consent to Ids making an engagement with us.” On the contrary, they seem to have had but the one selfish idea of obtaining a supply of labor, irrespective of the rights of other men ; leaving it to those who have been inconvenienced or .swindled to have all the discredit and unpopularity thrown upon them, that invariably result from being compelled to enforce their rights by legal process. Such conduct is "calculated to do vast injury to tin* character of the Province; it is aiding, abetting, and consenting to a principle of repudiation that only requires to become general to throw the whole ■fabric of society into confusion. Once let it become established, as a rule, that a man who lives by labor is at liberty to set agreements at defiance, and no one is safe in entering into contracts for Avork. If it be (rue that Mr Bkogdfx wished Mr Stafford to remain in office because lie nas squeezable enough to let him off this portion of his bargain, the reason is now plain; he felt that he had undertaken what it would be difficult to carry out. He is but an employer of labour, like farmers and others, and so far from it being their interest to treat him as one that is fair game for any one to take advantage of who Avants a Avorkman, it is (heir friterest. as it is the duty of every one. to support him in the honorable fulfilment of the contracts he has made Avith his men. We hope, for the credit of the Province, no such complaint Avill again be necessary.

consistent with a public recognition of (he claims of the Governor upon our loyally, from those ceremonious manifestations which are so apt to be overdone ; ami which must in such a ease he a burden almost too heavy to he borne by him who is subjected to it. The Governor’s chief pleasure must have been in witnessing the almost universal aspect of rising | prosperity by which he was surrounded, i We who have scon the gradual extension ! of Dunedin have not been struck with : its advancement so much as lie lias been. He saw it when the Colony was in ; a depressed condition : he has been away from us, and on this his second official visit ho can compare the present with the past. This he has evidently done, and yesterday, at the Caledonian Society’s gathering, lie brought before us in his reply to their address a contrast that we who have been engaged in building up Otago were very likely to overlook. In twelve years the population has trebled, the revenue has increased fivefold, the number of schools is six and a half times as great, and during the past two years a University has been added to our institutions, and a Graving Dock and a hailway to our industrial appliances. Yet our progress has not been an uninterrupted one. There have been chocks to it from causes that are without, but far more and greater from mistakes made by our leading politicians within the Province. There are even now many men amongst ns who view the advance we have made with apprehension. Not a shipload of immigrants reaches our shores hut they say, “ What are we to do with these .men and women?” Many times have we pointed out that there is no need for fear so long as the stream of immigration is kept up. Men and women, with their children, create a larger demand for labor than they themselves can immediately supply. One great error on the part *of the industrial classes is the idea of their prosperity being interfered with by competition with new arrivals. We trust the experience of the last four or five years will lead to sounder views on this subject. We have plenty of land unoccupied, excepting by sheep and cattle; but acres of unoccupied land give no employment. They might lie for ever producing grass for growing wool at the rale of a sheep an acre. But place on that acre a cottage inhabited by human beings, and add forty acres to it, and they will give twenty times more employment to human labor than would be contributed by the fleeces of the forty-one sheep. Sir Geobge Bowen expressed a great truth when he said;—“ln this, as in the other Provinces, a continuous stream of immigration —that life-blood of a new country —is absolutely necessary fsr the maintenance and extension of the progress already achieved.” So with our fields of minerals. We have gold in abundance, coal in abundance, minerals in ahundaneee suitable for buildings, agriculture, and manufactures; but they might lie for ever useless were it not for the application of human labor. The rapid advance of Otago is owing to (he variety of industries the Province is capable of maintaining and fostering. No community of farmers only could make much progress. There would he no stimulus to effort, no_ demand beyond a man’s own family. To render industry profitable, a ready and ever widening market is needed, and the best market is that whielp is nearest to us. The return for capital invested is more vapid and more certain — the risk is less. The influx of population is, in reality, providing the best and most easily supplied market. Instead of loading our ships with produce, and sending it away, to be oaten and drank by people at a distance from us, we bring people from a distance to cat and drink it at our very doors. Instead of their living in habitations built for them by tbeir forefathers, our artizans have to build homes i for them here. The time is very far j distant when population will be in excess |in New Zealand. The present generation | may safely bring as many as they can induce to come, with the sure and certain | conviction that a steady streaup may flow | inwards long after they arc laid in the j dust, to the great advantage of their i descendants formauy generations to come.