THE AGENT-GENERAL.
To the Editor.
Sir,— ln your last night’s leader you adopted the usual “pump” in the case of L)r Featherston as. is done in similar cases where any scheme fails, and, like Mr Reeves, speak too late. Why did not Mr Reeves, in the interest of the Colony, speak out before? Friendship, I suppose, interferes with ‘national questions ; and one of this sort being the most vital (for without a thorough and efficient system of immigration, the public loans instead of being, as at present, the making cf the Colony, will end in its general bankruptcy) the (question arises—who is to blame and what ought to have been done? What do the bulk of English people know of Now Zealand? Simply nothing, beyond the circle of friends who have relatives there. And what inducements do we offer, tq immigrants I Is the price of labor sufficiently high to compensate for the higher prices of rout, &c , which, pa the whole,'.are, fplly fifty per cent, above those ruling at Home?'; is a three months’ voyage no detriment, with its dangers and inconveniences ? Look, too, at the greater inducements offered .by the States, and say is it possible for Dr Featherston to compete with them ? Why does not each Province co-operate with Dr Featherston. and form k Committee to ventilate the whole resources of this country, and give all necessary ihlormation throughout Great Britain, so that we will not hear any immigrant exclaim, as was done the other day by a Herefordshire man, “ Why, they are all white men here.” I can testify from my own experience,'having travelled through the agricultural districts of England Some twelve months ago, that the information possessed by the inhabitants there is of the moat meagre kind ; and *vhat does the Loudon Press do for us ?—just a short telegram in their columns, stating that there was a Maori difficulty, or a change of Ministry. Is this likely to do much for immigration ,to New Zealand? And if the London papers arc silent, tfie country ones, as a rule, are silent also. —1 am, &c., Historicus, Dunedin, Sept. 17.
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Evening Star, Issue 3301, 18 September 1873, Page 3
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354THE AGENT-GENERAL. Evening Star, Issue 3301, 18 September 1873, Page 3
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