IMMIGRATION.

Evening Star, Issue 3472, 9 April 1874, Page 3

IMMIGRATION.

To the Editor. Sir, —To take another type from my notebook, ’tis quite possible it may not be thrown entirely to the winds. This time 1 refer to the captain of a large steamer, now a memento of carelessness, scarcely visible at high water; he was a dark little man, with, pachydermatous hide, pock-marked, and long black, shaggy hair. He neither drank nor swore, but was passionately fond of three things—-humming the Doxology, smoking Virginia, and playing euchre through the big and wee hours. He had charge of a vessel loaded with hundreds of living ■ souls. . His officers were sober and careful men. The past few days had enabled many good sights to be taken, which plainly warned them of danger ahead. He was told the course ought to be altered, but he feigned to know different ; the night passed, and the short hours of the morning were broken into ; he was partaking of supper in his own cabin, to which he had invited one of the unmarried females; all at once the cry of “Land and light ahead, sir !” came almost simultaneously from the look-outs, instead of the monotonous “All’s well.” It was the chief officer’s watch; the order was at once given “ Keverse engines full speed,” but this was scarcely accomplished before the keel grazed over a sandbank ; then came that anxious and dreary time of dodging with the lead amid the mutterings of the sailors, until “No bottom” at thirty fathoms was reported. In this case the ship in which above incident occurred was not bound to New Zealand, But ia both cases the officers resolved to

sail under fresh masters next time, and the only complaint that appeared was the refusal of the surgeon to sign the captain’s certific .te. To assert that such men are types of most of our sea captains would he as unjust as it would be false. But there is no position either afloat or ashore where so much power to tyrannise is allowed as in the captain of a vessel, and were such power always used sea-life would be insufferable. But when it is abused it is seldom found fault with, owing to the onus of proof being thrown by Governments and ship-owners on the complaining party, whether mate, surgeon, apprentice, or seaman, or vice versa with the captain against mate or surgeon. These naturally hesitate, however right they may be, before they incur the expenses necessary to such prosecutions, and so the guilty escape. As I pointed out before, how very different if an immigrant brings a complaint! Our emigration officers’at Home ought to look a little more closely at the chart box of the ship, and to insist that in addition to the ordinary “Admiralty charts of all the seas the ship is to traverse,” the owners be compelled to furnish copies of ‘ New Zealand

Pilot, Harbor charts, and Sectional Charts of New Zealand Coast, and to those bound to the North Island, ‘the Chart of the Southern Coast of Tasmania.’ One misses much in New Zealand ships the valuable old custom of every Sunday morning “muster* i n g by the life boats,” and “ manning the life boats ”of the ship. Ought not this trifle to be insisted on in emigrant ships ? The majority of surgeons who come out in our emigrant ships at the present day are above the average of ordinary ship’s surgeons, owing to the fact |that a voyage to New Zealand is in great favor among young medical men at Home, as a cheap and pleasant means of recruiting their health, though few make a second voyage. But there are some sad exceptions here too, and these are mostly those of the drunken class. The Colony, indeed, has only just escaped two inebriated ones by their getting tipsy before the emigration officers had cleared the vessels at Home. A drunken captain is bad, but a drunken surgeon is worse. In the case of the former thereare mates upon whom the passengers may fall back ; but net so with the surgeon. His positions is anomalous—he is captain and yet not captain. In him sobriety in everything is essential. He is invested with grave responsibilities, and his duties demand for their conscientious performance, perseverance, patience, firmness, and forbearance, also delicate tact and discretion. He is the judge between emigrant and purser, the referee between emigrant and emigrant; and many of his duties, if honestly done, must to some be necessarily harsh, though in no one is tyranny to be more deprecated. The lives of all depend in a great measure on his truthfulness of conduct and professional skill, and to him the emigrant looks for protection, and drunkenness or misconduct in the surgeon is inexcusable.

The statement that few good medical men seldom make a second voyage is quite true • the majority have quite enough of one voyage* The insults and annoyances they have to put up with; the anomalous and awkward relations in which the present regulations place them to captains ; the precarious mode of payment adopted by the Government, by which gratuities and capitation payments are held back should an immigrant be dissatisfied ; the delay experienced in obtaining payment where there are no complaints; the reckless way in which charges of inattention are made by malicious immigrants; the careless way m which such are investigated in many courts of inquiry; the little redress surgeons have against any vindictiveness of the immigration Officer; and the little support they receive in cases where it becomes their duty to adopt harsh measures, make thoughtful men hesitate very much before they again place their honor and reputation m such fickle straitSi To mention one case which occurred within the past twelve months, a worthy medical man, married who is now practising in the North island] had a charge of inattention brought against him by an evil-disposed immigrant, and it is impossible to say what the consequences would have been had it not been for the

testimony of a former Superintendent of one of the Provinces who happened to have come in the same ship, and who had interested himself in the patients. The principle of allowing the surgeon one bottle of beer daily, and three bottles of wine weekly, without the option of wine-money instead, is highly objectionable and contrary to what obtains in the best regulated immigration schemes. The policy of announcing to the emigrants that wines, &c., are put on board for their use, at the discretion of the surgeon, is very questionable, and unnecessary if honest surgeons and captains were appointed, as it tends more than anything else to thwart the efforts of the former, and causes many bickerings of jealousy among the emigrants. ’Tis sad to relate, but nevertheless true, that often the surgeon or the purser have to see that the sick do get these extras. Cases are neither rare nor far be-

tween in wmcn a Dottle of stout, intended for the patient, has been drunk by some other person not requiring it; indeed, so strong is the love of gain that;medical comfort stout has been known to be sold by the friends of the sick to some other persons. These extras also raise, a host of simulators and malingerers, who sometimes do manage to impose on the surgeon to a great extent. Although contrary to the Passenger Act, and wrong as it may to extreme thinkers appear, it would be better for all emigrants and officers were a bar for the sale of wines spirits, beer, etc., to be opened for a certain hoar each day, under the supervision of the captain and surgeon ■ and among other restrictions these two should be adopted no one to be sold more than two glasses of wine, beer, or spirit each day ; and all that is bought must be drunk at the bar. This “what is in vogue in certain emigration ships. It certainly puts an end to that quiet snuggling that goes on in most of our emigrant ships between steward and emigrants saloon passengers and emigrants, and reduces the number of those shamming sickness and the discontents. Besides it is a strange but an effective mode of punishing the disobedient, not only among the crew, but also among the passengers. The loss of liberty

to purchase the usual draught is more feared than any amount of extra scrubbing and sweeping, or even more severe measures. Ihe system of giving captains a percentage as a perquisite on every case of wine or dozen of beer sold to passengers is a pernicions one, and some steady substitute should oake its place. The surgeon ought to have placed on board for his use to the sick at least two sheep to every hundred statute adults, so that he may be independent of T , 8 of a ni g§ ardl y captain, and be able to demand as a right a fresh chop for those who require it; indeed, fresh meat might well and serviceably be substituted for the greater part of the oatmeal grits, three-fourths of the barley, the whole of the preserved boiled mutton and beef, and half of the 4001b of loaf sugar at present included among the medical comforts. The scanty accommodation afforded to surgeons and mates, the quality of the medical comfort wines require much investigation, and the supervision of shipowners ought to be increased.—l am, &c., Observer. Dunedin, April 9.