IMMIGRATION.

Evening Star, Issue 3776, 1 April 1875, Page 2

IMMIGRATION.

To the Editor. Sm,—-Will you permit me, through the me. dium of your columns, to express my opinion of the conduct of the New Zealand Government in encouraging so many to seek a home in the "Britain of the South,” as some one has named it, whose vision undoubtedly has been bounded by the limits of his farm or the walls of his establishment. The Government have encouraged emigration, and are still encouraging it, when they are fully conscious, or ought to be, that there is not sufficient employment for those who are already here or it surely is not a sign of abundance, nor pressure of demand, when for every two weeks 1 employment a man may find he walks two or three idle. No doubt, certain dignitaries when complained to of this, will sniffingly inform you that there are pick and shovel men wanted on the roads or railway, forgetful that they too. are picking and choosing, and the skilled artisan, such as the engineer, plumber, or brass finisher, finds poor encourage* ment there.

It is a fact, and therefore cannot be controverted, that the skilled workman finds it as hard for him to engage in th« rough, main* strength employment of the navvy, as the navvy would find were he to attempt the nice and fastidious work of the artizan. Molt men can do but one thing well ; let them attempt many and they are bunglers at each. They who would transform the supple fingers of the tailor into the bony, gnarled hand of the quarryman, should try the tunnelling of Ohaiu Hill with needle points.

Agents at Home in the mother country have encouraged skilled artisans to emigrate by over-stating the rate of wages, and lying pamphlets have been published by interested^parties having the same purport. Is it an honest representation of circumstances or affairs to put down the rate of wages per day as ranging from 12s to 14s, and at the same time omitting the important fact of the inconstancy of work. The wages of many, instead of being from 12a to 14s per day are from 5s to 6s. - Another scandalous affair is the enticement held out'to those who have been industrious and provident at Home to pay their passages, that they would as a remuneration receive a “land grant.” Where is the “land grant?” It is the hope of settled colonists that this land will become great and of world wide importance. Great nations they should remember are not founded by lieing and cheating. England is not great because of quack advertisements and fraudulent bankruptcies, but because of the truth and nobleness that is and has been Inker. The workmen who have been lured to the Colony in the anticipation of more freedom and a better remuneration for their labor have been disappointed; instead of freedom they have found servility, and for remuneration they have a life, the half of which is spent in idleness. There is a great deal of church-going here in Dunedin—it would b? well if there were a little more common honesty and humanity ; for is it not cruel and inhuman to entice men out here to semi-starvation who were well at Home: to spend the little they honestly and bravely had earned, and to abandon steady employment for a life oh uncertainty and penury? Be assured you will not and cannot escape with impunity. The laws of Humanity and Nature are not suspended in New Zealand. “Whatsoever a nation sows that shall it also reap.”—l am, &0,, E.H. Dunedin, March SL