The Globe. THURSDAY, AUGUST 13, 1874.

Globe, Volume I, Issue 63, 13 August 1874, Page 2

The Globe. THURSDAY, AUGUST 13, 1874.

In making his Immigration statement on Tuesday, in the House of Eepresentatives, the Premier alluded frequently to the Agent-General in England. He stated, what we suppose is well known to nearly all our readers, viz., that the Government and Dr JTeatherstone were not at one, but he went on to say that he was prepared to admit that Dr Featherstone had worked most zealously according to his own ideas as to selection, and that he considered the colony would be satisfied with the immigrants sent out, taking them as a body. He then went on to observe, and this is what Ave want to call our readers attention to, that while recognising the zeal of the AgentGeneral, the Government must insist that their views are carried out, though, no doubt allowances must be made for the difference between instruction* given here, and the way they are carried out 1(3,000 miles away. Some years ago, it was the constant cause of complaint made against England by the colonists of New Zealand, that the Government in England was continually interfering with the Government here, and the cry was that the people on the spot naturally knew much better than the people at home, as to what should, or should not, be done in the colony for its good, and that the English people had no right to interfere with us. In consequence of this outcry, we have since been left to govern ourselves pretty much in the way that seems good to us, and interference by the parent country has almost ceased. Now it strikes us, 1 hat we are trying to govern the AgentGeneral's office in London from Wellington, and this will assuredly turn out to be a mistake. An eminent colonist is selected to fill the responsible post we mention, and dispatched to England as a sort of plenipoteniary from the colony, and he finds on his arrival in the old country, that it is quite impossible to carry out the instructions received by him, from the Government here, in their integrity. He therefore naturally works in the way in which he thinks he can be of the most use to the colony which he represents, and does not wait to communicate with the Government 'from whom he has received his credentials. We are sure that the majority of colonists will agree with us, when we say that this is as it should be, and that the AgentGeneral appointed, must be a gentleman who can be trusted by the inhabitants of New Zealand to advance the cause of the colony in any way that may be open to him, even if his instructions on any point happen to be vague or impracticable. The AgentGeneral must have some freedom of action, and not be bound down to a certain set of rules and regulations, and this is the reason why the post should be filled by a gentleman of known abilities and honour, and not by a mere mercantile or immigration agent for the colony. In saying this, we are far from praising Dr Featherstone for the services which he has done to the country, in the way of sending out immigrants to this colony, for we most decidedly disapprove of many of his consignments, and agree with Mr Vogel when he states that " room for improvement exists in " the matter of selection," and that " more pains should be bestowed upon " the system of nominated immigra- " tion" ; but when the colony is continually crying out for more immigrants, and the Agent-General is

bound to satisfy that cry, it is not to be wondered at, that many characters find their way to these shores, who we would much rather should have remained behind. Having stated with regard to what points he was dissatisfied with the Agent-General, Mr Vogel then bore testimony to the amount of work Dr Eeatherstone got through, and more particularly referred to the able assistance be had rendered in the financial arrangements of the colony. If we change our AgentGeneral, as it appears there is some talk of doing, it is as likely as not, that, if immigration is the new officer's strong point, in distinction to the officer who now holds the appointment, he will not be as well posted in financial matters, and it is better that we should have a small percentage of indifferent immigrants landed on our shores, than that important monetary transactions should be imperfectly carried out by an inefficient officer being appointed to represent us in England.