MONDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1875,

Globe, Volume IV, Issue 421, 18 October 1875, Page 2

MONDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1875,

The immigration statement made in the House on Triday evening will be read with interest, and the general favour with which it was received‘on all sides of the House must have been very gratifying to Ministers, The most remarkable feature in it is the almost total absence of abuse of the Agent-General. In fact no more complete and conyincing_rej3ix„|B m £li£ brought against him by Sir Julius Vogel could have been furnished than the statement of the Minister for Immigration itself. That Dr Teatherston should have been able to select and despatch to the colony 60,000 immigrants of the class which they are admitted on all sides of the House to be, is a most convincing proof of the ability with which his duties have been performed. Out of that very large number we find that only 489 have been committed for various crimes, and of that number nearly 300 were for merely trifling offences, such as drunkenness. As regards this latter offence, it is reasonable to expect, as the Minister for Immigration put it, that immigrants arriving after a long voyage would be inclined to indulge a little. But it would be absurd to say that an offence of this nature, committed immediately after landing, was a proof of vicious character. We may, therefore, fairly reduce the 489 commitments by one half at least, when the percentage of criminals to the entire number introduced is exceedingly small. The colony may well congratulate itself on the splendid success which has attended this department of her great policy. Thanks to the care and management of the Agent-General, over 60,000 well-con-ducted and industrious citizens have been added to our ranks.

There is another point which deserves special notice. When the scheme was first initiated several of the neighbouring colonies boldly stated that we were about to spend money in introducing settlers who would soon leave our shores, for the more attractive fields of Victoria and New South Wales. But we are glad to fiud that they were mistaken. Notwithstanding the enormous increase to our population which has been made during the last few years, wages have not fallen. On the contrary their tendency has been upwards, so much so indeed, that a stream of immigration has actually been pouring into

New Zealand from these very colonies. New Zealand is rapidly rising to the premier position in the Australian group, and nothing has done more to aid her in her rise than the narrow and protective policy which some of her neighbours, especially Victoria, is pursuing. We are glad to observe that every effort will be made on the part of the Government to settle the immigrants for the future on the land. It is of the utmost importance that they should be well scattered over the country, and prevented from congregating in towns. There is a tendency on the part of those just arrived from home to seek employment in town in preference to going into the country districts to seek for it. Exaggerated notions prevail of the hardships to be encountered, and a preference is consequently always given to employment in or near town. The arrangements which have been made in Canterbury to guard against this evil are worthy of special mention. His Honour the Superintendent, in whose hands the management of this work was chiefly placed, deserves all the praise which the Hon Major Atkinson bestowed, for the manner in which he has been performing his gratuitous labours. The plan of building depots and cottages in different parts of the province has proved a great success, and has been the means of distributing labour in those districts where it is most greatly needed. We hope to see the same plan adopted all over the colony. There are several other points raised in the statement which are worthy of notice, but we must reserve our remarks thereon for another issue.