IMMIGRATION.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 19, Issue 1321, 11 May 1872, Page 2

IMMIGRATION.

(From the Thames Advertiser, April 30.) It may be that the gentlemen who are flocking to Europe fiom New Zealand as Immigration Agents may not succeed so well as some people expect, ami may not so beguile Scandinavians, Dutchmen, and Germans a* to cause them to leave their native lands in hordes. Ami we believe it will be a very good thing for the colony if they do not come nearly up to expectation*, for we honestly confess that we do not see what the colony is going to do with all the people we are endeavoring to persuade to come here. But the-.e agents, on the other hand, may be successful in causing what is exultingiy called <v a continuous stream of immigration ;" -ml if this stream once begins to flow, it will not bo easy suddenly to shut it off. If we had a boundless extent of fertile land ready for occupation, it, would still be necessary ta be cautious in sach a matter, because experience has shown us. that, to make a settlement successful, a great deal more is required than merely to put men on good land. ! Without capital they must fail, and the colony cannot afford to supply the want of that capital by keeping them in good wages for years at public works, with leisure to cultivate their farms, and near enough to them to be quite convenient. But we think a great misconception exists respecting the quantity of laud available for settlement in New Zealand. It is easy to say that the area of this colony is nearly equal to that of Great Britain, and that, therefore, there is no reason why it should not support nearly as large a population. This leaves out of sight the considerations that it is very questionable if we have anything like tl e same quantity of arable land as Great Britain, and that by far the larger part of the population of Britain is maintained by manufactures and commerce, which this colony has no chance of attaining for centuries to come, if ever; for Britain has the best markets in the world within easy reach, while New Zealand is a spot in the midst of the ocean, with no market within reach for manufactures, even if she could produce. It is easy, also, for orators to say that theie are so many millions of waste lands waiting to be settled ; but if they estimated how many of these acres are utterly useless for cultivation at present, their anticipations might be of greater service l . In the North Tsland there are about 17 millions of acres of land, and of these about 10 millions are still in the hands of the natives. We are in the habit of looking at this as our reserve fund to accommodate the immigrants of future years; but persons well informed upon the point declare that there are not more than two millions of acres of land fit for settlement still in the hnmis of the Maories. It is difficult to see how our immigrants are to be made self supporting, not to speak of making for fortunes themselves and being beneficial to the State, after the colony has paid their passage- money and the cost of their settlement. The Colonial Secretary, in the beginning of 1871, addressed "a circular to the Superintendents of the difleient provinces, asking for information as how many immigrants wei-e required,, and what land was available for set t lenient. 11 is Honor [of Auckland] replied frankly that the province had no land for the purpose; that so far as the Waikato river, the railway would pass through a settled country ; and that if continued to the Waikato frontier, h would pass through a district in which the General Government have same small portion of confiscated land. This in a truthful picture of the Waikato 3 which

was to keep the province in wealth of land for years. Nearly all the good land was required for the military settlers, large portions were given back to the friendly natives, and the remainder woiicld be joyfully handed to the King natives to morrow if they would deign to accept it and live in peace amongst us. The General Government have always refused to hand over the management of the confiscated land to the province, as that would have taken from them them the power of handing back such portions as they chose to the Maories. Ho* the province of Auckland is to be benefited by a large and sudden accession of population is therefore a dimcult, problem. North of Auckland there are about 13,000 settlciv», and the progress of that locality must be slow Several special settlements, of as good people as any in Scandinavia, have, failed there, for the simple reason that the land they were put on was too barren to gro-v anything. Mr Gisborne explains thai, the intention of the Government is that blocks of land should be set aside along the i ail way 8 fur the purpose of settlement, and says they will not pay unless that is done. Would a Government be so infatuated as to put down any human beings on the land between Riwrhead and Kaipara? The Superintendent of Taranaki also'.replies fairly to Mr Gisborne, telling him that the province has no land which it can put aside for settlement, that the confiscated land is in the hands of the General Government, anJ that in respect to it there are a number of natives having claims who will have to be settled with, and who will certainly get the best of the land. Taranaki has no hope of obtaining any benefit from the immigration scheme for years to come. Hawke's Bay, however, is much more spirited. For the benefit of the few inhabitants, eighty miles of railway are to be constructed, which, at £4,000 per mile, would make £320,000. So far as we can make out, the province, upon the showing ot its sanguine Superintendent, has 40,000 acres of land available; but of this, some portion- -it is not told how much—is said to be hilly, and to be good grazing for sheep, while another portion is said to be " well adapted for Germans, as it is suitable for vinegrowing." Tne Superintendent of Hawke's Bay states that he can accommodate 500 immigrants, to arrive before June, 1872, 100 single young women, and also pledges himself to set aside certain blocks of laud for special settlements. But the most extraordinary appetite for immigration is shown by Wellington, the Superintendent of which states the "requirements" of the province during the year are : 500 laborers, with their wives and families ; unmarried females, as many, up to 500, as can be induced to emigrate ; assisted emigrants, 400; 100 families (Scandinavian) with as many single vomen as will come out under their protection j and any number of men trained to work at woollen or other manufactures. In fact, within the 12 months, the province of Wellington must ha\e 3,000 people, and the stream must be continuous. The arrangements as to the passage money of the different classes vary, but the co-t to the colony of each adult cannot be taken at less than from £l2 to £ls. We hope that during next session some check will be put upon the immigration department of the adventure we are embarked in. As respects the North Island, at. all events, there is not actually room for the thousands whom, judging by the number of Immigration Agents sent to Europe, the Government are determined to bring out to this Colony every year.

In an article on " Locomotive Engi neering in America," written by Mr Zerali Colburn in 1852, the gauges are thus referred to :-•" Hie guage of our roads remains the «ame now as it was a dozen or fifteen years ago—four feet eight and one half inches inside the rails. Now, we have twenty or thirty trains drawn over our principal roads daily by engines from twenty to twenty-five tons in weight. These facts are sufficient to show a vast increase of business wherever railroads are extended. This constantly growing traffic must, at no distant period, demaud the adoption of a wider guage tor

our tracks. Railroad men prefer engines with inside cylinder* to those having cylinders outside. Every gine inquires apparatus for reversing and for working expansively, and no better means,*we think, have yet been found to effect these objects than the use of six eccentrics Here the insufficiency of the width of the tract becomes evident; ic is only by economising every inch of room that sufficient space can be found to arrange the work of artinside cylinder engine. It would be a matter of very great convenience were the track wider than at present, and we believe that the experience pf *• dozen years at most will determine it to be a matter of absolute necessity. The guage of Atlantic and St. Lawrence, and Androscoggin and Kennebee roads in Maine is tr:e feet six inches* inside rails, and that of the New York, and Erie railroad is six feet." Fairlie bogie engines and thirty inch guages were not dreamt of in those days.

Punch says that "a Birmingham paper announces that it has received a subscription for the Newcastle engineers from ' One who has worked twelve lours a day at a vice' This reveals a sad state of immorality. In such a ease any reduction of the hours of labor would clearly be an improvement. We respectfully draw Lord Shaftesbury's attention to this startling disclosure.

The Coromandcl Mail, in an article on the " Appointments of the pieseat Ministry," say.s : —"if we are not greatly mistaken, more Civil Service appointments have been made during the past seven or eight months than during any similar period in the his tory of the colony ; and many of them, we are afraid, merely for the purpose of serving the political ends of the Minisuy. The colony has had an accession of two Ministers since the last session of the Assembly, Mr Ormond and Mr Reeves, and each of these gentlemen ha« been allowed a 'Private Secretary,' in addition to an ' establishment' for Mr Reeves at Ghristehurch. Then we have had the army of Immigration Agents. Dr Featherston. when he reached England, took over, by order of the Ministry, the two immigration agencies then in

existence in London under Mr Morrison and Otywell. But the Government, although not satisfied with the results achieved by the then exis'ing, establishments nuder provincial control, agreed to continue their services. To make matters worsej however, and more complicated and unsatisfactory to the Agent-General, the Ministry have sent home nil kinds of broken down and out at-elbows politicians, with letters of ' recommendation,' to Dr Featherston to be employed as Immigration Agents. The list is said to comprise Messrs Bird), Seaton, Friberg, Steward, Farnall, ami lastly Mr M'Leod, who is trying to obtain an appointment to go lo Canada on behalf of 'one or more of the Provincial Governments," but the public will readily understand that this is merely a convenient arrangement whereby the member for the Bay of Islands may retain his seat. Out of the names given, four are, or were, supporters of the Ministry, and the oilier two had friends at Court. Not one lias been selected with a view to his special fitness for the duties he will have to discharge, and we trust the AgentGeneral will have sufficient firmness to send them to their homes again, before they have an opportunity ot* making the col on v ridiculous in the eyes of the people of Britain. But these are only a few of the abuse* we have to complain of and protest, against, and our space will not permit us to deal fully with them to-day. We may point out, however, that another "-eminent engineer" is on his way from England, that Mr Halcombe has found a haven of rest as Immigration Officer tor Wellington, that Mr Haughton; enjoys a comfortable sinecure, and Mr Bathgate expects a reward for turning round and voting in direct opposition to the 'ticket' on which he gained a seat in the House of Bepresentative-•. We shall say nothing of such small rewards as that given to M r Fannin at Hawke's Bay, or of Mr Vogel's expenses *,< Ambassador Exttaordinary to the Australian colonies, accompanied by his family and two. private secre*