Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1872. THE SCANDINAVIANS.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 19, Issue 1431, 18 September 1872, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jur are in verba magistri. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1872. THE SCANDINAVIANS.

We have never advocated the introduction of foreign immigrants into this country, and there are many obvious objections to the system. First, there is the expense of agency, &c., far more than would suffice to bring out a superior class of our own countrymen; second, the new comers being ignorant of the language of the country are placed at a great disadvantage, being in fact for a time almost helpless unless looked after by qualified officials ; and, in the third place, national jealousies are apt to arise, such as, we are sorry to say, have already made their appearance in the adjoining Province of Wellington.

Now that the first instalments of the Scandinavians have ax rived in this Province, it is matter for congratulation to find that they are of so superior a class. If it were otherwise, nothing but miserable failure could result from the experiment. The settlement of the new arrivals is now the principal business of the authorities?, and we hope no unnecessary tlelay will take place. It is not intended to settle the whole of them in the h-xsh; there are among

them artizans, such as stonemasons, tinsmiths, shoemakers, weavers, &c., whose avocations only fit them for centres of population; as well as young men accustomed to agricultural labor, but who would, for a time at any rate, be at a complete loss in the bush.

The New Zealand Herald, in a recent article, alluding to the expeeted arrivals in this Province, feared that Mr Ormond would become a kind of absolute ruler, as he would shortly have at his command " the block vote of four hundred Norwegians." We do not share our contemporary's anticipations, nor do we suppose that Mr Ormond is likely to cherish any such idea. By the time the new-comers possess the franchise there will be sufficient diversity of opinion among them to prevent any such result as this. The "block vote" of the Maori member,* of the Assembly could once be depended on, and its direction predicted; but such, as our readers well know, is the case no longer. There are few subjects on which.more nonsense has appeared in the New Zealand papers than that of the Scandinavian immigrants. We remember the paragraph in which the Wellington Independent announced the airival of the first instalment of "Teutons," now settled in Manawatu. Their foreign costume was taken to be a sign of untidy poverty; their intellectual and physical, qualities were lightly spoken of, and the working men of Wellington were assured that they had nothing to fear from any competition on the part of the new comers. Yet, so far as we can learn, the experiment at Manawatu, (omitting the question of expense) appears to have been successful. It was the Independent, if we remember right, that recently wrote on the subject of immigration from " Scandinavia, Norway, and Great Britain." But the most remarkable exhibition of ignorant and self-sufficient writing we have yet seen on the subject appeared in an anonymous letter a n eek or back, in our local evening contemporary, professing to give " some description of the Scandinavian settlement." The correspondent's acquaintance with the subject might be gathered from the outset, where we are informed that " the huts on the right belong to Scandinavians ; those on the left to Danes." We thus find, from these combined authorities, that neither the inhabitants of Norway nor Denmark are to be described as Scandinavians. Mr A. F. Halcombe having reported tha u the Danes at Manawatu are an inferior class of settlers to the Norwegians, this correspondent adds his valuable testimony, describing them as " careless, slovenly, discontented," Jec., &c. Bub the inquisitive visitor nevt goes on with great simplicity to relate his experience in one of the Scandinavian dwellings. Asking permission to enter, he was surprised at the neatness and comfort of the interior. A young woman was sweeping the room, " and a sunnier, brighter, and calmer face it would be difficult to find anywhere. * What young girl is this ?' we asked. ' She is my wife !' * Your wife ! She must be very young !'" And so on, a string of prying inquiries following, the answers to which .could never have been intended 10 be maJe public. The native politeness of the young housewife (familiarly called Phcebe by the chronicler) appears in admirable contract to the conduct of her uninvited and unwelcome guest. Upon his entrance she laid aside her broom, and seating herself, took up some needlework. Her conduct under the infliction gives a good illustration of feminine

indignation, scaroe repressed, yet not overcoming fcer politeness. " During the conversation" she was "plying her needle most vigorously. Immediately we emerged, the broom was taken up, and the matting again swept." She doe* not appear to have slammed the door, and deserves no little credit for her forbearance. No misgivings, however, seem to have crossed the mind of the intruder, whose only idea, in faot, appears to be that he was conferring a great honor by his visit of inspection. Since the publication of the Independent's paragraph, before alluded to, in which the immigrants were criticized like so many head of cattle, we have seen nothing in worse taste. Nothing is better calculated than conduct of the kind described to awaken feelings of national suspicion and jealousy; yet it is people of the stamp of the correspondent from whom we have quoted—possessing no knowledge of the subject, and as little ability to form a correct judgment—who are the first to rush into print with their views of Scandinavian immigration.