CORRESPONDENCE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume I, Issue 11, 22 March 1851, Page 6

CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times. Sir } —I beg- you will permit me to make use of your journal for the purpose of publishing a few remarks on.the subject of the Immigration department of the Canterbury Association. An advertisement appeared for some weeks, stating that books were kept at this office in which were entered the names of those requiring labourers, and also of those seeking employment; but, up to the present time, hardly any regular applications have been made, either by employers or employed. It is because I am at a loss to account for this that I now trouble you. It may be that there is full occupation for every one in the place; and that employers are fully supplied with hands. But it may be, also, that the public are not fully aware of the arrangements which have been made in the Immigration department for their convenience. As long as the Association continues to. send out Immigrant ships, there ought to be an office in which all information may be obtained respecting the labour-market of the colony. It is the business of the Immigration Agent to be informed as to the amount and description of labour required in every district, and indeed by every individual in the settlement; so that he may at once be able to advise immigrants when they land from the ships where to apply for work. For this purpose he invites every colonist in want of a servant to address a letter to him, specifying the description of servant required, and the wages which he is willing to give. All these letters will receive immediate attention ; and if no such servant be found in the colony, the Immigration Agent will endeavour to procure one from the first ships which may arrive. At the same time, all who are in want of employment are invited to call at the office at Lyttelton, where their names may be entered in a book, with the particulars of the description of work they are willing to do, the wages they expect, and the abodes where they are to be found if wanted. By these means a complete machinery may be provided for bringing the employers into immediate relation with the labourers. I have reason to believe that at present, owing to the imperfect means which all persons have in a uew country for communicating one with the other, there are persons looking out for labourers of all kinds, and unable to iind them, whilst, at the very same moment, there are labourers who are unable to obtain employment ; and it is thought that this might be obviated, if it were generally known that such an office as that here described existed in Lyttelton. I may at the same time take this opportunity of begging the inhabitants of Lyttelton to abstain from two things. 1. From employing any person whose family is lodging in the Immigrant's barracks. If the immigrants go to work for wages whilst they are in the barracks, it is quite obvious they cannot employ themselves in putting up houses for their families. They are soon compelled to quit the barracks, to make room for the immigrants arriving by the next ship ; and thus their families are exposed to unnecessary hardships from the want of a cottage, which might easily have been built had the immigrants set about it immediately on landing. This is the reason why as soon as it is discovered that any person has taken work, be is turned out of the barracks. 2. The second thing is, that the townsfolk of * Lyttelton should not allow their clothes to be washed by persons using the washhouse in the barracks. Those persons who have the advantage of the stoves and boilers in the barracks can of course afford to undersell the washerwomen in the town who have to find their own coppers and buildings. This is unfair in itself, and is making a use of the Association's buildings for which they were never intended. The washhouse and cookhouse in the barracks were only intended for the use of those who are lodging in the barracks temporarily, during the time , they are getting up some shelter for themselves " and their families ; and if the public throw temptation in the way of the labouring families to break the regulations either by offering them work, or by employing the women to wash

their clothes in the barracks, they only risk their being immediately deprived of any farther accommodation. I have the honour,to be, Sir, your most obedient Servant, James Edward Fitzgerald, Immigration Agent, C. A.