The Manawatu Times. WEDNESDAY, MAY 30, 1877,

Manawatu Times, Volume II, Issue 64, 30 May 1877, Page 2

The Manawatu Times. WEDNESDAY, MAY 30, 1877,

There can- be very little doubt that the Halcombe Immigrants, brought out under the auspices of- the Manchester Corporation ''are suffering hardships sufficient to make many of ' them regret having ever left the old country. Although the injustice which they charge against the Corporation is more apparent than real, still that body or their agents cannot be altogether exempted from blame. While the Association have been promoting -the good work of colonization their -patriotic efforts bear the unmistakable impress of subordination to private speculative interests. The Corporation purchased from the Government on very favourable terms 100,000 acres of land and undertook to import and settle 2,000 immigrants upon it. This latter was' not easy to accomplish, for immigration was not very popular at Home. The Corporation's agents, therefore, anxious to perform their part, were not 'very particular m the selection of materials whereof to make colonists, but took such as they- could get. These, as it now transpires, were not fitted for the rough work that was awaiting them. Eveiv good labourers would for a while beat a disadvantage m the pioneer work that was required to settle the Manchester Block. The difficulty, therefore, was this • The terms of contract with the Corporation set forth ■ a scale of wages that good workmen i only could earn. - And as these im- * migrants were not, m their new sphere, good workmen, yet failed to recognise the distinction,* the contract was to them as a delusion and a snare. It is quite likely, too, that the agents at Home entertained the intending pioneers^ with strongly coloured picture's of the settlers freehold home with its plenty and independence, and at the same time quite, forgot to tell them of the Weary days of labor and penury that they would have to pass through before those glowing pictures could be realised? At any rate.the' Corporation are responsible, and therefore to blame, for allowing it not for fostering false and exaggerated notions m the immigrants' mind concerning his future home. The result is now apparent. T.he immigrants have found out that they are not model immigrants, and that experiences colqnial are far from being what they ap- ■ peared m the distance as viewed i through the Corporation telescope. Acco rdingly dissatisfaction and grumbling are rife and employer and employee are placed on terms of antagonism. But if the Halcombe 'immigraiits came to these shores under a misconception, .it does not follow that they are the victims of a breach of contract. And if they are, suffering penury it does not follow that this is the fault of the Corpora-

tion. Tii is bocLv is not legally responsible for the verbal utterances of its agents at Home; it is only bound by its written agreement, and if the letter of this has m some respects been departed from, the spirit has been observed. It is now for the immigrants to consider how much of their disappointment is due to the non-realisation of expectations that the terms of their written agreement with the Corporation gave them 'no just grounds for entertaining. Further, let them consider how much the feeling of " home sickness '? which is more or less experienced by every new tends to make them dissatisfied with a position m the colonies that they would be comparatively*satisfied with m the home of their fathers.. The interests of the Eeilding and.Halcombe people are, m the main, identical with those of the Corporation. -Nothing could promote the welfare: of tne. association of speculators .so much as a prosperous condition of ijhe settler upon his land,- and. if this desirable condition is not realised to-day, the fault is due to the unfitness of the settler for the « circumstances of colonial life, to defects m the Corporation's system, and to the depressed times far more than' to any interference of the Corporation witli the settlers' rights. Were iVany one of the immigrants to test the truth of this by severing his connection with the Corporation, the chance's are greatly against -his bettering his condition! Very recently there were m this place laborers who would have been glad to be guaranteed £l per week for their work. It is riot to be supposed that tliis is anything like sufficient, nor that such a- state of things will, stretch far into the future, but it is a fact that should make the- Halcbmbe eqmplainers more tolerant of their: present hard condition. "Wjg strongly advise them not to waste any of their small means on law suits, and not, for a temporary benefit, to relinquish their right to become freeholders of the soil, but to enduire t^eir present necessities m the Hope that good things, are yet m Btore for them.