The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 1872.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 207, 30 August 1872, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 1872.

In compliance with a promise given yesterday we now give some few particulars, consisting mainly of extracts from the letters of the Home agents, relative to the manner in which the immigration scheme is being carried out in England. To begin ! with, we will furnish the list of agents employed in the work, and the remuneration' they receive, as published in a return laid upon the table of the House. They are as fpllowß :— Mr Friberg, appointed in the colony to proceed to Scandinavia, receiving , 18s per day, travelling allowance, and 10s for every adult selected and approved,, in i addition to his passage money to London, amounting to £84 15s j Messrs Birch, Seaton, and Farnell appointed, in the colony . to proceed to the United Kingdom,, and the latter to the Continent as well, ' their passages being paid, the AgentGeneral to determine the amount of remuneration they shall receive, which is to be awarded according to services rendered. There have also been appointed in London, , the Rev. P. Barclay, for ; Scotland, at a ' salary of £250 a year and travelling expenses; Mr C. R. Carter/for the United .Kingdom generally £300; a year arid travelling iexpensea ■;■ •Messrs :W»nge W»diGo for ,', Chriß>ian)i ; ; .-a V"4rm;^ for Cppanr ■> ',; hagen ; aid' f Messrs ii ICnprri aiid ; Oof- for;

head for every statute adult selected and approved; and 120 local agents throughout the United Kingdom, to receive 10s per adult for married people and single women, and 5s per adult for single men, selected .and approved. We should be exceedingly sorry to have it believed from any remarks that we may make on this subject that we are among those who are always ready to raise an unreasonable outcry against the Government for any expenditure that they may deem it necessary to enter into — on the contrary we are rather of the opinion that having once taken a matter in hand it is by far the wiser, and eventually the cheaper, plan to carry it out properly, even though the cost may at first sight appear to be an excessive one, always provided that the money is judiciously expended — but, after a perusal of the reports furnished by the Agent-General in London, we cannot but come to the conclusion that the funds devoted to the' purpose of procuring emigrants are to a considerable extent being thrown away by the employment of thoroughly incapable agents, and by a general want of careful management on the part of the Government. In order to prove the latter charge we will quote from a letter from Mr Carter, who writes from Cornwall, whither he had gone, as appears from bis own report, on a completely futile emigrant-hunting expedition. He says :-—" There were some eligible persons who had saved a little money, who were prepared to emigrate to New Zealand; but while I asked £5 paid down, I found that there were several agents for the Province of Canterbury offering to take them, say for. £2 or £3. This placed me at a great disadvantage amongst a population to whom a very small sum of money is a great object." It is but fair to say that siuce the date of this letter, namely, Ist November, 1871, . the General Government have taken over the entire management of emigration to the colony, but the extract above quoted 'shows that for some time at least Mr Carter was receiving £300 a year and travelling expenses to work in opposition to Provincial agents. Altogetber ? Mr. Carter's trip into Cornwall proved an entire failure, as he himself tells us in the following words?— '' I advertised in five of the local newspapers for from fifty to one hundred families; I also had large posters, to the same purport, printed and distributed extensively in the outlying djs,tricts. These notices have been kept before the publjc about sjx weeks, during which time I offered to attend an,4 gjve explanations at meetings where forty or fifty persons would attend. The result was that there were a great number of inquiries and applications, but out of the whole of them there were only about twelve formal appiica/iipns, and two applicants who signed aud sent in certificates in due form." Evidently couscious of failure, and possibly a little ashemed of it, Mr. Carter endeavours to excuse the want of success attending hie mjssion by saying: — "In accounting for this paucity pf applications, it must be borne in mind that there is not that redundancy of labor in Cornwall which existed twelve months ago." The question naturally arises in. our own mind, and it appears to us a little strange that it did not suggest itself to that of Mr. Carter before starting on his fruitless expedition — Could not the fact of there not being a redundancy of labor in the county have been ascertained without an agent undertaking a special trip to make fjtie discovery? On the whole, |£r. Carter dees not appear to have been a successful agent, and, withont knowing anything of the gentleman in question, we are bound to take the plain practical view that " success is the test of merit," and, in the absence of the former feature, to doubt the existence of the' latter. There ip yet another agent of whom we have & few woriis to §ay, or rather whom we will allow to speak for himself. The Rev. P. Barclay is placed on the list of those employed in securing emigrants, and in return for the seryipes he renders he receives £250 per annum, and travelling expenses. Having been to Skye in search of persons to ship to the colony, be was, of course, in duty bound to furnish. Dr. Featherston with a report of his proceedings. We do not intend to quote from this report juss now ? hut will give a few extract* from the letter which apcompanies it, trusting that the Rev. P, Barclay will \ forgive üb, should it ever come: to his knowledge that we had taken the liberty of italicising a few of the more noteworthy expressions of which he makes use. He commences by apologising fpr not having written before, as he had .'" a great many things to attend to," and then goes on to ppy:-— "I think it better to send up Mr.; Ormond's letter. I have not much head for, business > and fearf dfifipt understand his scheme thoroughly. You are, of course, at liberty tb do what you will with my report, to print it wholly, , or part}y 7; to send it tpy^Teiv; 3^^^landjl&^f lt slibuild have, been re-ivritten, bjut, ± anj.bujsy, ' \ fraf-e been occupied with Churoh matters since

seeing you to some extent. * * * * I have been occupied trying to get some help, for the Napier people, who are to get up a Manse. As it is to be done by a bazaar in Napier, or partly done in that way, I shall be kept in Edinburgh for the next sixioeehs, corresponding, i eceiving goods, packing, Sfc'' It may be that Mr. Barclay possesses some special qualifications which entitle him to the confidence of the colony as an emigration agent, but to us it really does seem a little queer that a man should be selected for this important office who has "not much head for business," does not "thoroughly understand the scheme" he is engaged to advocate, and whose time is occupied for six weeks at a stretch in packing boxes for a church bazaar. All the circumstances considered, it is scarcely to be wondered at that Mr Gisborne was compelled to admit in the House the other day .that the immigration scheme, as attempted to bo carried out, bad not proved a complete success.