Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 90, 1874.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 322, 30 September 1874, Page 2

Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 90, 1874.

Of the policy now in vogue in New Zealand, immigration forms so large aod so important a part, tbat all appertaining to it, and tbe way in which it is being carried out, must prove of considerable interest to residents io tbe colony. During the late session of Parliament, several Papers bearing upon the subject were laid upon tbe table, some of which contained merely formal deßpatchee relating to details alone, while others comprised much interesting mattter, and from these we have occasionally published extract?. From the latest of these papers we propose now to give a few quotations. Mr. Adams, the Provincial Immigration Agent for Otago, addresses a despatch to the Provincial Secretary of that province which is by no means satisfactory, aB showing that tbe emigrants likely to be forwarded to New Zealand are not altogether of a desirable class. In a letter dated from Edinburgh, be complains that a great part of bis time has been occupied in rejecting those who received schedules from subagents in various parts of Great Britain, of whom he remarks that " a more unsuitable class of emigrants for a new country it is difficult to imagine, and yet these are tbe very persons who come. forward io the greatest numbers." " I am sorry to find," he goes on to say, "that a sub-agent in Ireland has turned over to the Agent- General all the rejected applicants of this office. I have written to Dr. Featherston to see it this cannot be rectified, but have got no answer. Tbe principle is bad on which sub-agents are paid ; it is a mere question of numbers with some of them, and entails a most rigid supervision." He then states that he has advertised in the principal Edinburgh papers for 500 women, but adds that domestic servants are not easily got — " they all want to be shop-girls now-a-days." Having an intimate bearing upon tbis latter paragraph, we find io tbe same paper a most interesting memorandum upon the subject of German emigration, addressed to Mr. Erull, the Consul for the German Empire in Wellington, by Mr. Neyroud, a German gentleman who had decided to emigrate to New Zealand. It is written in French, but is also published in English, and we give the translation in full, and have no doubt that it will be perused with interest by most of our readers. It is divided into two parts, under separate headings : — I. Memorandum upon German Emigration during 1870, to the United States, Brazil, and A ! geria The great bulk of German emigration has been directed towards the United States of America. __ But the great financial and commercial crisis which has come about in that comtry during the last two yearshasresulted in placing a check upon that emigration; disastrous news, which the German press takes care to circulate, has been confirmed by the disenchantment of those who have returned to their native country, as well as by the letters of those less fortunate, who, having exhausted their resources, are not able to follow them. An attempt at German colonization made l°st yew in Brazil by an attache to the Court of Don Pedro, from whom he had obtained important concessions, was still less fortunate: a frightful mortality soon decimated the 1,500 Germans who had responded to the seductive offers, and a small number have just returned to Germany perfectly destitute. We know further that the same thing happened in the case of English emigrants, who were more fortunate however in being able to be sent home again through the care of the English Consul at Rio. The emigration from Alsace-Lorraine in 1872 was directed partly to Algeria. This colony, governed by a military administration and disturbed periodically by the Arabs, did not offer either a soil or climate for a German colony. Ihe 4,000 or 6,000 Alsace-Lorraiass upon their arrival found nothing prepared, notwithstanding the announcements aod proclamations—neither dwellings nor land; so that a great number of them, giving way to discouragement, and acting upon the advi* e of inter tsttd agents, left for the shores of the Rio Parana, where, instead of the fertile country they had been promised, they found nothing but pestilential marshes. TheConsulG neral for Spain at Algiers has lately transmitted to his Government a significant and circumstantial report upon the present precarious situation and the future of tbe Algerian colonists, particularly with regard to those of German origin. n. New Zealand, from a German point of view. It appears inconceivable that, in the midst o' thesecontiouous and important emigrations, the English colonies of the southern hemisphere h.ve not attracted more attention from German colonists. New Zealand, in particular, combines all possible conditions of success: healthy climate, high wages, with the cnst of living less than in Germany itself. The principal cause of this disregard is the ignorance which exists in Germany of everything relating to the country. Even amongst the educated classes, one only hears of New

Zealand as being peopled by cannibals, and a country from which no one ever returns. Mr F. de Hochstetter, Professor of the Institute of Vienna, who in 1858 took part in the expedition of the Austrian frigate ** Novar*,' and who passed some nine months in New Zealand, published in 1861 the experiences of his travels upon the islands in a magnificent volume edit d at Stuttgart; but this scientific and costly work was not of a character to be read by the public. Beyond tbis book nothing haa appeared in Germany to "nr knpwledge respecting New Zea'and; whilst other countries interested ia emigration, like Cahi-ida, bave by a timely publicity succeeded lately in drawing to their shores apart of the German emigration. The German Government, on the other hand, not at present favorably regarding an emigration which threatens depopulation to rome districts, is very far from favoring it. But Germany possesses a very iarge element of which she cannot avail herself for defence or conquest; whilst that element is in the minority in New Zealand, to which conntry it would be of vital importance for its paeiflc conquests. I mean female population, of which, in Germany, the statistics show an excess of about 500,000 (Statistics 1870, before the FrancoPrucsian war). To an emigration of this kind the Government would certainly oppose no obstacle, since German legislators and philanthropists occupy themselves with ways and means of finding suitable occupation for women, whom they wish to place in an independent position. After the disappointments which the German emigrant has had during the past few years, he should, by means of brief pamphlets with maps, receive enlightenment as to the certain field offered in New Zealand. Those which Messrs Shaw, Saville, & Co. have published in England may a e taken as a model. The uncertainty of the future of a distant country being at the outflet^ the principal obstacle to an extensive emigration, it is expedient first to reassure the emigrating public by the medium of a Government agent, who in his turn would communicate with the pastors of the districts. Theae have freqnently to give advice to their parishioners in the difficulties attendant upon a large family, which should be a source of prosperity to them in the other hemisphere. They would perform this duty by right of their office and from philanthropic motives ; and by their means a contingent of labouring emigrants might be obtained every year for the co. ony mo-t recommended by them.