ENGLISH MIDDLE-CLASS EMIGRATION TO NEW ZEALAND.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 109, 8 May 1879, Page 4

ENGLISH MIDDLE-CLASS EMIGRATION TO NEW ZEALAND.

The following letter has been addressed by Mr Arthur Claydeo to the "NewZ«alander":— Fir.— l came to New Zealand some four months since with the two-fold object of seeing how the agricultural laborers, whom we had been sending, out on a wholesale scale, fared in their new home, and t whfit prospect there was for Another large class of Englishmen whom tbe exigencies of existence must, eoonfr or later,. drive from their snug little island home— tbe poorer middleclass population. lam glad to eay that in each cape my investigations have| been pre-eminently satisfactory. As regnrds the laborers, the case is almost too good. All the conditions of thf>ir ; ideal pavadiee, as set forth in a popular dogge'. el : — ° E'ght hours' work, and eight hours' plav, j>ight hours' sleep and eight bob a day." are more than fulfilled. I should suppose there are no working men, on the face of the earth, who are, on the whole, better circumstanced than the workiog men in New Zealand. They are, in an emphatic sense, masters of the position, and there can be oo doubt that, aa the facts respecting tbeir welfare gst a wider publicity at Home" a considerable impetus will be given, to Working-class emigration in this direction. With respect to the great middle-; clitss population of England, there baq hitherto been much hesi'ation respectipg emigration to New Zealand. Long-f .ing eyes; have been cast on your faic isles, but a kind of moral mist bes geemed to hang over; thein, repelling further advances. I was therefore specially desirous of testing, the caee as regarded,' them,, so as to speak wiUJ tolerable certainty to. the point. The' revolt has been, as before stated, peri feotly satisfactory. lam convinced! that the small capitalist,. whether en-f gaged in agriculture or manufacture, would find here a second home, posseei ing most of the advantages of the old one, with a variety of fresh ones of a most attractive oharaeter. I need , scarcely refer to your .magnificent climate, which oi itself makes existence a delight, or thei cheapness of tbe leading articles of food, which makes it so comparatively easy. I am raore impressed with the thousand snd one openings in every direction for that skill and enter-* prise which are the characteristics oif - English middle classes. I have been spending ,a few weeks in the Nelspn district, which I: find ia, looked opon, as a sort of Nazareth by the other provin- - ces--a place from which no good thing ib the way of progress and enterprise can be expected to come. My convictions respecting its possibilities . are, however, very much the reverse of this. I see in its unique climate ad • : vantages, and in tbe varieties of its soil the future orchard of New Zealand^ Nearly all ihose fern-clad sjopes are BUBcep-ib!e : ~of- r high- cultivation, while deposits at their base are lai den with fruitgerros. j paid a visit a few , weeks ago to an o}d settler, who has pitched upon the moat, unlikely region for a profitable l investment ;of toil and energ-jr—far away ' there, some half dozen miles, beyond Wakefield. " I foun^ him in a pleasant home, surrounded .with -all kinds of profusely bearing fruit trees. A few yeara ago the, whole _ region was _a wilderness of furze and fern, now cherries by tbe hundred weight, and apples, pears, and plums in any quantity; might' be gathered. Lowing herds of fine cattle were gra. zing in luxuriant pasturages. Ricks of -wheat, oats, and barley were waiting t^e operation of an attendant threshing machine, . SbrsepjbjMhe hundred-dotted the surrounding hills, and all. around were the signs of comfort and prosperity. As I listened to the story of the whilom English tradesman's career, I felt that such possibilities of improved circumstances had /only to be known by thousands of hard-pressed traders and others in England to be eagerly embraced. . Then there are the tens of thousands of acres of rich soil on tbis N,orth Island | . what might not our practical' English agriculturists get ■from theni ? We know in part from what we see of the doings of the Scotch farmers in the far-less fayqred regions „qf the South, and, the flourishing' towns Pjf %rjOD, Bjast3jsiop, -_ai.df Wanganui reveal the rest. lam going Home to toll the story in some of our English boroughs, and I am. sanguine that it will come to many! a straggling agriculturist or trader there as. a- second gospel. As it ie the glory oftbe gospel that it proclaims "liberty to the captive," I take it that newa such as oan be truthfully told reapesting New Zealand is worthy of, and must reoeive, at least, considerable " acceptation." One -c^ord in conclusion. A gentleman who has induoed a nofnber of Irish agriculturists to settle in New Zealand, and whb iriso doing, bas, I venture to think, conferred no small benefit on the country, bints in a letter to me, at a growing disposition in eome quarters to discourage an immigration of such iliulera. The cry is "New Zealand for New Zealanders.'' I can scarcely credit so every way preposterous a potion. (( New Zealaad for New Zeaforsooth 1 Then what of the myriads ofj either wholly oQcuUivated or only half cultivated acres of jrioh land whiohope sees on every hand 5 ? The cry is absurd to last degree, , and base as, it is , No. = The 'U;qe pojicy is to. welcome with f open arms the skill and enterprise and capital of the, Qld .poetry. They exaotly wpply^New Zealand's greatest ceeds.

I have already stated in communications to tbe English Press, and I repeat »* here, that ib my judgment there is, not a brabch of industry in England wb'cb might not be carried on bere with equal facility, and under infinitely, mora advantageous circumstances. Duriop the four months I haVe been in ; New Zealand, there have not been four, days io wbich a man could not carry, on outdoor pursuits. The heat of thei day is eo tempered by tbe delicious coolness of the night, that labor need; never be suspended on its account, aod, the rainy intervals only conduce to ani occasioned relaxation of toil, — I am,; &c, * ! Arthur Clatoen. On board the Arawata, May 4, 1879, **~~~~rrnmrrr iii i—im i 1 1 m n