TEMPTATIONS OF EMIGRANTS.

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 682, 27 October 1852, Page 3

TEMPTATIONS OF EMIGRANTS.

[From the "Sydney Herald," Sept. 20.] Our attention has been directed for some time past to certain evils which attend the system of private emigration now so rapidly^ setting in towards these shores ; and we conceive that we shall be doing good service to intending emigrants in the various parts of the United Kingdom by bringing the subject under the notice of the authorities both here and at home. It has often been made the boast of English enterprise that the greatest undertakings have been carried into execution by the exertions of private individuals or of associations of private persons, unsupported, or, as it is termed by many, unincumbered by the help or interference of government; and the lames noiis faire of the French merchants in reply to Colbert's offers of assistance, has not less frequently been quoted as a testimony to the propriety of working by private means. There is no doubt that great undertakings, for the advantage of those who engage in them, are better conceived, more carefully combined, and more skilfully executed, by those essentially interested in their success, and able to devote to them more or less attention, to speculate more or less boldly according to the requirements of the case, than they could possibly be under the management of government officers, fettered by routine and responsibilities. An important national object, however, ought not to be degraded to the level of a commercial speculation ; and we are much afraid that Emigration to Australia, if carried on extensively under private management and without any efficient Government surveillance, will see the grand view of the question almost lost sight of, and prove, that in place of a great source of national and colonial benefit, the consideration will be reduced to the cheapest mode of collecting and conveying a certain number of men women, and children, from one part of the world to another. Now, there are three parties whoso interests must be studied in conducting Emigration under a judicious and well-arrnnged system. 1. The emigrants themselves, 2. The counr y from which they are to be removed. 3. The colony to which they are to be conveyed. These interests are identical and inseparable; but we fear that the interests of a fourth party, which are not only distinct from, but in many respects directly opposed to, the other three, are introduced into the arrangement ; and that the execution of measures deeply aifecting the welfare of the emigrants, the mother country, and the colonies are too unthinkingly confided to the prudence and the honour of speculating ship-owners and their agents. Several cases have been submitted to us, which demonstrate the necessity of Government supervision in the affairs of emigration, and the necessity also that such supervision should be carefully, minutely, unremittingly exercised ; and, j further, that the management should be constantly before the vigilant eye of the public. In the , shipping advertisements which now crowd the columns of the journals of London, Liverpool, and other chief ports of the United Kingdom, the rates of passage for intermediate and steerage passengers are fixed at what, at first sight appears to be moderate and reasonable ; but we find that various additional fees and expenses, and above all, the pernicious appurtenance of a " liquor tup" increase the cost of a passage, to a serious extent for those very classes whose condition in life, in experience, and proneness to give way to temptation, should render them peculiarly the objects of solicitude to a parental Government. In illustration to this point, we will state one out of a number of cases, which have recently brought under our notice, and which affords a striking instance of the evils of the system :—: — t A young man in Scotland, of respectable connections, bnt of humble means, was desirous to emigrate to Sydney, where he was in hopes of obtaining a situation as clerk or storekeeper. j His friends procured him letters of introduction i to several influential persons here, and, at some sacrifice, provided him with a comfortable outfit, paid £25 for an intermediate cabin passage, and moreover gave him £20 in cash ; thus giving him a Btart in life, which, with common prudence, industry, and economy, promised to be productive of the most beneficial re&ults. The Leith shipping agents positively assured his friends that not one shilling was required over and above the passage-money ; but upon getting to sea the passengers found a very different prospect before them. The mess-table was very scantily supplied but attractive billd were posted in the intermediate and steerage cabins, enumerating various tempting luxuries to be obtained at the store and liquor tap, the prices being moderate enough to secure a tolerably good amount of custom. " Ale and porter Is. a bottle, spirits 3*5,, wine ,35.," and so on with other articles of luxury. The result is told in a letter which the young man addressed soon after his arrival to one of the gentlemen to whom he had been introduced, lie says, "1 found that the representations of the Leith n^ents were not true ; that numberless articles were required for the mess, in the cost of which I vrs compelled to bear my share] and what with steward's fees, cook's fees, deck-sweeper's fees, subscriptions to present testimonials to the doctor and the three mates, I found on my arrival in in Sydney, not only that my £20 was gone, but that I was in debt to the ship nearly to the same amount, and, consequently, not in a position to bring any luggage away." We thus find a £25 passengers increased to £05 by the temptationsand impositions to which the inexperienced are exposed ; and we certainly think that some steps might be doviscd to put a stop to such a system, In a recent article in the London Morning Chronicle, in praise of the enterprise of the Crystal Palace Company, who have undertaken to preserve and utilize the edifice which the State neither cared to keep, nor knew how to use ! particular attention is drawn to the fact that the company have laid their plans with a view to attract and benefit the poorer classes ; and a hope is expressed, that the company will, in addition

to their active exertions to benefit and interest the community, adopt all those precautions which are necessary to save their object from being defeated. In explanation of the reason for expressing this hope, a case ia given which, in some respects, is analagous to that of the misguided immigrant from Leith, whose folly we have just described. It is that of a youthiul rustic from Gloucestershire, whose friends, in the hope of improving Ilia mind, sent him iip to see the Great Exhibition. Having arrived in London with a sovereign in his pocket, he started for Hyde Park but alas ! the syren temptations of the Knightsbridge public-houses prevented his course from being a direct one, and he soon found himself minus the shilling required for his entrance fee to the building. He was taken care of in this destitute condition by some friends at Chelsea, who gave him a second supply of money for the improving spectacle. But again his weakness yielded to the temptations of the road, and he actually returned to t his native without having seen any more of the Exhibition than a little bit of the outside. Hundreds of cases such as this could have been quoted during the same season ; and to guaid, as far as possible, against their recurrence at Sydenham, where the palace is to be re-erected, the company have arranged that the railway station is to be within the edifice and the weak and unwary will no longer be exposed to temptations which must soon undo the educational results effected by the wonders of the palace. And are not those shipowners who in their advertisements promise information and advice to emigrants, and profess to enable them to exercise the utmost economy in proceeding to their adopted land, bound, like the Crystal Palace Company, to act in faithful accordance with their professions, and- not to surround with tempting and debasing influences those Avhose future lives may be tinged with good or evil by the circumstances of the voyage. Their duty is a most important one ; but it is, in too many instances, entirely forgotten ; and so long as the humbler classes of passengers are enabled by the liquor tap of the emigrant ship to relieve the tedium of a long voyage, so long will the drunken and dissipated habits of new arrivals offend the citizens of Sydney, and justify those reproaches upon its once orderly streets which the lion, and learned member for Cumberland (Mr. Darvall) so strongly urged in his place in Council during the late debate upon the Gold Revenues.