New Zealand Colonist. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1843.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 54, 3 February 1843, Page 2

New Zealand Colonist. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1843.

We have received a letter from a working man which we do not at present print, because the writer has omitted to furnish his name. The object of the letter is to complain of the refusal of Colonel Wakefield to give employment on the roads to persons who, from want of other means of employment are in a state of utter destitution. Whether the facts detailed in the particular letter we have received are true or false we do not pretend to decide; but the subject of complaint is one which, under the peculiar circumstances of the colony deserves at. least a passing comment.

It cannot, we believe, be denied that in the early days of the. colony, the New Zealand Company in order to attract labouring emigrants to the settlement did pledge itself to find employment for them at certain specified rates. How long they intended this pledge to remain binding, and whether they ever contemplated its revival after a labourer had been taken off their hands, We have no means of ascertaining. But. it, may. fairly be assumed that the labourers looked upon this as an absolute guarantee against destitution, at least so long as the management of the affairs of this settlement should remain nominally in the hands of the Company. They would regard it as a'substitute for that security against starvation iwhich in’ England isfiirnished by the poof law.'i And many, .doubtless, .were induced to emigrate to this colony under this feeling of safety who, otherwise, would have preferred

some of the established colonies, in which, they knew that the circumstances of the place afforded in themselves a guarantee for constant employment. And while the laborers looked upon this pledge as involving a safeguard against want, the emigrant capitalist regarded it as a means of preserving in the Colony all those laborers, whom they had contributed to bring out. They felt, without perhaps reasoning very deeply on the subject, that many circumstances might occur that would render it impossible, in the first instance, to find employment for all the laborers, the cost of whose emigration the land fund would defray. Without anticipating that three years would be occupied in the survey of the preliminary sections, nor that these difficulties would exist in the way of taking possession of the land allotted to them, they were aware that obstacles might arise out of the remoteness of the surveyed districts, and the want of roads, which would, for a time at least, render their land unavailable. During the period of inactivity which they thus foresaw, the promise of the Company to provide employment for the laborers, seemed to furnish a natural and appropriate source for the employment of those who must otherwise have left this Settlement for the neighbouring colonies, or for the seat of Government. Both laborers and capitalists, therefore, viewed this pledge as involving the security of the Colony in a matter of vital importance to both parties.

As we do not remember to have ever seen any authenticated statement, or, indeed, any statement, of the number of applicants for employment by the Company, or of the number employed, or of the weekly expenditure of the Company upon such employment, we have no means of judging here of the extent to which the Company has fulfilled its pledge to the laborers, or of the proportion which its expenditure for this purpose bears to the amount paid for land within this district. We are, therefore, unable to pronounce upon the justice of the complaints on the part of the laborers that in this respect the Company has violated its pledge. Nor can we judge if any number of them should carry into effect their announced intention of leaving this Colony to what extent the landowners may accuse the Company of a violation of its engagements. If it should prove to be the fact, that numbers who are destitute of employment have applied without success to the Principal Agent of the Company and if in consequence of their inability to obtain employment they should now leave the Colony, this would undoubtedly establish a strong prima facie case against the Company. It would, We are aware be only a prima facie case, but until the necessary explanations are furnished, the Company must in this most important matter lie under the imputation of ill faith.

It is quite possible that if the needful explanations are given the conduct of the New Zealand Company may appear to be quite blameless. If so, it is only to be regretted that a system of concealment should have given rise even to a temporary distrust of the motives of that body.

In last Wednesday’s Gazette we observe a letter from Dr. Wilson, of Wanganui, referring to the account of the Alfalfa which appeared in the Colonist of January 27th. If the worthy Doctor will read our description with attention, he will see, we distinctly state that the “ Alfalfa is a species of Lucernebut the leaf is smaller, and the difference in value to the farmer, between the two species, consists in the quicker growth and greater return of the Alfalfa at each cutting. And this difference, we apprehend, is well known to those who have cultivated the Alfalfa, as otherwise the seed would not be imported into Europe, where the Lucerne is extensively cultivated. Our description* of the plant referred (as we stated) exclusively to Chili, where our informant saw Alfalfa which had been but, between three and four feet long ; but where the principal requisites for success are a free light soil, plenty of moisture, anjd .a tolerably sheltered situation, we think, that the New Zealand farmer may ; reasonably expect an equal return to that ob-

tained in South America, -particularly in districts to the, North of Port Nicholson, as the English method of cultivation is niuch superior to the Spanish. We suspect that the soil at Wanganui, where Dr. Wilson has cultivated the Lucerne, must be of an inferior quality, if the average height of the plant is only eighteen inches, at least there is a small patch of Lucerne growing in the inclosure next to] Mr. Wilkinson’s Nursery Gardeu, at the back of Wellington Terrace, now ready for cutting, which is of the average height of two feet three inches. In conclusion, we may add that we are informed the roots of the Alfalfa will penetrate in favourable soils to the depth of ten and fifteen feet.