OUR COLONISING SCHEME.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 51, 13 January 1872, Page 15

OUR COLONISING SCHEME.

[lndependent.] By the last mail from England despatches have been received from the Agent-General which describe the steps he has taken to secure emigrants. The public have been prepared by former announcements to learn that at present the prospects of obtaining any large body of immigrants from England are not very encouraging, but they will probably be surprised to learn that the difficulty has arisen to a considerable extent out of the conflicting competition of the provincial agents at home. At the time Dr Fsatherstone wrote the news had not reached England that by the legislation of last session the management of immigration had been placed entirely in the hands of the General Government. Whilst conducted under provincial auspices the very evil which was so forcibly pointed out by Mr Fitzherbert had assumed a serious form —the agents of the various provinces engaged in the work of obtaining emigrants touting for their particular province in a manner that had the effect of neutralising their efforts. It has been no uncommon occurrence for two agents, each representing a separate province, to visit districts together, each praising the superior attractions" of his own portion of the colony and detracting from those of his opponent's province. Each offered different terms both as to passage money and assistance, and each had to preach a different land law. This disconnected and conflicting system led to nothing but miserable driblets of emigrants to Canterbury and other places. An instance of this is mentioned by the Agent General. Hearing that in Cornwall there was a strong desire on the part of numbers of the inhabitants to immigrate, and that many were emigrating to America and Canada, he employed Mr C.R. Carter (late M.H.R. for Wairarapa) to proceed to that county and endeavor to impress upon the people the advantages of New Zealand, and the benefits of the General Government scheme of immigration. But he was immediately placed in competition with the Canterbury agent, who, under the old provincial arrangements, was offering somewhat better terms than those Mr Carter was authorised to offer. Naturally the people lost confidence; they saw the agents competing for ostensibly the same purpose, and they naturally were led to think that possibly some one else would follow with a higher bid for their presence in the colony. Neither agent did any good, and Mr Carter had to report to that effect. In Scotland the same complication occurred. Dr Featherston had to send for Mr Auld, the Otago agent, in order to come to some definite concerted plan by which the evil results of conflicting action could be avoided. He had also employed two clergymen—the Revs. P. Barclay and David Bruce to push the emigration to New Zealand in Scotland. Dr Featherston proceeded himself to Aberdeen, and there placed himself in communication with acommittee,formed by the residents for promoting emigration, but he found that all the single women they proposed to send out were inmates of, or recently discharged from reformatories, and that the committee expected the colony to accept boys from the Industrial Schools, but who had as yet learnt no trade. As these classes of emigrants were not such as New Zealand desires, it is needless to say that ,{ no business was done." The Agent-General had with his wonted sagacity anticipated that the Government would find out the necessity of conducting immigration on one system, and had already commenced to ignore the provincial schemes, and elaborate a system similar to that adopted by him in regard to emigration from Scandinavia. In North Europe Dr Featherston has been very successful, and he only regrets that he had not proceeded thither earlier in the year, as the season bad closed when he wrote. He has made arrangements for the shipment at regular intervals of six thousand carefully assorted emigrants from Scandinavia and North Germany. A highly respectable firm at Hamburg had entered into a contract for the shipment of the emigrants at prices much below the rate charged from England. The emigrants will consist of as many single

domestic womeA as can be secured, not more than two hundred single men, and the remainder young married couples with from one to three children each, all to be selected from the rural districts. At Christiana arrangements were made for three thousand Danes, and a similar arrangement was about being completed at Gothenburg. The passage money to be paid by the Go vernment is ten pounds for each male adult, and fourteen pounds for. each single woman the object of this plan instead of a uniform rate of £l2 all round is to induce the agent to procure as many single w imen as possible. The ship England was to sail on the 4th December for "Wellington with one hundred Scandinavians, and another ship with one hundred and fifty was to sail in January for Canterbury. It is expected that when the AgentGeneral is made aw T are of the steps taken by the Assembly last session to place immigi'ation entirely in the hands of the General Government, he will be able to initiate a thorough and systematic canvas of the United Kingdom, and very much enlarge his immigration operations. The Government is being heartily supported by the provincial authorities of Wellington in the furtherance of the work of immigration. The Superintendent has manifested the most cordial sympathy with its efforts, and has set aside a block of land on the West Coast for the immediate occupation of the Scandinavians when they arrive, and Mr Halcombe proceeded thither the other day to make the necessary arrangements. Such hearty cooperation is deserving of especial recognition, contrasting so strongly as it does with the action of the Superintendent of Canterbury, who has consistently thrown obstacles in the way of the Government. It is by such useful combination as luckily exists in Wellington between the Provincial and General Government authorities that the success of any great colonial scheme can be best secured.