NEW ZEALAND SPECTATOR AND Cook's Strait Guardian. Saturday, July 8, 1851.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IX, Issue 932, 8 July 1854, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND SPECTATOR AND Cook's Strait Guardian. Saturday, July 8, 185 1.

It is understood that the Provincial Government have entered into arrangements for the introduction of immigrants into this Province, the principal conditions of which are as follows: — The amount of the passage money for adults is £20, for children between seven and fourteen years of age £10, for children between one and seven years £6:13:4; adult passengers are to be allowed £ ton of baggage each, those not adults fa ton ; the arrangements are to be subject to the provisions of the Passengers Act ; the shipping agents are to inform the emigrants of the day of sailing of the vessel, and to provide a depot where they may be lodged at the expense of the agents for a period of two days previous to the time fixed for the final embarkation to the actual sailing of the vessel ; the vessels are to make Wellington their first port, and the passengers and their luggage are to be landed free of expense. The cost of their passage is to be defrayed by the immigrants themselves, or by the applicants on their behalf in the Province, who will enter into the necessary securities with the Government for that purpose, the payment to be made in two yearly instalments. We believe an agreement has been entered into by the Government with Messrs. Worsley, Wilson & Co., as agents of Messrs. F. Young & Co.; the ships hitherto despatched by them and the respectability and standing of the firm afford every guarantee that the arrangements, as far as they are concerned-, will be efficiently carried out. It may perhaps be somewhat pvema-

tnrc to examine too critically these arrangements, seeimr that they may he regarded only as a beginning — a small heginning" of what ought to he done. The two great wants of the Province, to supply which every effort of the Government should he directed, are the want* of communication and the want of labour. Th^. want of labour is so great as to paralyze almost every undertaking ; — no one can be so sanguine as to imagine for a moment that what is now attempted will go any way to supply this want. Some two hundred applications, it is said, have been made ; if it be granted that all these immigrants are of the labouring class, according to the usual proportion in such cases there would not be more than fifty adult labourers ; and what would these avail ? But practically we think it will be found that the greater portion of them will be the friends or relations of persons already settled in the Province, and not merely labourers. The stipulation that the whole of the passage should be paid by the immigrant may be regarded as a serious objection to this plan. In the arrangements set on foot by Sir George Grey it was proposed that half the cost of the passage should be defrayed by the Government, and the other half by the immigrant, and this course has been adopted by the Provinces of Auckland, Nelson, and Canterbury. It is only in this Province where those who form the Executive are in the habit of disparaging the acts of the former Government that they find themselves unable to act with equal liberality. We may also observe that, notwithstanding the pledge publicly given by the Provincial Secretary that all contracts made by the Government should wherever practicable be by public tender, we are not aware as far as we can learn that the rule has been observed in this case, and without intending in the slightest degree to say anything to the prejudice of the respectable firm with whom the arrangements have been concluded, we may yet observe that another firm (Messrs. Willis & Co.) have for many years past been connected as Shipping- Agents with the colony; that it does not appear that any communication has been made to them by the Provincial Executive on this subject, and that it is the duty of the latter to act impartially, and place both parties on the same footing; certainly to secure for the Province, if possible, the services of both lines, especially when there is ample opportunity for the employment of both to the public advantage.

Military Movements. — On Wednesday the Shepherdess sailed for Wangauui with a detachment of the Gsth Regt. (Capt. Bazalgette's company.) It is intended that Capt. Bazalgette's and Capt. Paul's companies shall relieve Capt. D'Arcy's and Capt. Young'a companies, now stationed at Wanganui.

The usual series of Winter lectures have commenced at the Athenaeum. A reading of Dickens' Christmas Carol was given hy Mr. Knowles which was so favorably received as to be repeated on a subsequent occasion, and an interesting lecture was delivered by Mr. Woodward on the Life and Times of Sir Robert Peel. On Thursday evening Mr. Fox gave his " Impressions of his Visit to America," describing at great length, his visit to the different States, the internal improvements, lakes, railroads, hotels, and tother features conn< cted with their social and domestic economy. The lecture was very fully attended, and very favorably received, and the subject it was announced would be continued by Mr. Fox in another lecture on Thursday next.

Tns following notice has been issued from the General Post Office, London, with reference to the transmission of books and pamphlets by post between Great Britain and New Zealand : Gnneral Post Office, October, 1853. "On and from the Ist November next, Printed Books, Magazine?, Reviews, and Pamphlets (whether British, Colonial, or Foreign.) may be transmitted by the post between I the United Kingdom and New Zealand, by ! Packet or by Private Ship, at the following re- [ duced rates of postage, viz :—: — For each Packet not exceeding §J Ib. in weight Os. 6d. For each Packet exceeding § Ib. and not. exceeding lib • 1 0 | For each Packet exceeding 1 lb. and not | exceeding 2 lbs • 2 0 For every Packet exceeding 2 lbs. and not exceeding 31b «....» 3 0 and so on, increasing one shilling for every additional pound or fraction of a pound. Provided, however, that the following conditions be carefully observed : — Ist. — Every such Packet must be sent without a cover, or in a cover open at the ends or sides. 2nd — It must contain a single volume only (whether Printed Book, Magazine, Review, or Pamphlet,) the 9ereral sheets or parts thereof, when there are more than one, being sewed or bound together. 3rd.— lt must not exceed two feet in length, breadth, width or depth. 4th. — ft must have no writing or marks upon the cover, or its content*, except the name and address of the person to whom it may be sent. sth— The postage must be prepaid in full, by affixing oulhide the Packet, or its cover, the proper number of Stamps.

I If any of the above conditions be violated, the Packet mu*t be charged as a letter, and treated as such in all respects. To prevent any obstacle* to the res-alar transmission of letters, any officer of the P.ist Office may delay the transmission/ of any sucH Packet *fer a period not exceeding twealy-four hours, from the time at which the &as*c would otherwise have been forwarded by him. These instructions are v?' to extend to, or }«tarfere^y¥&k'thfc of Printed Votes and Proceedings of Parliament, or of printed papers allowed to pas 3 by the post under the Newspaper privilege, all of which must continue subject to the existing regulations.

We have received numerous inquiries as to whether the Rev. A. Baker, our correspondent in our last number, was chaplain to the Duke of Portland (the nobleman bearing that name) as might be inferred from his letter, or whether he only exercised his ministerial offices in the ship Duke of Portland, in which vessel he came out to Wellington as a passenger. We speak under correction in saying we believe the latter to be the true state of the case. With reference to Mr. Baker's letter we may take occasion to remark that it seems to dwell on some other matters unconnected with the short paragraph which appeared in the Spectator on April 29th last, and not to those particularly referred to in the paragraph in question, to which it professes to be an answer.

Errata in the Government Gazette of the 27th May, 1854 .—ln the Table of the Statistics of the 65th Regiment, under the head Diseases of the Lungs, the numbers 12 and 11, in the first and third columns, should have been 35 and 32; and under the head, All other Diseases, the numbers 133 and 123, should have been 110 and 102. Also, instead of" From the above table, the admissions into the 65th Regimental Hospital, and deaths, have been about a third less than in the United Kingdom," * Rsad, " From the above table, the admissions into the 65th Regimental Hospital have been about a third, and the deaths near a sixth, less than in the United Kingdom." R. K. Prendergast, Surgeon 65th Regt.