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New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4227, 7 October 1874, Page 2

THE New Zealand correspondent of The Times was as much astonished as we could be that Mr. Holloway, representative of so many agricultural laborers, should have found that there was not sufficient inducement held out in Otago to intending emigrants. He was surprised that Mr. Holloway, who must have seen so many well-to-do settlers who were at one time merely laborers in England, should say that ho could not i-ecominend Otago as a place for emigrants to flock to, on account of the illiberal land laws of that Province. But probably—-it was hinted—he was but a "new chum." In the leading columns of The Times this difficulty was partially understood. The hardships an emigrant would probably have to undergo were fearfully magnified, but the case was fairly put a 5 the conclusion. At first, it was said, the agricultural laborer, earning his few shillings per week in England, must expect to put up with-many hardships. The Times said that in tbe loss of society he would have to endure, in 4he bleakness of the wind that would penetrate weatherboai-d buildings and shingle roofs as it would not stone and thatch in England, Mid in the loss of comforts easily obtainable in the old country, the agricultural laborer must suffer. Persons who know the state of things here, that the agricultural laborer in New Zealand will receive double the wages he has at Home, fare as well as his master did there, and work fewer hours than he had ever before been accustomed to work, would also know that The Times, well informed on most subjects as it usually is, was in a state of gross ignorance on this. Moreover, it was amusing to find so great a journal recounting the facts in connection with the risit this year of His Excellency the Governor to the " Soot" lakes. Evidently, in The Times office, neither the editor nor the chief members of the staff had heard of the New Zealand hot springs, which are entitled to rank as wonders of the world. However, the dignified bearing of the Governor to the Maoris was remarked upon, in the correspondent's letter, with commendable discretion. It was said that to find a Governor of New Zealand speaking in so firm and dignified a manner was very refreshing, and that "the curtain was rapidly lowering over the last act in the Maori drama." The Times summed the matter up as follows :—"To the able and honest agricultural laborer, or mechanic, who finds himself in a condition in which he can work only for Saturday night, and has to begin the world every Monday morning, we do say ' Emigrate ;' and we believe there is no better place to go to than New Zealand."

A salvage case, not without interest in Wellington at the present time, has recently been decided in the American Admiralty Courts. It was a suit brought by a Captain Brady against the Directors of the American Steamship Company at Philadelphia. The facts of the case, briefly summarised, were as follows: The Pennsylvania, s.s., valued at 500,000 dollars, on a voyage from Liverpool to Philadelphia, encountered a furious tempest at midnight, and a heavy sea sweeping clean over her, the captain, first and second officers, and two seamen were washed overboard. In the vessel there happened to be, as a passenger, one Cornelius F. Brady, who had been distinguished by his services in the wreck of the Atlantic, s.s., on the coast of Nova Scotia. At the time of the mishap the third officer was busily employed below, rendering good service in securing the hatches ; the fourth officer had been previously disabled ; and Captain Brady, who held a master's certificate of competency, took charge of the vessel during the tempest, and subsequently, at the request of the engineers and others, navigated her into port. Judge Cadwallader, before whom the case came, is an authority on maritime affairs, and he seems to have held that Captain' Brady's claim was good in proportion to the difficulty the vessel was in. The third mate might have assumed command, but he did not do so ; and there was the case of the Great Eastern, s.s.', in-point, when, upon the shaft by which her rudder was managed being broken, and her other machinery disabled, a passenger devised a means for steering and navigating the vesSel, and was awarded 15,000 dollars as salvage. ' But then, the law is that a passenger should not be a salvor, and this could not be lightly disregarded. In the case of the Pennsylvania, although the directors had offered Mr. Brady a cheque for 1000 dollars, with their thanks, he brought an action for salvage, and 4000 dollars were awarded to him—the case being regarded as an exceptional one.