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New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4440, 12 June 1875, Page 2

Weekly Newspaper of February 21, ' 1875, contains the following advertisement : “To Plasterers. —Wanted, a few steady and competent workmen in this trade to proceed to Wellington, New Zealand, where men of the above occupation are much required. Free passages will be granted to approved applicants who make application early, as only a limited number can be accepted. Apply to Agent-General for New Zealand, 7, Westmin-ster-Chambers. —Jan. ,28th, 1875." This matter deserves a little notice and explanation. We learn by inquiry that the advertisement was inserted without the knowledge or authority of the Government. We are also aware that, induced doubtless by this advertisement, eleven men, describing themselves as plasterers by trade, applied for and obtained passages on board the Collingwood, a vessel due in this harbor in about a month from date. Four of these men are married and have families. Now, whilst we do not not doubt that in other parts of the colony where stone and brick buildings are being put up, there may be a demand for plasterers’ labor; we have yet to lea™ that such is, or is likely to be, in very inordinate request here. On the contrary, enquiry from an employer of such .and other builders’ labor (doing one of the most extensive businesses in the city) has elicited the fact that at present there is more than one plasterer here doing ordinary laborer’s work for a living, there being no opening for him in his own trade. The additions to some of our public buildings and the new Government Buildings will, for a time, give employment to plasterers, but that time is not likely to arrive for many months. It seems a harsh thing to say, but we cannot avoid expressing the opinion that the men we have mentioned, who are now on their voyage for here by the Collingwood, will have been induced to come to Wellington under false pretences. There is no fear of their starving, certainly, but there is a certainty that they will not here earn their bread by the exercise of the trade they are accustomed to labor in. It is not likely that any one will pay their passages to those cities in which plasterers are wanted, and it is very improbable that the men with wives and families will be able to pay those passages for themselves. There is a clear case of deception here. We, as our readers know, are firm advocates of properly conducted immigration. That makes us all the more ready to point out a case in which the immigration scheme has been made a vehicle for imposition. It is rather hard that unoffending travellers should suffer because telegraphic agents misdirect their activity and men mistake their vocations. A Colonel Trimble, in an unfortunate moment for himself, left’England to settle in New Zealand. He came to Taranaki, looked about him, purchased land, we believe, and then came further south to view the colony. He did this in peace and unostentation, so far as he was personally concerned, but the telegraphic agents could not let him fdone, and started sundry accounts of his movements around to the papers, with that curious persistency, characteristic of telegraphic agents, which makes them ferret out unimportant items and neglect those of interest. So Colonel Trimble’s name began to appear regularly in telegrams; and the ignorance of who he was drove wild some agreeable fellow or another, who, having got to write for newspapers when he should have been chopping wood, pitched into the Colonel with a jocosity of style about as ponderous as would be the waltzing of an elephant. It is a pity that the telegraphic agents, when sending news of Colonel Trimble did not send something about who he was, else they would not have earned this punishment for him. The consequences of their neglect have been unpleasant for the Colonel. We sympathise with Colonel Trimble, but we also sympathise with the people who got angry because they did not know who he was. Wo can conceive of nothing more aggravating to any one, about whoso notoriety there can be no possible question, than the continual publication of a name he himself knows nothing about. But we desire to administer comfort and to relieve ignorance. Therefore, we may mention that Colonel Trimble, it is said, having served in the British army for some time, resided in Liverpool, where ho obtained a lieutenant-colonelcy in a volunteer or militia regiment. On leaving Liverpool for New Zealand he was entertained at dinner by a number of the leading citizens, including the Parliamentary representatives. Evidently he was a man somewhat esteemed in a by no means insignificant city. That being the case, those who are angry because they do not know him are likely to have further cause for wrath. If the facts be as we have stated, they are very unlikely ever to make Colonel Trimble’s acquaintance. We regret that we should have attributed “ protection principles” to Mr. E. Pearce, in our comments on the Chamber of Commerce meeting in yesterday’s paper. Our remarks were based upon our report of Mr. Pearce’s speech, which we find inadvertently omitted certain qualifying statements. Had these appeared, they would have given a different complexion to his speech. Mr. Pearce was a member of the sub-committee which reported against the Chamber of Commerce being represented at the conference proposed by the Brisbane Chamber. The omission was unintentional, and was occasioned by the necessity for condensing the report. By a Oazelle Extraordinary issued last night, Parliament is further prorogued to the 20th July, on which date members are summoned for the despatch of business.