THE TROUBLES OF AN EMIGRATION AGENT.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4525, 21 September 1875, Page 3

THE TROUBLES OF AN EMIGRATION AGENT.

The Londonderry Sentinel and Londonderry Journal of May 2S contain lengthy reports of lectures delivered by Mr. McDevitt in favor of emigration to Queensland, and in Derry he appears to have been well received and attentively listened to. In Belfast, however, he in vain tried to get a hearing, and his lecture is published in the Belfast Morning Ncxcs as intended to be delivered. We abridge from that paper the following account of the scene at the meeting : Last evening the Hon. E. O'D. McDevitt attended in the Working Men's Institute, to deliver a lecture on the above colony, its capabilities and resources, There was a fair attendance. Samuel Gowan, Esq., was called to the chair.

Mr. McDevitt then proceeded with his lecture, and said his object in being there that night was to give them some information of a distant land, where he had passed the best years of his life, and where he had enjoyed great happiness, as was the lot of most of the people who dwelt there. The lecturer was proceeding to dwell on the advantages of the climate and fertility of the country, when he was interrupted by observations and questions at the right side of the hall, where a number of the " hard working sons of toil " appeared to have assembled. Soon after some of the audience rose to make objections to the statements advanced by the lecturer, putting questions and ending by making speeches. The following is a sample of what occurred :

The lecturer was pointing out the advantages of the laborer in Queensland. A Voice : We can do as well at home. (Applause.) The Lecturer : I am glad to hear that, and I hope that gentleman will take advantage of the opportunities offered to him. (Loud applause.) The lecturer was again proceeding to show the advantages offered by the colony to the working man

A Voice : We have to work wherever we go. We will stay at home and work. (Applause.) The Chairman here rose and insisted that order should be observed by the meeting. A Voice : You scuttle too many ships when you get us on the water. (Laughter and applause.) At this stage a number of the knot of speakers referred to became very excited in their protests against the idea of emigration m well as the lecturer's advocacy of it. One of these was specially conspicuous by his eloquence, and was evidently referred to by Another Voice : I move that Mr. Macartney take the chair. (Cheers.) Mr. Macartney did not immediately comply with this request, notwithstanding the encouraging cheers of his pals. However he, or one of his immediate neighbors, delivered himself thus: —" I am sorry to see any man coming to Belfast with a drop of Irish blood in his veins —coming here to make the people go and leave their own country. (Loud cheers.) Emigration has caused more tears to be shed by the Irish than would float a squadron of ships. (Tremendous cheering.) Stay at home, boys ; and if you die here you will have somebody to go and kneel beside your grave. (Great cheering.) The lecturer again essayed to speak, but was interrupted by the uproar. A Voice: We want neither you nor any man like you who is an agent of the British Government.

The Lecturer: If these gentlemen only heard me, and conducted themselves in a gentlemanly way, I would try to give them some information

A Voice : We don't want your information. (Cheers.) We are listening to you ten minutes ; it is the longest ten minutes ever we spent. (Laughter and cheers.) Another Voice : Home, sweet home ! Stick to it boys ! (Great cheering.) Another Voice : If you would speak to the landlords of Ireland, and get them to reclaim the waste lands, to keep the people at home, it would fit you better. (Cheers.) But if you had done that, you would not have such a good " tack" to night. (Laughter and cheers.)

The Lecturer : I won't detain you very long. (Cries of "We are tired of you," " Home, sweet home," " Get along, now.") The Lecturer : Surely it can do you no harm to listen. There are others present who want to hear, and it won't disturb you in any way. If you come to prevent me speaking, you cando it, but I believe the people of Belfast are supposed to be

A Voice : You are come to induce Paddy to leave home, but he won't. (Cheers and uproar.) At this stage the uproar and confusion became so great that nothing further could be done. The enemies of emigration jeered and cheered till it became evident to both chairman and lecturer, after several ineffectual attempts to get order and silence restored, that further efforts were useless. Both gentlemen accordingly picked up hats and gloves and retired from the platform. Hereupon the victors whistled, laughed, cheered, and stamped. One man (we presume Macartney), the individual already moved to the chair, was seized upon and borne to the platform to fill the now vacant seat of honor. Several of his supporters rushed forward and jumped on the platform. The newly-elected chairman having planted himself behind tho table, after the approved fashion, proceeded to entertain his own supporters, who showed a, decided sympathy with his views on tho question of emigration, so far as they could be made out. He had delivered but a few sentences, however, when a couple of Royal Irish appeared on the scene. The platform was clewed, and tho lecturer once again resumed his place and his discourse, Mr. Gowan resuming the chair. Mr, McDevitt said he was not conscious of

anything hostile to their interests, and did not wish to do otherwise than conduct liimself as a gentleman should. If they would kindly hear him

A Voice : We respect you as we do any other English agent—(cheers)—and we will treat you as an English agent. (Cheers.) Another Voice : What can you give us in Queensland that we have not in Ireland ? The lecturer proceeded to speak of the salubrity of the climate. The interruptions and uproar were again resumed. The lecturer, who saw that further attempts to gain a hearing were useless, again retired. As he was leaving the platform, one of the interrupters remarked : We have nothing against you yourself, and when you come back again we hope you'll have something better to tell xis. The lecturer, who appeared to take the whole proceedings very coolly, left the hall with his friends ; and the opposing party, evidently well satisfied with the zeal displayed in their own cause, indulged in a final cheer and departed.