The Evening Mail. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 1879.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 856, 13 January 1879, Page 2

The Evening Mail. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 1879.

Tttfi&E fun* been more- dissatisfaction expressed at the- administration of immigration than at that of any other policy that forms a part of the government of this Colony. There are disinterestedness and blundering at Home, and ruinous Official humbug, cirewm-Wution, and ignorance hetbr. Several years' trial of the system of wholesale indiscriminate immigration, conducted entirety by the AgentI General, or rather his sab-agents, did not [ beget love- for it in the minds of colonists, ;who' saw that alt the evil* that they ; abhorred in the- Old World, and the pre- • valence- of which had in some measure hastened their departure from the land of their birth, were- being imported into the land of their adoption, and that at their expense;. When the present Ministry assumed the government of the Colony, "ne of its first acts was to appoint the tJev. Mr.. Beaut V, a WWfeyan clergyman, to travel throughout Great Britain in the interests of immigration, and Mr. G. M. RkbP' was subsequently sent on the same mission. These two. travelling lecturers •on the- advantages of New Zealand as a field for emigration wilt thoroughly revolutionise- unnominated immigration, and *ill, if we mistake not, render the present expensive emigration agents worse than useless superfluities. If these travelling agents perform the good service that is reasonably espected of them, money that ha* hitherto' been expended in bringing here multitudes of immigrants that have faded to work any benefit for themselves or the C'otony, but have been, and are, a disgrace- to it and a drag upon its progress, will be saved. But although a plan has been adopted whereby the Colony wilt secure »full and regular supply of laborers, the nominated immigration system writ be none the less advantageous. £aeh nominator becomes an emigration agtnt, and an agent that possesses the advantages of an intimate knowledge of the personal (].u»titkations of the person whom- he or she seeks to. nominate. Nominators may sometimes, from errors of judgment or other causes, nominate undesirable persons, bat objection might be raised on the same score to persons being chosen as emigrant* by travelling agents, who, notwithstanding that they may exercise the neatest of care, are liable, as they are choosing front amongst strangers, to err. If we place nil the disadvantages of nominated immigration in the scale, they will K» outweighed hy those of any other system of choosing emigrants that has yet been adopted. We are therefore strongly of opinion that nominated immigration should be encouraged, and we believe it to be the wish of the Government, judging from the numerous notifications relating thereto to encourage it. But it wilt avail j little if, whilst the Government is inviting colonist* to nominate their friends at Home, their official* are stultifying it* actions by their obstructiveness. To be more explicit, Mr. Coo* Alias, who has an unfortunate habit of making himself unpopular amongst a section of those people whose servant he is, and who. help to pay his salary, has been savagely slaughtering wholesale the nomination papers of persons in this district. We hayc been shown two. bundle's of these which were sent from this district, and across the- face of them arc written in pencil objections that would disgrace a smalt schooler. Here are a few of them :—■" Ellen O'., domestic- servant, nominates her stater, also a domestic servant ; address, Eugene C." The memo across the face of this is, " Address more particulars." Frederick I*. nominates two- brothers and a sister. Memo.—" Address more particulars. State circumstances and other particulars as required as per letter." Jessie A. nominates George S., aged 15.—Memo.— " Too young for a laborer to receive free passage--" W. C. sends for H»nora C. Address, Pest Office, Oamara. Memo.— " Address morer particulars." Morris F. nominate* his brother, Michael F. Memo. cumstances of nomination." James 0., plumber and gasfitter, Oamsmt, nominates a brother, a blacksmith and fitter. Memo. —"Cancelled on the ground that there sre already in this part of the country too many blacksmiths and fitters, and it is only throwing public money away to be introducing tradesmen who are not wanted." The foregoing are a few specimens from the hand of the Immigration Agent in Ifctnedin. To be as charitable

as possible, this person seems to have " Address more particulars" on the brain. He is mad. We have gone carefully through these forms, and can aver that they are filled up in strict accordance -with instructions. In fact, they are not filled tip by the nominators, but by those who arc perfectly acquainted with the mode of filling thetE up. JEiien O'. gives as her address her cousin, who happens to be Mr. Kii>t»'s head gardener, and she is in the habit of saving money from her wages and remitting it to her mother at Home—not a bad trait in tho character of a young woman. F. P., who nominates two brothers and a sister, has been fifteen years in this district, and is well known and respected. The relatives of the nominator of G. S. arc residents of Mnncno, and are respectable people in easy circumstances. The person nominated is objected to because he is only fifteen years of age. He would probably be sixteen when he arrived in the Colony, an age at which be would bo able to make hinm>tf generally useful upon a farm or in many another capacity. If the age of fifteen or sixteen years is not a good one for commencing colonial life, we would like Mr. Allan to give his idea of what is, and inform us what is the minimum age prescribed by the regulations by which he is supposed to be guided. H. C. and her brother, who are sending for their sister, like B. O.", remit a portion of their wages to their friends at Home. They are rerptcstted to "address more particulars." What docs the Dunedin Immigration Agent expect I The young woman, who is iii service in tbc country, might, wiu-ti the time arrives for receiving communications regarding the nomination, have changed her situation ; and, as her brother is a farm laborer, it is still more likely that he might have changed his, they wisely gave the address as Post Office, Oamani, as any other address might lead to vexatious delay in the receipt of their correspondence. Mr. F. is a young farm laborer who has, to his credit, been in his present situation 12 months, and although he states that he is ! a farm laborer on the nomination paper, hi* paper is disfigured by having written acr*>** the face of it the words "State circumstances of nominator." Mr. A i.i.a.v ! surely docs n«»t mean to say that a nominator must state whether he has a tanking account or not, and if he has, what is ttie condition thereof. If it is ! prescribed in 3lr. Allan's instructions | that he shall elicit this information, we | hope that the same absurd condition will : not be imposed in the case of immigrants I chosen at Home. It is more than absurd—--lit is insulting; and we would not think much of a nominator that would not refuse to accept the advantages of immigration rather than satisfy what we conceive to be ; tlit? unwarrantable curiosity or otlicioiisimss of Mr. Allan. We have every reason to believe that if F.'s relatives! were shown to be poor, they would be] considered too poor to be entitled to ; Humiliate F., and, if they were shown to hv making a respectable living, they would t be considered rich enough to be entitled to pay his passage money The remarks made [ «in .1. C.'s form '* that there are already | to«» ntany blacksmiths in this part of the! country, and that it is only throwing | away public money to be introducing tradesmen that are not wanted " is uni>|tie, awl brands Mr. Allan one of the most original-minded men of the age. lint what kind of men should be induced to come to this Colony, if not blacksmiths and gastitters f If there is not room for such, it is time to stop emigration from the Old Country altogether. Our experience of Colonial blacksmiths is that they can nearly always secure employment at good wages, establish themselves in some rising up-country town, or—if matters come to the worst —turn their attention to something else. But the person nominated is a " fitter" a3 well as blacksmith, and, as such, would probably be able to titid ample employment in this town. Some of our most useful colonists were taken from the anvil or the bench. Of all these facts Mr. Allan is ignorant, and scents to have scribbled across the face of the forms as though he was actuated by a sense of the necessity of writing, or doing, something to earn his salary. This is one of the many evils that have arisen since we were deprived of the services of Mr. HcsKGTti as Immigration Officer for this district. Mr. Allan, by his unconscionable obstructiveness, offers a premium to people to falsify the nomination papers, by putting down their Home friends as being what they are not. There is no one here now to supervise nomination papers, afford information concerning nominators, and forward the papers for approval to the Immigration Department. Even when Mr. Hesketh was Immigration Officer for I the district, nominators suffered a great ideal of opposition at the hands of Mr. '' Hesketh's superior officer in Dunedin, ; but now that Mr. Allan undertakes tho sole responsibility of dealing with nominations, matters arc worse. The ImmiIgratioii Depot is now both Immigration and North Otago Benevolent Society's Depot, under the management of Mr. and Mrs. Hesketh, who are the servants of the Society. As Mrs. Hesketh is a : favorite with those domestic servants who found a temporary home in the institution on their arrival in the country, they seek her advice. It cannot therefore be wondered at that a number of these, who have found good employment and desire to send for their sisters, should have their letters from Home addressed to the Benevolent Society's Depot. Mr. Allan, because they have given the depot as the address in their nomination papers, has returned them, and states that he " will not allow addresses from the Immigration Depot, as nominees have not been long enough in the country," and that the address " Post Office " will not do. We think that this system of rendering abortive nominated immigration in this district should receive the serious and prompt attention of those whose business it is to see to the proper administration of such matters. In our opinion, nothing but the reinstatement of an Immigration Officer for the district will compass the difficulty, and if that officer wen; not amenable to tho Dunedin Immigration Officer, so much the better.