The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. TUESDAY, AUGUST 5, 1879.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1027, 5 August 1879, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. TUESDAY, AUGUST 5, 1879.

Dr. G. J. Potts, of Belleville, Ontario, has been authorised by the Government to select 30G immigrants of the class of small agriculturists or farm laborers. It is suggested that these should be located on the forest lands of the Colony, especially those of Southland. Otago, and the West Coa3t of the North Island. There it is supposed they will be in their element, as they will come from a country abounding in huge forests, but will enjoy the advantages to be derived from a climate less rigorous than that of Canada. Mr. Stout, whilst a member of the Ministry, wrote to Sir Julius A ogel on behalf the Minister of Immigration, as follows :—" This is an experiment, and it will depend on the ctas3 that conies here whether or not any assistance will be granted to persons desiring to emigrate from Canada to Hew Zealand." Strange though it may appear, it is nevertheless a fact, that Sir Julius Vogel i 3 opposed to Canadian emigration to this Colony. In reply to Dr. Potts, who applied to be engaged as agent in Canada for the selection of emigrants for thi3 Colony, he say 3 that he does not think it right to procure emigrants from a Colony that probably desires to retain its population and increase it. He apparently loies sight of the fact that there must necessarily be a large number of persons in Canada to whom the rigor of the climate is such a serious matter as to render it compulsory that they should seek fresh fields. Canadians, for this and other reasons, are constantly emigrating to the United States and the Colonies. They cannot, in many instances, help themselves, and it i 3 very much better, if they must leave Cauada, which appears to be the case, that they should be encouraged to cast in their lot with us or their friends in other Colonies than that they should be driven to settle in the United States. It may be urged that they are free to come to New Zealand if they choose. But it should be remembered that the very thing that would in- ! crease their value as fellow-colonists would increase the difficulties of their emigration—we mean the cxpensivenes3 of removing their families. They have a longing to come to New Zealand, but they cannot, in a great many instances, at least—with the United States at their doors—do so, without some assistance. The expenses of transit from Canada to New Zealand would cripple a small capitalist. This objection, although it now holds good in the case of | individuals desiring to emigrate, would not be a barrier to the colony undertaking ±he responsibility of instituting Canadian emigration. If vessels were laid on direct from Canada, the expense per head should not be much, if at all, in excess of that incurred in sending emigrants from London. Even if the expense were greater, what- a very different clas3 of colonists we should obtain for our money. As Dr. Potta isys, one Canadian is worth three or four emigrants such as those usually sent from Home. The bulk of the immigrants we have been favored I with from tho Old Country either come I from .crowded cities, where they have

haunted the bars of gin-palaces, or they are of the official class, who, like hothouse plants in regions of snow, cannot thrive in a country like ours. The Canadians, as a rule, arc sturdy agriculturists, the cream of the Old Country, who have, unassisted, found their way to Canada some of them to prosperity and others to disappointment. "We have met with Canadian settlers in the North Island. They were Scotchmen, and for farmers and colonists they are not to be beaten.