THE WESTMEATH'S IMMIGRANTS.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1313, 7 June 1883, Page 4

THE WESTMEATH'S IMMIGRANTS.

The New Zealand Herald, in b lead, ing article, thus refers to the complaints of the Westmeath immigrants as to imposition having been practised. upon them at the Immigration Depot at Plymouth:—“ In point of fact the allegations are all true, with the exception of the ‘ blackmail ’ theory, wnich is only the exaggerated fancy of the informant. If there is one portion of the immigration machinery that approaches in the direc. tion of perfection it is probably the same depot at Plymouth. Large, roomy, and healthily situated on a cliff, it is the model of a reception establishmeat, but being in a garrison town, for various obvious reasons, emigrants, especially young women, once entering, are permitted on no account to leave again save in the tender that takes them to the ship. We have generally a dread of intro* ducing infectious diseases into the colony, and it may with considerable certainty be said that if the emigrants have a tree run of the town in Plymouth, scarlet fever, small-pox, and other objectionable ailments, which are common enough in that seaport, will no longer be unusual concomitants of emigrant ships. To avoid this, and at the same time to meet the reasonable requirements of the voyagers, a very excellent and well-appointed store is conducted within the premises, at which goods are sold at exactly Plymouth prices. Examination of passengers' luggage is invariably and properly made, and not infrequently the results show that the precaution was not unnecessary. Creature comforts are supplied on board under medical advice, and though such things as supplies of butter, eggs, Ac., with which the kindness of friends very frequently supplies the boxes of passengers may seem very innocuous, it was found that possession of snob "delicacies” was productive of unpleasantness and heartburnings among passengers not similarly supplied. When passengers are taken out to the Colony at the expense of the Government, it is not too much to claim that they should be held amenable to the discipline which experience has proved necessary, and it is not from any arbitrary action on the part of the officers of the depot, but in accordance with regulations that have for many years been in existence and are wellknown, and which have always been enforced de rijeur that emigrants are compelled to dispense with superfluous victualling. There is nothing to compel emigrants to enter the depot before proper time, but they are met on arrival at the railway station, or at the coasting steamers, and they and their boxes are taken to the depot by the officers of the institution, and, as far as possible, contact with the town and its people is avoided. This may seem very arbitrary, but it is a thing of which neither the parents, nor the colonists, nor the young women themselves, if they are wise, should complain."