The Southland Times. TUESDAY, JULY 2, 1872.

Southland Times, Issue 1600, 2 July 1872, Page 2

The Southland Times. TUESDAY, JULY 2, 1872.

A petition was presented a short time ago to the Resident Minister for the Middle Island, by a number of settlers in Otago, setting forth the desirability of including the Highlands and Islands of Scotland in the general scheme of immigration, on the same footing as Scandinavia and Germany. The memorial described the special qualifications which the Highlanders and Islanders possess for making good settlers. They are well fcnown to be good laborers and farm servants, and are perhaps the best shepherds in the world. The inhabitants of the western islands of Scotland are excellent fishermen, and accustomed to the cultivation of small patches of ground around their dwellings, just the very men for some of our special settlements, that of Stewart's Island, for instance. In every respect they appear to be equally desirable immigrants, to say the least, as Scandinavians or Germans, and they have the additional recommendation of being our own countrymen. It is stated, by those who are likely to be well informed on the subject, that thousands of them would gladly avail themselves of assisted passages, if the facilities which the Government of New Zealand offer in this way were made generally known amongst them, and that many in. better cireumatances would probably be induced to emigrate at their own expense, if suitable information regarding the colony were disseminated amongst them by agents properly qualified for the purpose. To carry, put these ideas' successfully, it was

suggested thatagents should be appointed, conversant with the G-aelic language, and who had the further advantage of having been resident for some time in the colony, so that their statements might carry the weight of personal experience. The effect of such a step would be, we have not the slightest doubt, to stimulate a large and immediate emigration to this country from the north of Scotland. The expense of appointing such an agency would be comparatively trifling. The whole district to be operated on is so limited in area, and the means of travelling so easy, that we have no doubt that two or three qualified persons would readily succeed I in going over the whole field in a single ' season, and we believe with excel- j lent results. Considering the pains which have been taken, and the special arrangements that have been made, to secure immigrants from Norway and Sweden, Denmark and Germany, to say nothing , of vine-dressers from France, and silk- i growers from Italy, it might haye been j expected that the memorial of the Otago J settlers in favor of immigration from the Highlands would have met with favorable consideration, if only by way of adding a little variety to the operations of the G-overuujcnt in tula part nf their scheme. But this view of the case does not seem to have commended itself to the Honorable Mr Eeeyes, as the Dunedin papers state, without however giving particulars of his reply, that the petition has been rejected. It is possible there may have been good reasons why he felt himself unable to comply —on his own responsibilty — with a specific request of this kind, at the present time, and that the rejection, in reality, amounts to nothing more than an intimation that the consideration of the subject will have to be deferred till the ensuing session of Assembly. When the Assembly meets, there can be no doubt that the manner in which the immigration policy has hitherto been carried out will be one of the first subjects which will come under review. While a large number of the members have expressed themselves favor 1 ably as to the principle of this scheme, it is not too much to say that the operations of the Agent-Q-eneral, so far as they have gone, have not met with a single defender. No one can doubt Dr Feathebston's good intentions, or the I zeal which he brings to the discharge of his duties. But public opinion, so far as it has been expressed on the subject, has pronounced unmistakeably against the plan of collecting immigrants from the continent of Europe, while the British islands remain comparatively neglected. The difficulty of getting any large stream of immigration from the United King- ; dom has been alleged, but it has been said, and we believe with reason, that the experiment has never yet been fairly tried. Here is at all events a practical suggestion for effecting this object, in a part of the Jold country at least which appears to have been dismissed without consideration. It would have been a contribution to the carrying out of Mr Bell's excellent suggestion, that " a carefully organised plan of touting" snouia do set on loot, ana persevenngiy worked, in all the suitable districts of the old country. There are thousands of hardworking men and women in England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, who would gladly avail themselves of the means which our immigration scheme affords of bettering their condition, if they only understood how to set about the matter. But it is a characteristic of the class -who may be expected to avail themselves of assisted passages, that they require to be sought out, and informed of the opportunities placed at their disposal, and the prospects of advantage which the social and industrial condition of the colony undoubtedly affords to such persons. We think that the trouble which has been expended in obtaining immigrants from abroad might have been better bestowed in cultivating similar fields in the old country. This can only be done by a system of agency adapted to diffuse the fullest information on the snbject amongst the classes which it ia desired to reach, and calculated to command their confidence in the truth of the representations made. These remarks apply more especially to those immigrants who, in the first instance, and for some time after their arrival in the colony, would belong to the laboring classes. We hear on all sides the remark that the introduction of settlers ought not to be confined exclusively to the laboring classes, that it is of no use to import labor, if we do not also import capital. There is some truth in this remark, though it is not all truth. But waiving for the present the investigation of this question, two things are very plain — the laboring classes, and they only, are likely to avail themselves of the assisted passages, and to get them they must be sought out, and induced to come, by proper representations. The other classes, whom we equally desire to draw to our shores, namely capitalists, small and great, are less likely to be influenced by talk, or agency of whatever kind, but are sure to come so soon as we succeed, by wise legislation, in making the country an attractive field of settlement for all classes. To attain this most desirable result should be the grand endeavor of our public men. Two measures we will name, and two only, which are indispensable if this is ever to be done, and which alone would go a long way to effect this object — a liberal land law, and a good scheme of national education.