DANES V. NORWEGIANS AS IMMIGRANTS.

Southland Times, Issue 1642, 1 October 1872, Page 3

DANES V. NORWEGIANS AS IMMIGRANTS.

. . I ! Mr Halcombe writes to tbe Minister ! j for Public Works on this subject as J follows : — i "As a rule, the Danes are physically ! unable to contend with the hardships of a ! pioneer settler's life; and while the . Norwegians house themselves comfortably with the rude material at their command, are able to make good svages immediately ou setting to wcrk, and surround themselves with many simple comforts, and are, moreover, cheerful and contented as a rule, the Danes are shift- I less, thrift less, unable to work with the j axe, and uneager to learn, and are there- ! fore unable to earn nearly as much as their neighbors, and as a result, are discontented, unreasonable in tbeir expectations from Government, aud ready to magnify every little unavoidable difficulty into a great grievance. Nothing can be more i marked than the contrast presented at ; I the Masterton camp between the two ! nationalities. The temporary huts of the [ two parties are erected close together, ! the Danes on the one side of a sort ;of street, tlie Norwegians on the [ other. Tbe houses of the Norwegians i I are comfortable, exquisitely clean, | i and m most cases even tastefully ' ! decorated, their inhabitants clean, cheerful, and contented. As tbe result of two j months' work, the Norwegian party have ! paid their store account for their two months' supplies, in full, and they have to draw for one month's work besides, wbich will probably, most of it, be paid to the Government iv partial liquidation of tbeir debt for passage, &c. The Danes, on the other side of the street, are comparatively poorly housed ; there is no sign of comfort or thrift about their rooms, — their houses and persons are filthy. They are heavily in debt to the storekeeper, and though they have had per head nearly fifty per cent, more food supplied than tbe Norwegians, they complain that they are not allowed to run more heavily into debt. Having in view tbe additional difficulty which must result to tbe Government in re-couping itself advances for passages, &c, made to tbe latter class of men, and fear that a large number of then will merge into tbe " loafing" element of the community, I desire to suggest the desirability of encouraging the Norwegian and discouraging tbe Danish immigration as far as possible, and of exercising a far more stringent supervision over tbe ■election of the latter immigrants than has been obtained in the case of the two shipments already made. I desire to point out that the mixed immigration of Norwegians and Danes is a mistake, in consequence of tbe existence of a very bitter national feeling of animosity between them, which prevents tbeir cooperating in anything, however much it might be to their mutual advantage to work together."