The Southland Times. INVERCARGILL : TUESDAY, AUGUST 26.

Southland Times, Issue 1785, 26 August 1873, Page 2

The Southland Times. INVERCARGILL : TUESDAY, AUGUST 26.

The inference fairly to be drawn from the memoranda forwarded by tbe Government to tbe Agent- General, on the matter of immigration to New Zealand, is that it was the intention of the Government to make their instructions so full and explicit, both with regard to ihe selection of emigrants and to their safety and comfort on the voyage, as to leave no open question which might imperil the success of tbe project. After merely a cursory glance at these memoranda, the conclusion is almost imperative that if the result so far has been anything but satisfactory, the blame is not in any way attributable to the Government. The representation having been made that many desirable emigrants were prevented embarking by the cost of their outfit with that of reaching the vessel by which they were to Bail hither, instructions have been given to the various agents for meeting the difficulty, by relaxing either wholly or in part the regulations requiring them to pay the coßt of joining the vessel at the port, as well as of providing their own bedding and outfit. As a result of the unfavorable comment in the Colony on the absence of a proportionate supply of Irish in the Government immigration hitherto, the Agent- General has been instructed to take the necessary steps to secure that the emigration from that part of the United Kingdom shall be proportioned to the population of Ireland as compared to Great Britain, and with that view to open a central agency at Dublin. For the future no vessel is to be chartered which is not classed Al at Lloyds, or which would not be approved of for the forwarding of emigrants by " Her Majesty's Emigration Commissioners," the greatest care being exercised to insure that the arrangements for ventilation, lighting, and general accommodation are equal to what would be satisfactory to the Commissioners in respect of vessels chartered by them. The matters of ventilation and general accommodation appear to have been made the subject of strict investigation, on the arrival in New Zealand of immigrant vessels, and the result of such enquiry reported to the Agent-General for future guidance, and the dietary scale, with the provision of medical comforts where insufficient, has been strongly commented upon. Upon the whole there does not appear to have been much to complain of, in respect of the passage of immigrants, although Messrs Shaw, Saville and Co. cannot be credited'with any great amount of liberality. The correspondence between Mr Attld, as Provincial agent for Otago, and tbe Agent-General, discloses an apparent unwillingness on the part of the latter to co-operate with. Mr Avlv in the promotion of emigration from Scotland to Otago by a separate line of ships from the Clyde. Mr Atjld reports that a large number of Scotch emigrants, wl o were desirous to go to Otago in preference to any other place, had gone to Canada, because they could not comply with the conditions for passage to Otago. These conditions may now, however, by instructions forwarded, be either relaxed or wholly dispensed with. The AgentGeneral in his letter to the Colonial Secretary of 12th December, 1872, refers to this subject, and furnishes an explanation of the rejection of the terms proposed by Messrs HEiTDEBsoy and Co. for the shipment of emigrants from the Clyde. It appears that these gentlemen stipulated in their tender that the AgentGeneral should guarantee by each ship to Otago 200 statute adults, aud to other ports in New Zealand 300, and this guarantee of a minimum number of passengers, with their destination, the Agent- General was unable to give. In the case of any guarantee given by the Government, assuming the number shipped to be short of that guaranteed, the Government is required to pay for each of the number deficient half the rate of passage money named in the contract for each statute I adult. Under the terms proposed by Messrs Hekdebson and Co., the AgentGeneral concluded that the cost of passage from Glasgow per statute adult would be £21 7a 6d per head, whereas the rate under then existing arrangements was not more than £12 10a for each adult. This conclusion he arrives at by reference to the emigration conducted under Messrs Attld and Andrews to the Province of Otago in the year 1870-1, the total number of emigrants being given at 931 statute adults, which were sent out in 24 vessels, 13 of which sailed from London, and 11 from Glasgow. The average number of passengers by each ship was 44£, the greatest number in any one vessel being 123. He holds therefore, on the ground that such emigration from the Clyde .could not have been conducted except at an enormous and useless expense, he was fully justified in refusing to accede to the terms proposed by Messrs Henderson and Co. The Agent- General advises the opening, as instructed, of a Central Immigration Office in Dublin, and gives the particulars of a proposal submitted by him to Messrs Gibbs, Bbight and Co., for the embarkation of emigrants at Liverpool for passage lo Otago by the Great Britain, the minimum number guaranteed being 450 statute adults, and the price to be paid £15 per head. This proposal was however declined by Messrs

Gibbs, Bbight and Co., with the statement that to send the steamer Great Britain to Otago with even 500 emigrants guaranteed to them, would entail upon them a very heavy loss. Since the above proposal was made and rejected, the firm above referred to has made by its agent in Wellington a proposal, by a fleet of six steamers, each of 5000 tons burden, to steam the distance between Liverpool and Melbourne in 40 to 42 days, and to conduct immigration between England | and New Zealand at a low through rate ' of passage-money, immigrants to be conveyed by branch steamers from Hobson's Bay to the various ports of New Zealand, Messrs Gibbs, Bright and Co., agreeing to forego payment of the passage- money in the case of immigrants who left the ship at Hobson's Bay. This proposal the Government declined, believing it desirahle that emigrants for New Zealand should come direct, and that on no account could the touching at an intermediate port in Australia be sanctioned. In urging the Agent-General to increased exertions to induce a stream of emigration to the Colony, in addition to the remission of cost of passages, the Government proposes to submit a scheme of making free grants of land to those immigrants who pay their own passage, and this is on account of the very great uneasiness pervading the Government and the public at large at the paucity of immigrants arriving in comparison with the number ordered. Referring to the difficulties which the Agent-General states to exist, allusion is made to the facility with which the Queensland Government is able to supply its necessities by keeping up a continual stream of immigration. In April in the present year, the calculation was made, and the intimation forwarded to the Agent-General, that 12,724 immigrants are absolutely required during the year to Bave the scheme of public works from jeopardy, and to enable the Colony to meet the demands on the labor market, not only on account of public works, but also to enable the ordinary agricultural and pastoral pursuits of settlers to be carried on with reasonable prospects of success. If the number required by the above calculation be secured during the year, the influx must be at a much more rapid rate than has yet been the case.