THE IMMIGRANTS BY THE NORTHUMBERLAND.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1156, 25 March 1884, Page 3

THE IMMIGRANTS BY THE NORTHUMBERLAND.

The steerage and nominated passengers by the Northumberland are an excellent class of immigrants. The domestic female servants have all been engaged. The immigrants’ quarters, it is stated by an Auckland reporter after inspection, were miserable and totally inadequate provision was made for the health and comfort of the passengers, not to speak of the means of maintaining moral discipline and decency. The bunks being low and narrow, the people could not dress or undress in them, so their only resource to secure a show of decency was to stand in front and bulge out the curtains to afford them a little covered space. The single men were not accommodated according to class, the nominated immigrants being berthed with the steerage passengers. The complaining lot number fourteen, and were packed in an apartment, which, according to measurement made by a passenger, measures 12ft 9in by Bft 6in in breadth, while it is 7ft sin in height. The bunks are arranged breadthwise, and in the space mentioned there are seven in a length of 12ft Oin with a breadth of about 3ft. From this there has to be substracted 3ft feet for passages and this leaves only sft 6in length for the bunks, and it will readily be believed that one of the passengers had to knock the end board off, and hang his feet over iho hedge when he went to sleep. In the after hatch there was overcrowding. Four young men occupied a single berth, and a married man with a large family was crushed out of his berth, and slept on the dining table. The berths were of very limited dimensions. Some of the passengers complain of the inferior quality of the food, but except as regards bread there appears to have been little cause for complaint The immigrants also complain they had to cook most of their food, though the contract ticket stipulated it should be cooked for them. The most glaring defect in the arrangements was the placing of various closets end bathrooms on deck. These conveniences were temporary buildings of rough sawn timber, and were of the most primitive construction. A bathroom and closet marked ‘ For females only ’ were stuck right opposite the galley on deck. The closet has been badly kept or constructed, for it emitted a horrible stench, and it being so close to the cooking quarters all the voyage cannot have conduced to health; A result of the bathroom being placed in such a place was that the female passengers never used it. No doubt it is due to the excellent control of Captain Todd, the efficient oversight of Dr Atterbury, and the general supervision of other officials that amid such unfavorable surroundings, propriety, health and morality were preserved. A family who came out under the patronage of George Vesey Stewart, for Tauranga, complained of being in a sense victims of false representations. They allege that from circulars issued by Mr Stewart to induce people to emigrate they were led to understand the Tauranga and Rotorua railway was in course of construction, and that work would bo found immediately upon arrival. On the strength of this some of the family threw up situations on a railway which they had held for many years, and made arrangements for emigration. Just before starting, however, another circular of Stewart’s was placed in their hands, which stated that the railway might not yet be in a forward state as previously indicated, but advising them in that case to put their pride in their pockets and take whatever work they could get.