IMMIGRATION TO OTAGO.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VII, Issue 343, 1 April 1874, Page 3

IMMIGRATION TO OTAGO.

~ {To the Editor.) Sir, — I have seen Mr. Hollo way. I don't mean the pill and ointment Holloway ; but Holloway the representative and plenipoten-tiary-extraordinary of the sonß of toil of Great Britain and Ireland, ne fieems to be a quiet, shrewd, unobtrusive fellow, and apparently, withal, possessing to a great extent the qualities of the Dutchman's parrot; exhibiting' the qualifications of thought and observation, without betraying the least temper for much talk. Although Mr. Holloway is not much of a public speaker, he may be a very able writer. If my surmise in this respect is right, he has in this province at the present time a rare opportunity of displaying Ids talents -with, profit to liimself and. to those •whom he represents. In his recent tour through the province, he must have seen, at j least, fully two-thirds of Otago. He must also have observed, in the majority of districts through which he passed, lands highly adapted and designed by nature for settlement and cultivation — land, in fact, that would gladden the heart of an Oxford Union man. But the fact may not have occurred to Mr. Holloway that these lands, or the portions of them that are suitable for occupation and settlement, are so firmly held in the tenacious grasp of the squatters, under the most iniquitous laws that have passed any legislature since the tyranny of the dark ages has been abrogated, that the settlement of those who have years bye past conquered the wilderness of the province, is a dead letter in the Land Statutes of Otago. What will be the fate, therefore, of these unfortunate families Mr. Holloway is so anxious about on landing in Otago? Probably the editor of the " Otago Guardian " and Sir F. D. Bell, whose high sounding tones in addressing his lambs at the Mataura, would indicate a speedy reformation of our land- laws, will, in their places in the House of Representatives,^ conjointly ask leave to bring in an act to be entitled an Act. of Manumission, the interpretation clauses of which will read thus : All those unfortunate beings induced to land in this province, upon the representation of Air. Holloway, will be nt liberty to enter into our employ, buFd our fences, shear our sheep at considerably lesa wagea than is now current ; and when, in two or three years hence, our runs are fen ed, we and find that we can do without labor, promptly apply the term " skedaddle." Scramble through life tho best you can ; become a burden on the Slate, or anything else for what we care. We brought you out here at the public expense, and sincerely regret to say— on false representations. We gained our private objects thereby in reducing the price of labor, bo important a feature in our annual calculations in regard to gains and profits. Let Mr. Holloway profit by the text laid before him by the Roxburgh Committee — men vho, to do them justice,

have worked hard in the interests of their fellow subjects; and that the Government also may gain wisdom thereby, is the sincere wish of — Yours truly, John Walker. Dumbarton Rock, March 27. P.S. — In my next note I'll mention a case for Mr. Holloway's perusal in referonce to the liberal considerations of the immigration department, where a poor man in this dißtrict, with a large family to support, is threatened with proceedings for immigration money. J. W.