NEW ZEALAND.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VII, Issue 357, 20 May 1874, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND.

[From the Tyrone Independent, February 28.] Ifc may appear, perhaps, to some of our readers that we are travelling somewhat out oi' our sphere in commenting upon a political appointment made by the Government of a country some thousands of miles from the scene of our present writing ; but when that country is an integral part of the great empire (one and indivisible we hope) to which we have the privilege to belong, and when upon the aptness or inaptness of the official to fill the post to which we refer rests the comfort and well-being of large numbers of our fel-low-countrymen, then we feel that we are not only justified but that it is our boundendutyto make such comments as the circumstances of the case may call forth. The country to which we refer is New Zealand ; the appointment is that of the Agent-General for the colony, and to whom is entrusted the all-important measure of conducting emigration to the colony he represents. The subject of emigration is, we are aware, one that docs not meet with universal favour, and there are not wanting in this country those who denounce in the strongest terms any who interest themselves directly in this really national question. The one broad fact, however, still remains, and that is, our people have left us in large numbers, are still going, and it needs no prophet to foretell that they will continue to leave us so long as they are aware that, by moving to distant countries, they will be assured of high ! wages and elbow-room, which, through the nature of things, cannot be obtained in this crowded land, where wage 3 are at the mini mum, and the price of land at the maximum value. We are of those, however, who recognise the great national importance of emigration, and look with feelings of pride and the deepest interest upon those distaut dependencies of Great Britain just now issuing into vigorous life, and which more than ever prove that this indomitable enterprising spirit of our forefathers, which, under Providence, has raised our country to the first among the nations of the earth, is still to be found in their descendants, and thai when the time comes, should it ever come, they will be found ready, able, and willing to take a prominent part in the world's history. Of all the colonies of Great .Britain we feel the greatest affection for .New Zealand. iShe is the most distant, and she is the youngest, but. she 13 also the fairest; she has had serious internal diilicullies in the shape of troublesome disputes with the natives to contend with, but she has come gallantly out of the struggle ; and now, were she only to ask fair play, we venture to predict th?t, with her boundless resources, her immense mineral wealth, and her unequalled climate, she will soon rival and pass her older and longer established sisters. New Zealand's great and crying want is, more people — more bone and muscle to carry on the great works commenced by her Government — more people to assist in the ordinary agricultural operations of the country now almost at a standstill for want of labourers, and more poople to go upon and occupy those large tracts of magnificent land now being opened up for settlement. Unfortunately for New Zealand, the gentleman who now represents her interest as her Agent-General seems remarkable only for his supinencss and inactivity ; and instead of fostering emigration, so far as the North of Ireland is concerned (and we challenge auy part of the empire to produce a finer class of men or women than are to be found in the North of Ireland), he seems positively to place obstruction in the way of those anxious to p': oceed to New Zealand. A number of our readers are aware that a gentleman of some standing in this country entered into negotiation with the New Zealand Government through Mr. Farnall, who was then acting for them as their agent in the North of Ireland, to secure a large block of land for the purpose of forming at Auckland, New Zealand, a special settlement of friends and neighbours from the North of Ireland. The Agent-General was appealed to, in the first instance, but gave no encouragement to the scheme. Mr. Par nail then took the matter up and carried it through successfully. What followed thereupon is related in a New Zealand paper, from which we take the following extract : —

"Perhaps in all the history of colonial officialism there would not be a parallel found to Dr. Fealherston in his conduct of the Immigration Agency of New Zealand. Nor do we know whether more to admire his infinite impudence, or the extreme coolness with which the Government tolerate his continuance in office, and his astounding effrontery. We yesterday published a telegram received by the Provincial Government from Mr. JFarnall, who has been appointed to cany out in Ireland a bmnch of the Emigration Department, and who appears to have bsen summarily dismissed by this man for obedience to the instructions of hL> superiors, and tor exhibiting something of a zeal and push that would have piaced in unfavourable contrast the indolence and inaction of the Agent-General. The scheme with which Mr. Farnall was identified was one for a special settlement of a community of friends and neighbours to be transferred from the Green Isle of the North to this sunny ■Southern land, and it had received the approval of Mr. Yogel and Mr. Gillies. Hut our London nabob, taking action on a memorandum which was intended to snub himself, and feeling that blood must be drawn somewhere, hoped apparently to make a scapegoat of Mr. Farnall and his Irish Immigration Scheme." Wo wish the scheme every success, and trust that this rather high-minded, not to say autocratic conduct, will in no way imperil what at one time bid fair to bo of great benefit both to the colony itself, and to those taking part in the Undertaking.