TREATMENT OF IMMIGRANTS IN WAIKATO.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 581, 10 February 1876, Page 2

TREATMENT OF IMMIGRANTS IN WAIKATO.

-(BY OUR SPEdAL REPORTER) In our issue of Saturday last appeared * letter respecting the treatment ot the immigrants at Cambridge, signed "Victim. 1 * To that letter we appended a foot note, promising to personally inquire into the matter, and if the statements therein were found correct, to use our influence in rectifying the evil. To this end we sent a special reporter _ to Cambridge on Tuesday last to interview the immigrants there, and to enquire the roal nature of their grievances — if any. The result of that interview our reporter gives as follows :— -On arriving in Cambridge I made my way to the cottages of the immigrants — some seven in number, erected on an acre of ground — and knocked at the door of the first one I came to. It was opened by a woman, decently clad, to whom I stated my mission. She asked me to come in and .look at the place, which I did. The cottage — a fac simile of all the immigrant cottages in the district — contained four rooms of very small dimensions. Three of these -1 was informed were for sleeping rooms for as many families, and the fourth a kitchen, common to all. The rent of each room was 4a per week ; thus for the three rooms the Government get 12s par week, and the only convenience the tenants have is a wretched kitchen in which to cook their food. I will briefly describe the appearance of this house, as it will serve for all. The first room I entered was the sleeping apartment of the family — husband, wife, and five children ; a box and a ledge comprised the whole of the furniture. The bedding, scanty enough in appearance, was i huddled in a. corner. The next room, contained only some bedding, also piled in a corner, where two of the children slept, and for which the father had subjected himself to an extra charge of 4s per week, although no other family occupied the building. The third sleeping apartment was empty. In the kitchen there was only a table of the roughest description, a box and chair for seats, a delapidated colonial sofa, and a few cooking utensils. A number of children were playing about the back door. The woman said you see, sir, this place is' bad enough, but others are worse off than we are. En the next cottage is a man and his wife, of the name of Denton. They came out with, their five children about October last, and went into the cottage where they now are. The husband is a farm labourer, and through bad weather was able to earn very little ; out of that little he had to pay 4s per week for the use of the miserable room his family occupied, and to 6nd them in food and clothing. Shortly after their arrival one of the family was stricken down with typhoid fever, and their being* no medical attendance provided, and the parents being too poor to send for a doctor, the boy lingered on till death put an end to his 5 sufferings. The father and mother were about a fortnight ago attacked with colonial fever. Since then the husbiud has been confined to his bed, and ths wife is just able to crawl about wittf) the aid of a stick. [I saw this pocv« woman ; she looked as if~she would soorf bid a long farewell to th.is world. She was too ill to be questioned.] These people, my informant said, were utterly destitute, and had to rely for the support of themselves and family upon the charity <«r their almost similarly - circumstanced neighbours. There was no doctor to attend on them, and having no money to secure medical aid, were left to recover or die as they might, without their sufferings being in the smallest degree ameliorated by medical comforts. My informant told me they had all suffered more or less from ill ness since their arrival, and never received medical aid except what they were able to pay for, and that was very little. She said shortly after her arrival three of her family were laid up with fever, and before they recovered her husband was taken ill. She had no medical attendant, and had to do the, best she could without one She had got into debt, and now that her husband was at work, most of his earnings went in paying off " dead horses " \ (as - she expressed it), and in rent, leaving them very little for the necessaries of life. Here she called in several other immigrants, whose accounts tallied exactly with that given by her. One man .on my asking if he had anything to complain of said — '.Heather! .If I'd a know'd what I'd gotten to put up wi it'd a taken a lot o' horses to a pulled me across the watter." Some of them seemed to expect that the Government should provide them" with all sorts of luxuries ; they had read something to that effect in the home newspapers ; but most of them would be satisfied enough if something like a near approach to comfort were provided them on their arrival. They said they had been told by the Immigration Officer on leaving Auckland ,that they would have rations provided till they could obtain employment, and that rtbey would be allowed the use of the cottages for six months rent free, after which time they would be required to pay 2s <6difor the weekly use of each room, i lnstead kSI* that only three days rations were, pro^Jddd — and in some cases only one — aiid 4s per week rent was, fiora the first, charged for the use of eaoh room. If they .had to pay a high rent like this they expected some consideration for it. 'I was shewn the back Of the premises, and 1 in the centre was pointed out a large pool of stagnant slimy water whioli threw out a most disagreeable smell. This was caused by the water from the higher ground draining into the 'hollow and settling there. 'In wet weather this extends to the -back doors, so that there was no means of.getting from one place to another, without going at least ancle deep- in water. A little 4£* - age woold rectify this, but then th&y^are only immigrants, and what matter what discomforts they are snbjected to. Another complaint they had, and a lust one too : therewas no water to be had nearer than the river, or a spring running close to the river, and a very long distance from their cottages. They had applied to the authorities to lnvve a well sunk, and w«re informed that Cothiug could be done in tiz»

matter. There in no spouting rountt any of the cottages, and consequently in web and dry -weather they had to carry the necessary water for daily consumption. I naked some of the men what wages they earned, wtd they said during harvest time they got from "5s to 6s per day, and fonnd." But, before and after, their wages varied from 5s to^ 6s per day, without food ; and this only in fine weather ; sometimes they did not make two days in tho week. Of the other cottage and families \I visited the some story may be told. III"^less had Leon amongst most of them ; aßclo^o wonder, when husband, wife, and a family of six or seven boys and girls have to sleep together in a close room, and sometimes from 15 to 20 souls under tho one roof. 'In one of the cottages which 1 visited there were, I was informed, 1G occupante of both sexes. Seven slept in one room, seven in another, and two in the kitchen; and this while there were two or three cottages vacant. All ape \k in grateful terms of the kindness of Mr Reynolds, senr., who has often relieved their pressing during illness. The • couple mentioned as being laid *ip with colonial fever would fare ill indeed but tor the kindly assistance of this gentleman. The specific evils they complain of are : Want of medical assistance ; high rents ; houses overcrowded, and want of drinking * water and drainage. A.S for as I could learn there are at present 5 families of immigrants in barracks at Cambridge, comprising in all .•bout 37 men, women and children.