The Waikato Times. SATURDAY, AUGUST 16, 1879.

Waikato Times, Volume XIII, Issue 1115, 16 August 1879, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 16, 1879.

Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political. Here shall the Press the People's right maintain, > Unawed by influence and tmbribed bj gain.

On the 22nd of July, Mr Goldie moved for a return, giving the number of immigrants received into the colony during the year ended the 30th of June last ; the localities iu which such immigrants were located ; and their nationalities. He gave the Government credit for having laid down a correct rule for the guidance of the Agent-General in his selection. In certain shipments he knew that the rule laid down had been adhered to, but wished to know if, in the aggregate, the proportion, as regards nationalities, namely, seven "Englishmen, four Irishmen, and three Scotchmen had been adhered to. The return furnished, shows that during the past year there have bceu introduced into the colony 8,747 souls, representing 1 7,739£ adults; but the nationalities of those do not by any means bear the proportion laid down by the Minister for Imdii. gration (Mr Stout) in his letter to the Agent-General of a year ago. Of these 8,747, there are 4,195 English, 3,023 Irish, and 1,464 Scotch. The remainder comprise French, 3 ; Germans, 19 ; Danes, 2 ; Sweedes,, I ; Norwegians, 12 ; Italians 4 ; other nationalities, 24. Of these, again, Auckland Received 637, Taranaki 193, Hawkes Bay 555, Wellington 1,119, Marlborough 145, Nelson '/0, Westlatid 134, Canterbury 2,988 and Otago 2,906. The v above number includes 2,353 immigrants, nominated by their friends in the colony. The cost to the colony of the passsage money of these 8,747 immigrants was £112,000, the only set off against which is a sum of £1,900 6s 3d paid in cash and bills by immigrants leaving for the colony and by the friends in the colony of nominated immigrants. It we take the returns from the initiation of the Public Works and Immigration Scheme to date, we shall find that altogether 92,850 soula, equal to 78,178 adults have been introduced into the colony, and distributed as follows: — Auckland, 12.064; Taranaki, 2,118; Ha wit eg Bay, 6,971; Wellington, 14,123; iVlarlborough, 1,361 ; Nelson, 1,808 ; Westland, 1,634 ; Canterbury, 25,761 and Otago, 27,010, while the nationalities have been in the following proportion : English, 48,282 ; Irish, 22,323 ; Scotch, 14,81.5, the balance being made up of the various foreign elements before alluded to. Thus, if during the past year the nationalities have not been in accordance with the prescribed rule, that of Irish immigrants being disproportionately large, it will be found that in tho aggregate, the number of English is in excess <»f what it should be when compared with that of tho Irish and Scotch, while thab of the two latter, especially of tho Scotch, last year and throughout, is very much lower than it ought to have been.