D.—No. 4,

6

REPORT OP THE IMMIGRATION

I append a return showing the expenditure on account of surveys for water races. It amounts to £109. Immigration. An essential part of the Colonial Policy is Immigration. This was frequently stated by members of the Government and influential members of both Houses in the debates of last Session, and is re-affirmed in the Act itself. If the construction of great works of communication in this Colony be of pressing importance, the presence of an increased and increasing settled population, which shall to the greatest extent facilitate their construction and increase their use, is equally important, and, moreover, is necessary to the success, and even to the existence of the other. Progress can not be expected in a young Colony from public works alone. But the addition of settled population cannot be permanently secured without its attachment to the soil, and the Immigration and Public Works Act recognizes that necessity. The 17th section authorises the Legislature of any Province in which any railway or any part thereof is proposed to be constructed, to recommend to the Governor the reservation of waste lands within such Province, "in and for the construction of such railway or part." It is evident that it is not intended that the land so reserved shall be merely the line of railway, for the latter part of the section authorises the Governor, if he shall think fit, to grant such land or part thereof to the contractor "as compensation in whole or in part for the construction of such railway or part thereof." This is one use to which this reserved land can be applied ; but there is nothing, so far as I can see, to preclude its application to the settlement of immigrants under the provisions of the 39th and 41st sections, to which I shall presently advert. The 20th section also enables a Provincial Legislature to commute the money charge against the Province on account of railways into land to be given to the Governor for the purposes of the Act. I would now refer to the 39th and 41st sections, which give power to deal with the lands authorized by the 17th and 20th sections to be reserved. The 39th section authorises immigration contracts to be made by the Governor to form part of railway or road contracts, and provision to be made therein for giving immigrants employment on such works, and " for giving free or other grants of land to any such immigrants." The 41st section authorizes the Governor, at the request of the Superintendent, to make regulations for (among other purposes) " the introduction into " and settlement in such Province of immigrants, and for selling as special settlements for any such " immigrants any lands which he may acquire from any Province under the provisions herein contained, " or any lands acquired under ' The New Zealand Settlements Act, 1863,' or the Acts amending the " same, and for laying out and allotting any lands so acquired amongst any such immigrants." It is evident that any lands which the Governor may acquire from any Province under the provisions of the Immigration and Public Works Act are lauds acquired under the 17th and 20th sections to which I have just referred. The conclusion, then, is obvious, that the 17th, 20th, 39th, and 41st sections of the Act, read together, provide for the reservation of waste Crown land, and for its appropriation to the settlement of immigrants. Strong reasons may no doubt be urged that further powers should be granted, and more precisely defined, but I have referred to the subject at some length in order to show that the Act as it stands has not omitted to provide means for the territorial settlement of immigrants. Correspondence with Superintendents of Provinces on this important subject of immigration, both irrespectively of and in connection with such settlement, will be laid before the Legislature. It must be borne in mind that the General Government cannot take steps for the introduction of immigrants under the Act except at the instance of the Superintendent of the Province concerned. Already the Provinces of Hawke's Bay, Wellington, and Canterbury have taken practical advantage of the Act in this matter to a considerable extent, and I anticipate that other Provinces will soon do the same. The correspondence will also show that the Government have promised, in the case of the Provinces of Canterbury, Otago, and Hawke's Bay, that the Legislature should be asked to authorize a refund to them respectively of certain expenditure incurred by those Provinces on account of emigrants who had been sent for, and who were on their way to the Colony when the Immigration and Public Works Act of last Session was passed. The Canterbury claim is £7,325 17s. Bd., against which there is a set-off of promissory notes to the amount of £1,582 55.; that of Otago is £6,904 7s. 6d.; the exact amount of the claim of Hawke's Bay has not yet been ascertained, but will probably be about £700. I append a return of expenditure and liabilities up to 30th June last, on account of Immigration. The amount is £34,530 15s. 5d., about a third of which is to be refunded either by relatives and friends in the Colony, or by the emigrants themselves previously to and subsequently to embarkation. Under tho authority of the 45th section of " The Immigration and Public Works Act, 1870," an Agent-General in England has been appointed, and Dr. Featherstou has been selected for that office. The great public services which he has rendered, and his self-devotion for so many years to the public interests will, lam sure, render this appointment acceptable to the Colony; and his high qualifications afford ample assurance of his efficient fulfilment of the onerous and very responsible duties which, will devolve on him. The printed papers which accompany this Report will, I trust, convey a full and intelligible account of the practical initiation of the policy contained in the Immigration and Public Works Act and Railway Act of last Session. It is almost unnecessary to state that the power of giving proper effect to that policy was dependent on the raising under " The Immigration and Public Works Loan Act, 1870," of the necessary funds, and on the completion of negotiations with the Home Government respecting the loan guaranteed h^ the Imperial Parliament. The Colonial Treasurer has been successful, during his recent visit to England, in effecting both these objects on favourable terms. Another condition on which the life of the policy also depends is the continuance of tranquillity in the North Island; the recurrence of any wide-spread or prolonged disturbance will derange the whole machinery of the system and paralyse its action. W.- Gisbosne. Public Works Office, Wellington, 3rd August. 1871.