AGENT-GENERAL, LONDON.

43

D.—No. 1,

Clause XVII.—So many emigrants make mistakes in the quantity of baggage, and bring out more than the regulations allow, that while the printed clause may be retained as a check, it is deemed unwise to charge for any overplus they may have. It is, on the contrary, desirable to encourage emigrants to bring as large an outfit as they can ; and in future contracts with shipowners a greater space than 10 feet per adult should be stipulated for, so as to provide for any excess of baggage. The Government have noted with pleasure the care you have bestowed in making your shipping and other arrangements, and they have limited themselves to making only such alterations as experience on this side has shown to be desirable for their smooth and efficient working. W. Reeves.

Enclosure in No. 32. The Rev. G. C. Cholmondeley to the Hon. W. Reeves. Dear Sir, — Heathcote Parsonage, 20th May, 1872. At your request, I reduce to writing the substance of some remarks on immigration lately made by me in conversation with you on that subject. I then ventured to direct your attention to one or two special difficulties in the way of emigration from the Eastern Counties of England. It is, I believe, generally admitted that the best class of agricultural labourers is there to be met with ; and although the rate of wages is lower, and the condition of the labourer and his family much worse than in other parts of England, yet comparatively few emigrate. 1 The reasons for this I believe to be —(1) The poverty of the working people ;in the great majority of cases they would be unable to raise funds to proceed from their parish to the port of embarkation. (2) Their ignorance, and, as a result of this, their fear of moving from their native place. The farmers, who are the chief employers of labour, are not slow to take advantage of this timidity. Lest immigration should cause a rise in the price of labour, they discourage it as much as possible, infecting doubts into their workmen's minds as to the motives of emigration agents. It is well known how powerful is the influence of the farmers in those parts over their workmen, who are in fact almost entirely dependent upon them. I would suggest that, in order to secure a supply of emigrants from these counties, a greater effort than appears to have been hitherto made is necessary to reach the working classes, and inform them of the inducements the Colony offers as a field of emigration ; and that to such persons as are willing to emigrate but are unable to defray the cost of conveyance to the port of embarkation, the necessary funds should be advanced and the amount added to the bill for the passage money, to be repaid by instalments after arrival in the Colony. There are numbers of the best workmen who can never emigrate until some such help is given them. I have good ground for making this statement. Thirteen or fourteen years ago I lived in Norfolk, as curate for a large parish. Wages then ranged from 9s. to 12s. per week ; the people lived in great poverty, the children growing up in ignorance, as sheer necessity compelled the parents to send them early to labour in the fields. Acting upon information obtained from me, one family from the parish I refer to emigrated to this settlement. They have prospered here, but they have not been followed by any of their former friends and neighbours. In 1859 I lectured on New Zealand at Chepstow, Sydney, and one or two other towns in or on the borders of the Forest of Dean ; in consequence, some 40 or 50 people came here in the first ship that sailed to Lyttelton from Bristol. These people have from time to time been followed by others, and there are now in Canterbury some 200 or 300 persons who have come from the Forest of Dean. The difference in these two cases I attribute to the fact that the better circumstances of the Gloucestershire men enabled them to avail themselves of the Immigration Regulations of the Colony, whilo the Norfolk labourers, equally desirous of emigrating, were from their poverty unable to do so." I venture to direct attention to the Isle of Man as likely to supply a large number of immigrants of a suitable class ; the inhabitants are frugal, industrious, and quick in adapting themselves to circumstances. Large numbers are employed during the summer months at the herring fishing—during the winter they are occupied with farm work ; and the varied nature of their employment gives them qualifications greatly in favour of their aptness as colonists. In 1860 I went out to Melbourne as chaplain of a large emigrant ship. The ship sailed under the regulations of the Park Street Commissioners, which appeared excellent in every respect. Two features in their arrangements seem especially worthy of consideration— Ist. The employment of a staff of medical officers paid according to a graduated scale. 2nd. The whole accommodation of the ship devoted to the Government immigrants, no other passengers being taken. This arrangement is greatly in favour of the preservation of good order. The whole responsibility rests with the doctor, the captain to interfere only when his assistance is needed to carry out the directions of the medical officer. I think that a small pamphlet or circular giving such information as is required by intending emigrants would be very useful. The labouring classes correspond little with their friends at home ; after a few years' residence in the Colony, the correspondence often ceases entirely, in a very large number of cases. They are unable to give in"an intelligent form the information their friends require, but I think they would often be ready to endorse and send home a statement prepared for them. I have, &c, The Hon. the Resident Minister, Middle Island. G. C. Cholmondeley.