D.—No. 1

50

CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE

The Government have already, in the memorandum of tho 6th June, No. 67-72, expressed their appreciation of your efforts, and the partial success which has attended them ; but as it is so evident that the subjection of your shipping business to a single firm may be attended with prejudicial consequences to the commercial interests of the Colony, I would suggest that no further contract for ships for a lengthened period should be entered into, and that in place of so doing it would be more advisable to use the ships available from time to time, making arrangements for each vessel as required ; and in the event of your being unable to make arrangements you deem satisfactory, that you then charter vessels, as proposed in my memorandum of the 13th May. On the score of expense, and for other obvious reasons, the Government are disinclined to send Scotch emigrants in ships from Loudon, and request that in all cases they embark from the Clyde. J. D. Oemond.

No. 44. Memorandum for the Agent-General, London. (No. 90, 1872.) Public Works Office, 6th July, 1872. I notice, in your letter of the 4th April (No. 206), that you have appointed several Agents " competent to diffuse information, by means of lectures, &c, respecting the Colony as a whole," and that, in addition thereto, you have " also appointed some 120 Local Agents accustomed to the work ; " but it would have been convenient if you had given fuller information regarding the whole of them, the printed instructions to the Local Agents not enabling the Government to form an opinion as to what portions of the United Kingdom are being operated on, or the status of the individuals employed. While the Government wish to interfere as little as possible with the details of your arrangements, they find that the absence of complete information raises questions as to whether modes of operation which commend themselves to the Government are or are not being carried out under your direction. In memorandum No. 24, of the 30th August, 1871, your attention was directed to the emigration to Otago, which had been so long and successfully conducted by the Provincial Agent in Scotland, and the expectation was expressed that you would gladly avail yourself of the services of that officer. I am not fully aware what agencies you are employing in Scotland, but the Government are anxious that you should continue to keep up the Scotch agency above mentioned, and ship all the emigrants from Glasgow. Knowing the value of the Scotch agency hitherto, the Government are of opinion that very great advantage will result from its being utilized, but of course on the understanding that it is subject to your control. The Government would suggest to you the advisability of establishing emigration branch offices in those counties where emigration is in vogue, as being more likely to secure successful results than the method pursued of employing a large number of Agents, not sufficiently remunerated to give the necessary time and attention required for diffusing information and securing passengers as well as emigrants. To this latter point the Government direct your special attention, as it is extremely desirable that no effort should be lost to secure colonists possessed of capital, as well as ordinary emigrants. The high price charged by shipowners for chief and second cabin passages has long been a subject of complaint, and one which I should be glad if you could, to any extent, at once remedy, and, in the event of your chartering ships on Government account, entirely obviate. You will be good enough to regard these suggestions, and the many others already communicated to you, as the outcome of the anxiety which the Government feel in reference to the immediate development of a large immigration to New Zealand; and thoy desire that every means should ,be adopted to secure that essential result. J. D. Ormond.

No. 45. Memorandum for the Agent-General, London. (No. 92, 1872.) Public Works Office, 6th July, 1872. Enclosed is a report from Mr. Halcombe, the Immigration Officer at Wellington, on the comparative suitability, as colonists, of the Norwegian and Danish immigrants who have arrived in the ships " Celceno " and " England" (2 voyages). As I attach great weight to Mr. Halcombe's testimony, from the circumstance of his having had to receive and locate the three parties who have arrived at this port, and his duties having required him to keep up an intercourse with them to the present time, I trust you will be able to bring the Danish immigration to a close without any more. delay than is necessary to carry out such engagements as cannot be brought to an immediate termination. J. D. Ormond.

Enclosure 1 in No. 45. Memorandum for the Hon. J. D. Ormond. Immigration Office, Wellington, sth July, 1872. In a report on the Scandinavian settlement at Palmerston, I pointed out, last year, the marked contrast between the Norwegian and Danish immigrants, as to their qualifications for successful settlement in this Colony.