D.-2

14

It is right that I should explain that a properly qualified person going alone would not, at this office, be considered ineligible for an appointment as matron because she intended after her arrival in New Zealand to proceed to one of the Australasian colonies. The cost to the Government of the passage of Mrs. Drake was £14 10s.; her gratuity is £5: total, £19 10s. The matron's services, if properly performed, are worth much more than this sum. Permanent matrons, as employed by the Victoria and Queensland Governments, cost per voyage from £40 to £50 each. As, however, Mrs. Drake had a child whose passage cost would also be chargeable to the Government, I have no doubt that, if all the facts had been correctly represented to me, I should have regarded her as ineligible for the appointment of matron. I have, &c, I. E. Peatheeston, The Hon. the Minister for Immigration, Wellington, N.Z. Agent-General.

r^—rw—^^^^iM>iiiii !■■■ m i ■■übiiii i i tm No. 23. The Agent-Geneeal to the Hon. the Ministee for Immioeation. (No. 902.) 7, Westminster Chambers, Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W., See,— 23rd December, 1875. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter No. 230, of October 25th, enclosing copy of correspondence with regard to a resolution passed at a meeting held at Dunedin. This resolution, with others passed at a subsequent meeting, appear to have been sent to some of the principal newspapers in the United Kingdom, and have been copied therefrom by a large number of other papers. I herewith transmit extracts from the Times newspaper of the 20th and 21st instant, in which you will observe I replied to these resolutions by means of an extract taken from the statement made by you in the House of Representatives, as well as by a few additional remarks. I also sent copies of this extract at once to my principal agents, and to some of the papers which had published the resolutions. I then caused the extract to be printed and to be sent to a large number of newspapers in all parts of the United Kingdom, together with a letter similar to that which I addressed to the Times. I trust that these measures will to a great extent neutralize the effect caused by the publication of resolutions which, if uncontradicted, would deter many suitable persons from emigrating to New Zealand. Attached to this letter you will find copies of the letter addressed by me to the newpapers, and of the extract from your statement which accompanied them. The rates of wages given were taken from the report of the Immigration Officer at Dunedin, which I received from you by the last San Francisco mail. % I have, &c, I. E. Featheeston, The Hon. the Minister for Immigration, Wellington, N.Z. Agent-General.

Enclosures in No. 23. Exteact from the Times of 20th December, 1875. Emigrants in New Zealand.—The following communication has been addressed to the Liverpool Albion : —" At a meeting held in the Temperance Hall, Dunedin, 6th October, where upwards of 1,200 persons were present, the following resolution was unanimously passed, and ordered to be signed by the chairman on behalf of the meeting, and sent to the House of Representatives:—' That this meeting of unemployed workmen now assembled in the Temperance Hall, Dunedin, views with increasing alarm the action of the Government of New Zealand in bringing emigrants to this country, which is already crowded with unemployed workmen who are utterly unable to find work of any kind. This meeting respectfully requests the Government to stem the tide of emigration, and to find work for the unemployed residing in this province, and who are now bordering on starvation. Signed, John Moebis, chairman.' At a meeting of upwards of 600 in the game place, October 18th, the following were unanimously passed : —' 1. That the present policy of flooding the New Zealand labour market with shoals of poor emigrants is subversive of the best interests of the colony, destructive of the best interests of thousands of starving operatives in the colony, and calculated to demoralize the whole body of the population. 2. That the Parliament of New Zealand has treated with silent contempt the complaints of the unemployed, and in the interests of the capitalists and landowners particularly has voted half a million sterling for the introduction of emigrants, and thereby intends to perpetuate their present wicked and abominable policy, and reduce the rate of wages to the lowest possible scale. 3. Therefore, in self-defence, the operatives of New Zealand are constrained to have recourse to stringent measures with a view of opening the eyes of their deluded rulers, as well as acquainting the people of Great Britain with the real state of the country, and the miserable fate which such as intend to emigrate will have to encounter on their arrival in this much-belauded, but corrupt and misgoverned, corner of the Queen's dominions. James Thomas, chairman. Dunedin, 23rd Oct.' " Exteacts from the Times of 21st December, 1875. EMIGEANTS IN NEW ZEALAND. To the Editor of the Times. 7, Westminster Chambers, Victoria Street, Westminster, Sib,— 20th December, 1875. Referring to the paragraph in the Times of to-day's date containing the report of certain resolutions passed at a meeting held at Dunedin, I would ask you to publish the enclosed extract