Page image
Page image

A.—2

36

as well as the love of your son the Prince of Wales, to the Arawa people, who are always loyal and true to your Majesty. We hope your Majesty may grant our request. May God preserve and keep your Majesty. From E. Whititeea te Waiatua, Pakaihe Whatihua, Hohepa te Whaeekohatu, Hikamate Hapi, Matenga Taiwhanga, On behalf of the whole of the Arawa chiefs who are connected with the Church of England. Her Majesty Queen Victoria, England.

No. 49. (New Zealand—Emigration.) Sic,— Downing Street, 28th June, 1880. I have the honour to transmit copy of a letter from Mr. C. G. Tripp, of Canterbury, New Zealand, offering suggestions on the subject of emigration, and to request that you will cause the writer to be informed that I have received his communication. I have, &c, GBANVILLE, Governor Sir W. F. D. Jervois, G.C.M.G., C.8., &c.

Enclosure. Sic, — Oran Gorge, Woodbury, Canterbury, New Zealand, Ist May, 1886. Observing by the papers that the English Government have some intention of relieving the over-population of England by proposing a State emigration to the British colonies, and as I have had such an idea in my head for years, I have thought I might give a few suggestions, as I am a colonist of upwards of thirty years' standing, having emigrated to New Zealand in October, 1854, with J. B. A. Acland. I may mention that I am an English barrister, but since I came here I have followed the occupation of what is called a squatter or sheep-farmer. My idea of assisting English men and women to emigrate is for the Government to make use of their discarded men-of-war: these fine vessels, though no longer adapted for warfare, are well worth fitting up as Government emigrant ships, and officered and manned by naval officers and men as men-of-war are now done. This will not cost England anything, as you have the ships, and you have to pay the officers whether they lead an idle life or not. It is only the few seamen you have to pay. The Government should then place itself into communication with all the colonies, and find out and have sent to England, every quarter, what class of population is required, male or female. It would never do to be sending out the class of people you find in the workhouse. It is, as a rule, the young and enterprising one of a family that is only fitted for an emigrant (if the colony says, "We want so many able-bodied men"). As far as New Zealand is concerned at present, we have abundance of all able-bodied men. What parts of New Zealand may require are females —cooks, housemaids, and washing-women. The wages of these vary from £30 to £40 a year. Numbers of families here now would like to be able to nominate their friends, if, by paying a small sum, they could get them out: these make the best class of emigrants, as they are sure to be people that will settle here and make a home, and be adapted for the colony. Certain industries are continually cropping up in various towns, for which a certain class of skilled labour is required —for instance, persons acquainted with dairy factory, foundry, woollen factory, drain- and tile-machine yards, and such-like occupations. If the Mayor of each town in the colony were to send up a list once a quarter to our Minister for Public Works, and if these lists were by him sent to England, the right class of emigrant would be sent out, and our streets not flooded with useless labour. I have long thought it was a great pity, with these magnificent colonies in great want of a certain class of people, that the English Government did not in some way try and direct the stream of population to our shores, instead of seeing weekly such a flood of people leaving Liverpool for the United States. Every man and woman that comes here is a strength to England in helping to build up another great English-speaking nation, whereas every one going to a foreign shore is a weakness to England : looking at it in this light, it is a decidedly wise move of England having State emigration, and, if carried out with such a system as I have endeavoured to describe, there will be no grumbling of England throwing her surplus population on to our shores, as no one is sent here that is not first asked for by each separate colony. By England employing her men-of-war and officers about such work, it does not matter if New Zealand only requires a portion of her human cargo, as she can fill up for Melbourne, Sydney, &c, and so she never need send a half-filled ship. If men-of-war were employed in such a service, England will be doing good in bringing out free of expense all warlike material: this will save us considerably, as in a new country we all begrudge anything spent in unproductive (as we may think it at the time) material. If England brought it out free, it would show she takes an interest in our welfare. I have, &c, The Eight Hon. the Earl Granville, Colonial Minister, London. C. G. Tripp.

Log in or create a Papers Past website account

Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.

By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.

Log in with RealMe®

If you’ve used a RealMe login somewhere else, you can use it here too. If you don’t already have a username and password, just click Log in and you can choose to create one.


Log in again to continue your work

Your session has expired.

Log in again with RealMe®


Alert