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Auckland Star, Volume V, Issue 1305, 14 April 1874, Page 2

It is just twelve months since we advocated the necessity of making some of- the chief seaport towns of Scotland and Ireland the points of departure of some of the vessels chartered under the Immigration Scheme. "Many of the small tenantry of Scotland and Ireland,'

says the article alluded to, " would make

most excellent colonists, and would willingly emigrate to New Zealand if it were brought nearer to them by ships sailing from their, chief seaport towns," It is with satisfaction we learn that our suggestion has been adopted, and that a vessel has been laid on at Belfast to accommodate those who may desire to emigrate to New Zealand from the North of Ireland. Mr Samuel Cochrane has been entrusted with the selection of suitable* emigrants from the North of Ireland, and as he is thoroughly acquainted with the colony and its wants we may hope to find that he has made a judicious choice of men and women who will reflect credit upon the land of their nativity and -prove valuable additions to our population. There is no denying the fact that the Immigration Scheme has not been worked well hitherto. Judged by the number of souls it has brought to the colony it has come far short of what was expected of it, and judged by the class of people it has added to our population it- haa been a failure. This may, to some extent, be accounted for by the strong competition met with from Canada and the Australian colonies, but there remains something to be said of errors committed and duties omitted by the agents of this colony who have been entrusted with the carrying out of the Immigration Scheme. An ancient heathen maxim says, " The gods sell all advantages to the industrious," and if industry and tact had beeD manifested in the proper localities the agents of thi3 colony would have been more successful in their choice of immigrants. It is not by opening an office in a large city and advertising for persons williag to become New Zealand colonists that our agents will succeed in getting the most desirable class of immgranfcs. The sweepings of the streets may be attracted by the offer of a free passage to our shores, and good wages on landing; but the class of people whom it is desirable to induce to come and make for themselves homes here do not generally pay much attention to the "Free Emigration to New Zealand advertisements which stand all the year round in the home papers. They regard these with the same favour that they do the advertisements of quack doctors. It is not in the groat centres of population that the tillers of the soil are to bo mefc with, and it is not standing advertisements that will draw their attention to our broad acres. Such persons are as a rule so attached to the very daisies that adorn their meadows that they would as soon think of going to the moon as they would of suffering banishment to New Zealand. Their home sympathies are very strong, and it requires very convincing arguments to drive from their minds the idea that "be it ever so humble there's no place like home." Still it is not impossible to convince such that far greater prosperity may attond their labours here ; that they can be their own landlords, and look forward hopefully to the time when they would Dot exchange places with the nobility of the old country. There is a wonderful force of argument in the almighty dollar, and there is in the class of persons whoso absence we regret from the bands of immigrants this province has been favored with, • such a desire to tread upon soil they could call their own as would assist in removing the difficulties of distance and home associations when their attention has been directed thither. What we affirm, then, is, that the immigration agents should be directed to devote more of their time and attention to, the agricultural districts of the old country. They will there iind hundreds of small farmers who are open to conviction that they aro losing their time in the old country and spending their strength to no purpose. These are the men who will make good colonists ; men who have had to take out of the soil and pay yearly rent to their landlords of five, six, and seven pounds per acre. Such men could make twenty shillings go farther than mon without such training could make five pounds go. Men of that stamp require to be sought out by means other than advertisements, and if this country is to darive any permanent benefit from the largo sums that are being spent on immigration that benefit can only accrue from the introduction of men whose skill aud indomitable perseverance will turn our trackless wastes into fruitful fields. In the agricultural districts of England and Ireland, aud in the highlands and islands of Scotland, there are thousands of the class we speak of whooould be persuadedto" flit out here," but who never will move until they are stirred up. The hand-book now in course of preparation by the Government will be a valuable aid to the immigration agents. It will give much statistical information of value to those who are ignorant of our resources, and it will help to remove some of the unjust prejudices that have been formed against our colony. But it will miss its aim unless the immigration agents take it in their hands and go in search of those for whose enlightenment it was written, and who will do more to advance the prosperity of New Zealand than the scum of London and the ballet dancers of Paris.