The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News and the Morning News. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1874.

Auckland Star, Volume V, Issue 1487, 16 November 1874, Page 2

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News and the Morning News.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1874.

Ifor the oaupe that lacks usslxtanee, for tht; wrunjf i^al- net'cls resiHtaaca, for faa f-j-.turo in tht- ulstiaifc, itoii tis if cod that we osu do.

The miseries to which new arrivals are subjacted might make the subject of a very painful chapter in colonial history. We have been the recipient of a ehorfc history of a new arrival that is really so affecting that it ought not to be lost. With his family a considerable one—he arrived by one of the recent ships at the cost of tho colony. For ten days they were obliged to endure the discomforts of the Immigration depot, and then after very properly resenting several no doubt well - intentioned proposals to provide for them, our colonist consented to go into the country, on an engagement which brought him and his family a little over one hundred pounds a year all found. We have but recently heard the tale from the man' 3 own lips, so that if we feel strongly on it, we must be pardoned. The place where they were put to live, had only three rooms in it, and there was but one fireplace, which was so large and so comfortless that he felt sure the children's health would b9 seriously impaired. Added to this was the fact that they were obliged to go out and collect the fuel themselves, which consisted of bou»hs and logs of wood lying in the neighbouring bush. The man had been engaged for fanning, having been brought up as a ploughman, bul instead of beiny put to this hu was actually sent into the forest to cut down trees, and on our pressing him on the subject we fouuel that this unusual kind of work had given him " a pain across the small of his back," although in a cursory examination we were not able to discover where that particular portion of his anatomy was to be found. But it was in the matter of food this this wronged and unhappy immigrant Buffered most severely. He I ells us that he was actually given dry flour, and on his complaining to his employer that neither he nor hi.s wife had been accustomed to bake, his employer had told them to go to some place hotter than Auckland, and said if they didn't bake it they might eat it raw. We make no mention of the younger members of the family, who, by their residence in the country, were deprived of the benefits of superior instruction, nor yet of the minor evils of insufficient and inferior furniture ; in fact it appears that the "large fireplace," productive of so much discomfort to the children, requires something like a Leamington range. We asked our informant if he thought so, but he did nob say that this wr.s actually necessary. He had also been informed at home, he said, that a farm would be f^iven to him if he wished to commence for himself, and he bad not yet seen any laud that would be worth having, From Dan to Becrsheba ie was all barren. In reply to oar question, he wa3 not sure about Leamington ranges in the cottages to be provided on the farm promised. As a natural result of all these annoyances, and tho conduct of an unfeeling employer, who appeared to merely laugh at their complaints, our colonist has thrown up his situation and come down to Auckland. If there is anyone moved by the recital of this tale of hardship, and desirous of helping a " meritorious family," we shall be hajipy to introduce them ; but we cannot help saying that such people as these are deserving of the deepest commiseration.