IMMIGRATION.

Clutha Leader, Volume I, Issue 24, 24 December 1874, Page 6

IMMIGRATION.

The following letter from an emigration agent in Dundee to the hon. Dr. Featherstone; Emigration Agent for this Colony, has been handed to us for publication, as showing the very unsatisfactory manner in : which the former are sometimes treated by the latter, and which will, in some measure, . account for the class of immigrants who are now flocking to. our shores :—

[copy.]

"Dundee, 17th Oct., 1874. " J. E. Featherstone, Esq., London. "Sib,— l received your letter of. 15th (with enclosures), Jn_ reference to my commission accounts due at 31st December, 1873, 3lst March, 30th June, and. 30th September, 1874.

"There is really a limit; to h'iman endurance, and you ; seem determined to stretch that to the, utmost. extent. '._ In January last I sent you, a list of persons to whom I had issued forms aqd certificate sheets for the quarter ending 31st December, and not having 1 heard from you for seyeral weeks, I again wrote .you regatding it. You /replied that the . list must, have, been mislaid;, and asked; me to,. send, .you. another, which j did. ; .^evera! .T^eeks after-, wards this was .returned to me, wijfch the" request that I should nll : in , the names ; of the ships in which ; the e'mfgrauts^ sailed. I replied that it was impossible fori me to' do so, my correspondence: -with, theparties inmost cases ceased when;the.;fo.rmand certificate sheet was issued,: and, that I, only knew; ;Qf tjie parties , having jailed; ; either by having: seen, them in Dundee on their way to London to lembaVfe, pr by i their writing me in regard to the forward-' ing of their luggage. No notice was taken iof this, bjut a short time afterwards ; an' account was sent me containing a.list-of-names and ; amount of commission upon i persons to .whom, I had not issued- forms.; jThis I retu^ned^.thin^ngJt.h'ad, been^'nt ;to me bymis^e.j . I again' ! wrote, stajfcihg that I ihtehded : leayihg for a : tour in; America, 'and;f|,?ked : a, 'settlement of my commission' account ; -before • 'the ; 21 st f April, and on ? the morning of my, departure ; I had a noiey stating yo^iweje-sp busy that you coisd not have it, ■ completed then, ipd asking : me - tp ; .rep^you, a.'^elw iKst^Mth names of. the ships^iij,; jpicli .the emigrattts jailed. On f^om^i^erica,in August, I wjbte TQ^: asking: a Wttleih^nV ;of the "account dhy -Ms£^£ipeeMberJ fend forwarded a liptof ; persons to- whom forms had been "issued iUjp.-toj.3oth: J,nns4nsopvt have-up -till ithia ac°°uns, . (qu^artejl^ejidijgf j3lsj6 ./D^fcember,. 1873), andlvj^ xegir&i\o Jjfy JoiWef^you only keep f /writm*g.im^ ftir " ißtfo]walio?( which have Repeatedly : told you :: it : fs impossible ; for toe'tO' ; fu^-sh;^ii*wliich you mifet know I had: not the means; of obtaining, seeing that io many cases the J

approvals and emigration orders Were 5 flentlH direct to the parties themselves. . JH •-;. V I regret having to write thus, bufS surely jit is -enaugh to have ,to bear 'thjßM complaints of emigrants in regard to yourfM treatmentof ..tbem^by fijsli .issuing? papers J felling them »ot to leave their employ-ffH ment nor ; to make any preparations foriH departure "before' (receiving-' emigration"!* orders, and then, in most cases, giving them 19 only a day or .two/'S notice to be -aboard theU yessjel, and; in several' instances, hoV'fur- IB nish ( ing them wjth emigration orders jantij-fl they, reach the ship. The .pompl£ihts |B which this gives rise to are surely enough : .fH to i endure, apart from being annoyed for IB six, jeigfct, or nine nibhths', in arraiiging, tbe^f miserable pittiance t allowed to agents, for ! their trouble in some cases, little mbrjeihaif 1 pays paper and postagje of letters. f 4, ;50 far as I can. see, t)ie- effect oMhig $ treatment of .emigration is, that really good I men, th,Qse. worth. haying, will not submit 1 to the annoyance thus cauWd' them, and .( hence few of the best class ever embark, ; while the comparatively worthless, those * who do jao good for theujselyes here, and r ~ are: not likely to improve in the Colony, if being only to glad 'of 'an opportunity to I leave," actuallyembark. This ••is,-X-think t ._J sufficient to account for the complaints '-of M the New Zealand papers. in : regard, to the 1 class of people sent out there, and: for my -| own part, being satisfied that there is | neither' credit nor prpfit tcj be derived, from. "\ identifying mysett any longer yiUi emigra- ' | tion to ]_Te w Zealand, I wisK ;td plose my , H connection with it. I will therefore thank 4 you to have the amounts due me remitted $ without delay, as it has been all work and ■■:■§ outlay, and no pay to speak of during thei Ijl past two years." -"Til