Unemployed, in Dunedin.

Clutha Leader, Volume II, Issue 87, 9 March 1876, Page 6

Unemployed, in Dunedin.

The famous- resolutions passed. at a; meeting of the " unemployed "in Dunedin in October last, seem' to have" been pretty largely distributed amongst and published by the home papers — not always, however, with the effect Mr Grant and his mates anticipated. We have received a copy of the ' Aberdeen Free Press of 28th December, in which the resolutions are published. In the columns of the same paper is an article under the heading " Emmigration to New Zealand" hearing* upon the same subject. We have a suspicion, that Mr James Adams was not far from the Editor's elbow, when the article was penned. If our surmise is correct, it is and their evidence that he is the right man in right place. If he, instead of the London Agency Bill had the charge of the whole immigration business of the Colony, we would have had fewer of Mr Grants '-pets" or their meetings in DunediD.

The article says : —

In another column we publish to-day a set of resolutions passed at a. meeting of the " unemployed" in Dunedin ; and in doing so it may be advisable to explain that the copy resolutions sent us came to hand a couple of weeks ago. They have since appeared in some of the southern papers, and been the occasion of comment more or less, The cause of our retaining them in hand till now was the fact that we had some slight suspicions about their origin, and these suspicions were rather confirmed than otherwise by the circumstances that the Dunedin papers seemed to ignore the meeting of so-called unemployed people. An. extract speech by Major Atkinson, Immigration Minister, delivered in the New Zealand Parliament a few a days after, and which we now append to the resolutions of the unemployed, may be left to speak for itself. Perhaps the best answers to the resolutions is the simple fact that during the last three years 42,300 free passages had been arranged for by settlers who wished out their own relatives. It surely speaks volumes for the country when those who know both sides of this question wish their friends to come and join them*; and it is a complete refutation of the resolutions, and of a letter from the Mr Grant, who figures in connection therewith, which appeared last year in a contemporary. To us, it appears incredible that respectable colonists in New Zealand should ask. their friends to break up their homes and cast in their lot with them unless they were fully "persuaded that those same friends would -better their circumstances by so doing. Dunedin, we believe, has long been lavored with a celebrated character in the Mr Grant just mentioned, who believes he has a special mission to redress the wrongs of the oppressed. This sample of the stump orator — who hails from Tomintoul — has for about sixteen years been the only living exponent of the unemployed of Dunedin •; 90,000 persons have landed at Otago during that time, and yet Grant's unemployed don't appear to have become more numerous even by the smallest addition. The Octagon — an open space in Princes-street — is generally the place of his public meetings. There he is accustomed to address tradesman going to or returning from dinner ; and it is rather amusing, we understand, to "contrast the pompous style of the orator with the diminutive form from which the oratory emanates*. The workmen are always sure of a good hearty laugh at the expense of the orator, or at something* he has said ; and in either case Mr Grant is equally gratified. Mr Grant is a man of varied attainments and various occupations. He began life in Dunedin as a dominie, but neglected his school and took to preaching — first, orthodoxy, then the rankest heterodoxy — which no one could be found sufficiently to appreciate. Next we believe he became a laborer on the roads, and no doubt feels that he dignified the pick and wheelbarrow by using them in levelling the Octagon in Princes-street, which had probably endeared the spot to him evar after. Some years ago he became the editor and publisher of the *" Delphic Oracle ' — a single sheet of foolscap (the latter would have been the better name.) When the l Oracle* went down he started the ' Saturday Reciew,' no less, which also shared the fate of its predecessor. The style of these publications was of the Dr Kenealy stamp — rich and classical — and brought him prominently before the public, in addition to making him familiar with prison fare, actions for libel, and bandaged noses.

Mr Grant is a man of no influence nor ability, and he is singularly destitute of common sense. Had his friends taught him some useful handicraft trade, he might have been a serviceable man, and been able to earn his bread in an honorable way. But instead, he was sent to Marischal College, Aberdeen, the result has been the production of a semi-learned and useless mountebank. His, wife is, without exception, we are assured,' the saddest picture, in Itfew Zealand of. mis-used education and misspent effort. In no other town in New Zealand could he exhibit as he hasbeen allowed to. do in Dunedin, and it is simply to be accounted for from the. fact that the elements of fun and. frolic are so stronglyVdeyeloped •in a number of unthinking people there, that fney prefer one of Grant's meetings' to the

best available comedy. And it certainly has this advantage oyer the. other, that the farce is always real, so far as the chief actor is "doireerried.

The number of immigrants who have gone to New' Zealand during the -last three years, amounts' to 61,0.00. ; Of number, Auckland received 8700 ; Taranaki, .1400; Hawk'e's V Bay, 400; Wellington, 9300 ; Marlborough, 1086; Nelson, 1200 ; Westland, 600 ; Canterbury, 16,000 ; and Otago, 18,000.

The Government of New Zealand, judging from the speech of the Immigration Minister, is' anxious .to. avoid like a glut in the labor market, and those who are turning their eyes towards New Zealand will find the state*, ments of responsible ministers far more reliable than the utterance of any poor demagogue. In the same paper we find, a para-, graph, under the heading " Emigrants in New Zealand," and which is as follows ; — " A Rector " writes with reference to the meeting of "the unemployed " at Dunedin : — " A year ago I went on board an emigrant ship off Gravesend, supposed to be taking out agricultural laborers chiefly, I flatter myself trom having lived among them 25 years, I* know an agricultural laborer when I . see him, but I failed to get a glimpse of even a solitary specimen on board. There may have been some there, but 1 did not see them. I saw a great many others, and spoke to several, and they all hailed trom London, and seemed to be men who had never done -outdoor work of any kind. I had some conversation with a mission chaplain who came on board, and he told me nearly half of the emigrants came from London, and too large a proportion of them were unmitigated loafers, of whom we were well rid- at home. Such men as these would hold strong language at an indignation meeting*, but not care for rough agricultural work even at the highest wages."

This confirms much we have from time said with reference to the mismanagement of the immigration department, and the unsuitableness of immigrants being sent out.*