NEW ZEALAND AND THE EMIGRANT.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 31, 31 October 1907, Page 10

NEW ZEALAND AND THE EMIGRANT.

MR. TREGEAR WRITES.HO ME/. • Some time ago, a letter was sent from Duncdin to the Home-papers regarding tho conditions of living in Now. Zealand. . - Tho matter lias not been allowed to rest; for ill tho "Manchester Guardian,of September 18, appears tile following letter'from Mr. ' Trcgear:—- ' Sir,—There has been. brought to my notice a letter printed in your, issun of May 2,1907.-..;:. • It bears the signature of A. It. Hardy, housa and labour agent, Dunedin, New Zealand. ' Tho letter is an attack on this Colony and V its resources.' It is written "in the'strain of : the two following sentences:—"lf you al- . low the people to. come to New Zealand'theywill be stranded. 1 Hundreds would go back if they had the money 'with which' they landed." This latter sentence is true enough, though not in t.hc soiiso intended, for'very i many New Zealand people go back to, theOld Country (as visitors) with the; money they bad when they landed, and with soma thousands of pounds to spare'. It is true that tho Colony is a hard placo just at 'first to a man who lands without a shilling in his pocket,, but itlie absolutely moneyless man has great disadvantages everywhere/... particularly if lie. has no special trade or calling. 1 there are hundreds '' of beautiful homes in New Zealand owned by men who immigrated without a'penny, i-nn/i ' r ''' a alone wo have received over ' 40,000 men in the last four 'years,''and!'they'Vi have been quietly absorbed "among a popula-'' tion whiclr is,* considering its numbers, one —' ■of the in itlie world. I-do not' know i the Mr. Hardy: in■ belittling the place in which lie-gets his bread, but the s general value of this letter "may-be'judged' ■ I'r' ° ,vn d 0 " 11 '' 0 statement. -'He■ says<• .'Fruit in a country .town near' Duncdin is • left to rot on the tree,-, as it not -pay - to send by rail, the charge: being'too hign. ,r It may be of interest to your readers to know that the New Zealaiid railways,, being • owned by the Stato and not having to show > swollen , dividend- lists, carry fruit any. dis«? itancc (oven hundreds of miles) for the charge of sixpence fier 501b. weight. If. this is re-' -. garded by tlie English farmer as excessive ■ • your newspaper should certainly not "allow" him- to. come to New-Zealand, but if ho has - - ; the grit that ■ will make him-i succeed where thousands of other people are succeeding, lis: will receive a welcome here, and take his chance with tho rest of'us. ; —Yours, etc., , EDWARD TREGEAR, ' ' ' Secretary'for-Labour, '.... Department of Labour, Wellington, . New Zealand, August 9. "