THE OFFICIAL MACHINERY OF EMIGRATION.

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 680, 20 October 1852, Page 3

THE OFFICIAL MACHINERY OF EMIGRATION.

[From the "Spectator," May 29.] Sir John Pakington's admissions and promises to the Yorkshire deputation, last week, are the ; most emphatic condemnation which, his depavt- | ment has yet received for its conduct up to this point. He told the deputation, explicitly, that the Australian Governors have not said anything having a tendency to create the impression that emigration was not necessary ; Lord Derby having told the same gentlemen, only two days eai*lier, that Mr. Latrohe preferred to* have emigrants " gradually,'' and so far confirming the " impression" previously created, that the Australians by no means laboured under the haste which was ascribed to them. Whether the requisite amount of emigration be possible or "not, whether it be English or Chinese, the effect of Sir John Pakington's frank avowal would be appreciated by those gentlemen who had heard Lord Derby's previous declaration, and who had been subjected to the "impression" repudiated by Sir John. The public has been amused with a ceaseless mutation of the figures said to represent the sums in the hands of the Emigration Commissionor» : our readers will remember that we have previously calculated the gross amount as probably approaching £200,000. The sum of £100,000 has recently been sent from Port Phillip; and, although some of the original fund must since have been spent in emigration, Sir John now admits that the gross sum in hand is £318,000. Sir John now admits that there will be no difficulty in finding emigrants, but only ships, for a sudden deportation; and yet, for months past, emigration — the gradual steady emigration that might have" mitigated the crisis — has been checked, or in some cases been suspended altogether. It has been suspended to Sydney since the commencement of the winter. The case of Sydney is pceularly bad. Sir John Pakington confesses to having in hand, of Sydney funds, more than £70,000; though we strongly suspect the people of Sydney would reckon the sum to be higher. That money has been laying' idle for the last six months, in the face of the grievous complaints of the Sydney people. But what will the English reader say when he learns that this money — at least the greater part of it, but we believe the whole — is the produce of a loan, for which the inhabitants of New South * Wales have been paying interest all this time ! The difficulty now alleged by Sir John Pakington is that of procuring ships; but there is reason to believe that this 'difficulty might be overcome like the rest. If not, we might still more justly call the Government to account for having got into the scrape in which such vast interests are so destructively involved. But there are reasons for thinking that any department of ordinary capacity would find this difficultyjjdisappear at the first move. Heretofore the official ports have been London and Plymouth; and if a few ships have been chartered at Liverpool, that is the extent of the departure from the routine. Perhaps if the ( Emigration Commissioners inquire elsewhere, they will discover that there are such things as ships at Glasgow, Hull, Leith, Bristol, and other ports. At least they cannot tell till they try. But down to last week, the Colonial Department was going upon the plan of stinting the Australian funds, accepting emigrants only on the most picksome rules, limiting its shipping to certain ports — in short, dealing with emigration as a thing to be systematically checked. Within a month Sir Joka^JPakingfcoii himself talked as if Government had not yet advanced any further then to send out a few troops, and to "communicate" with the Commissioners on the subject of sending out some weavers. !Now there must be some practical reasons wlij^ all these elements of a great colonizing power, opportunity, and necessity, are rendered of none direct, and assuredly we must seek the reason in the part where the pinch lies. It lies in the Emigration Office. Of what does that office consist? Of three Commissioners, a Secretary, various subordinato officers, and certain "selecting agents." When the old South Australian Commission was merged in tlxe Colonial Land and Emigration Commission, which in part adopted the old South Aus* tralian policy, the old representatives of that policy, from divers reasons, left the scene; and they were replaced by new men. The chief Commissioner now is Mr. Murdoch, formerly a clerk in the Colonial Office, and only known in connexion with that office. The report of Sir John Pakington's manner is> very favourable, for its air of ingenuousness and zenl : of Air. Murdoch's demeanour the report is not so favourable — his virtues appear to the colonist or rleputaliomst to be reserve, and the duo observance ol Talleyrand's precept touching zeal. Mr. Roger* wms a lawoflicov, i'ov whom ilia Colonial Clice no longer found employment, and who is billeted on the Commission. Of the third Commission or, Mr. Wood, the repoit is, that he is courtoou I',1 ', cordial, and serins inclined to action; but of him wo hear little. The Secretary i" a man of much ability, and tho old official habits. The rest of the force is concealed from public view, until its nether end appears again in the selecting agents.