AFTER MANY YEARS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 9257, 10 January 1889, Page 5

AFTER MANY YEARS.

RETURN OF CAPTAIN ASHBY. A WARM GREETING. A CHAT WITH THE CAPTAIN. HIS REASONS FOR COMING OUT. EMIGRATION TO NEW ZEALAND. PROSPECT OF AN INFLUX OF SETTLERS. Some years ago Captain Ashby was as well known to Aucklanders as the town clock, and the result was that when he arrived here yesterday by the Mararoa he was greeted by crowds of old friends, and hia right hand is now nearly as sore as an American President's after a reception day. They were all delighted to see him looking so hale and hearty, and he received invitations from all sides. " I have so many invitations for dinners, I hope you won't make me ill," lie said pathetically to a Herald reporter. For many years Captain Ashby was in command of vessels trading to New Zealand, in which position he made himself extremely popular. Somo 12 years ago he established the business of Win. Ashby and Co., licensed passage brokers, London. It rapidly grew till it is now one of the largest businesses of its kind in the world. He is at present staying at Mrs. Cashel's boardinghouse in Symonds-street, and he was seen there yesterday by a Herald reporter, who had a short chat with him. " Why have I come out ?" he said. " I have come out to see how the country is getting on. People besiege my office "for a true account of tho country. There have been such gloomy accounts of the place. The English papers are writing the country down—the Standard—grandmother Standard, as we call her—and the Financial News, and all these papers you know—so I thought I would just come out and see for myself how you were getting on." " Then, you are seeking for reliable information for your clients ?" " Yes, I am travelling for the firm, and also for the good of New Zealand, for I'll be able to send out plenty of good settlers when I get home again." " When will that be?" " Next month. lam going back by the Zealandia. Our American season begins in April, and I must be back by that time. I'm tho London agent for the Cunard line, you know." " You traded for a long time with New Zealand, did you not ?" "Yes; but I have been at home seventeen years now. I left here in '73. I came out ou the 21st September, ISSB, and traded backwards and forwards till the 20bh December, 1872, when I went Home to open the doors of the New Zealand Shipping Company. I remained there three years and three months until I established this business in London. The last ship I had was the City of Auckland, and the first the Mary Ann." " What are your movements here ?" " I'm going up Kaipara next Monday. I have property there. Then lam going to Taupo ; I have property there, too. I have been all through Australia, right up to Brisbane, to see the country. It is quite wonderful the number of New Zealand people all through Australia —not in the towns only, but throughout tho country. When I have been waiting for trams or steamboats or ferries, I have got into conversation with people, and I met over a. hundred who have been connected with Now Zealand, and would be glad to get back again. They all said the New Zealand had a bad name, but there were plonty of countries far worse."

" Are many people at homo thinking of coming to New Zealand ?" "Yes, multitudes; and there are numbers coming now. Why, wo had 45 passengers, first and second-class, for the colonies on board the P. and O. Victoria. So you see its a mistake to say nobody's coming to the colonies. There were 26 new colonists for New Zealand, including a large family anrl two retired officers, with pensions from India, bound for Auckland. Of course, you understand, I'm not a paid emigration agent. I'm not paid for travelling about here, and I'm not going to write a book. Still waters run deep, and people who want information will have to apply to me for it." Captain Ash by then produced a little pamphlet published by his firm, giving rates of passage by all lines to all countries, hints about baggage, and other matters of importance to intending travellers. It also contains the following delightfully terse and practical "Advice to Emigrants:"— On landing in a new colony, therein you will rind some thousands of facts and not one fiction. Directly you arrive abroad, shove your capital (whatever it may be —keeping only a few pounds for present needs) into a Bank on deposit, and there let your money lie and fructify for at least a year. Try to forget the existence of your capital for the time, until you gain colonial experience. Avoid the large cities as you would avoid mad dogs ; go up country, into the bush; seek for work, you will very soon find it. If you be a handy man you will not have to wait long for employment, for squatters and farmers will soon find the handy man out. Never mind what the work is; it is not dishonourable to look after stock, or to dig in the farmer's field, or to shear sheep, or drive waggons. Men that can adapt themselves to this sort of work, must do well in any of the colonies. For men who can and will work with their hands; For women who can cook, and make themselves generally useful about a household ; For girls who are ready to learn to cook, and be ready and willing to make themselves useful; For young men who are strong, hearty, and both ready and willing for any employment that might oiler; The colonies are a Paradise ! "Wo send away every year," he said, "about 5000 of these books in reply to letters of enquiry." We say to people, " What are your ideas ? how much capital have you ? Where would you like to go to ?" and then we can give them some idea of their prospects, as we get papers from all parts of the world, and know just how things stand. Since we started we have sent out over 33,000 people to the various colonies." " What do you think of New Zealand's prospects?" " Simply this. New Zealahd, to my mind, is the finest of all the colonies. I havetravelled throughout Australia; I have gone over 1300 miles of railway since I came out; and I stayed at Coolang'atta, a station of 100,000 acres—a beautiful bit of country—the gem of New South Wales ; but still, I think, New Zealand is ahead of them all." " Then, why does it not attracb more people ?" " Well, as soon as grandmother Standard and other London papers cease crying stinking fish, lots of people will come out—people with money. You will have shoals of people—more than you would believe—coming out in twelve months time. There are lots of people only waiting for better tidings before they start. I shall have no difficulty in sending out plenty of people—not paupers. When a man comes to me with his bare passage money, I tell him at once this is no country for him to go to, especially when I see that he is not tho right sort of man. I would like to mention that the Union Company, have been very kind. When I decided to come out, I wrote to them that things were so ill reported on at home, and I read so much in the papers unfavourable to the colony, that, as I had made my all there, I hod decided to go and see for myself, lest I should lose it. As my timo was limited I asked them if they couldfassist me in getting over the country as quickly as possible, and ic would be better for the colony than all tho books. The company, in reply, sent me a free pass for all their boats." "You said you would not write a book. Will you not mako known in any way what you have seen of the state of the colonies ?"

" Oh yes, I shall describe all the different colonies in thab little pamphlet. We publish nothing else." " By-the-way, shipowners are having a good time jusb now, are they not?" " They've never had such [times —there have been no such times since the last war scare. Freights from Australia have gone up from 10s a ton by sailing vessels to 27s 6d, by steamers from 30s to 60s, and by mail steamers from 40s to 80s, and New Zealand freights have followed suit. We have had the greatest difficulty in the world

all last July, August, and September to'get stuff away. We have had goods in the docks for weeks waiting for ships to carry them away." " That means that the depression has gone ?" " Yes, _ quite. Everything's going up. All is quite changed. Some four years ago, when this depression was bad in America, we were doing very little there, but last season w<? were sending away three large Cunard steamers a week, with a thousand passengers each. The season commenced in April and went right into November. The Urabriaand Etrurialast season werecarrying 650 first-class passengers each trip. Well, it was worse in America four years ago than ib has been in Auckland. Look at Adelaide and the Cape four years ago. I was at a dinner there then, and the people thought the place in a state of bankruptcy, but now you can hardly have an idea of the change. Ships enough cannot be found to take stuff away, and goods are left behind at every trip. Tht companies have been running extra steamers to overtake the traffic. You people here don't know what bad times are. You have not seen as much as I have. Why, I laughed at the people when I landed here and heard them talk. Ah, ite a grand country."