THE AGENT-GENERAL AND THE OTAGO AGENT.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 119, 26 July 1873, Page 3

THE AGENT-GENERAL AND THE OTAGO AGENT.

The following is a copy of correspondence between Mr Auld (the agent in Scotland of the province of Otago), and the Superintendent of Otago, and the AgentGeneral on the subject of immigration, included in the papers on immigration presented to Parliament : Memorandum: lor the Agent-General, London.

Herewith is forwarded copy of a letter from Mr Auld, of Glasgow, to his Honor the Superintendent of Otago, covering correspondence between yourself and that gentleman. I cannot but regret the absence of any desire to co-operate with Mr Auld in the promotion of emigration from Scotland to Otago which this correspondence manifests. I trust that long before this reaches you, the emigration from Scotland has been placed upon an improved footing. It is not satisfactory to the Government, nor can it be to yourself, to find the provinces expressing in the most emphatic manner their dissatisfaction with the existing system under the Colonial Government, and making provision for the renewal of immigration under Provincial administration.

I refrain from saying more, because, after the very express instructions which have been forwarded to you as regards the conduct of immigration, and the practically unlettered power of relaxing existing regulations which in your opinion may be of a restrictive character, which has been conferred upon you, it would be unreasonable to anticipate that the expectations of the Government and the colony will not be realised. G. M. Waterhouse (for the Hon the Minister of Immigration). Immigration Office. 18th Dec., 1872. Mr J. A. Auld to His Honor J. Macandrew. Edinburgh, 3rd October, 1872. Sir.—l have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your Honor’s letter of 3rd July, and to state that the rocket apparatus for harbor use therein mentioned has been ordered from Messrs Birt, of London, and is ready to be despatched ; but as it is contrary to law to send such articles by a passenger ship, some weeks must elapse before a vessel can be got in London by which to forward them. Your Honor’s letter of sth June was received by the August mail, and acknowledged in my absence. I was at the time abroad for a short period, but a copy of the letter was sent to me, and on my reaching Paris I wrote to the Agent-General in London, that on the Becond day thereafter I would wait upon him, for the purpose of considering the important contents of your Honor’s letter. On calling at his office, however, I found that he was living at Boulogne, to which place I was informed my letter had been forwarded, and it was impossible for me, therefore, at that time to have a personal interview with him. Soon after my return here, I wrote him of this date, with an extract from your Honor’s letter, containing a full copy of it, with the exception only of that portion of it which instructs me what steps to take in the event of the Agent-General refusing to comply with the proposals submitted to him. But I stated to* him generally what the purport of these instructions was, but with their precise nature I did not conceive that he had any concern. To this letter I received no answer whatever, and the Agent-General’s silence was in no way occasioned by his absence, for I am quite aware of the fact that after receipt of my letter he endeavored to induce a London firm to put on occasional vessels from Glasgow, and that this was refused by them. For reasons known only to himself, he made no overtures to Messrs P. Henderson and Co. In this state of matters I again wrote, of this date, to the Agent-General, expressing my willingness, if desired, to go to London to commune with him, but no notice was taken of my letter. Seeing, however, that the season was passing, I finally wrote to the AgentGeneral, of this date, to the effect that 1 held his declinature to notice my letters as a refusal on his part to consider the proposal submitted to him, and my intention to act accordingly. To this letter I received an answer; but for its terms I beg to refer your Honor to the enclosed copy of the whole correspondence that has passed between us on the subject. In this letter the Agent-General entirely ignores the proposal submitted to him, and besides insinuating in the broadest terms tt at I had been guilty of misrepresentatipns to your Honor, charges me with wilfully keeping hack a part of your Honor’s letter, for the purpose of preventing him detecting these misrepresentations. How the Agent-General, considering the important office he holds, should have allowed himself to express himself in the terms he has thought fit to use, I am at a loss to understand. He had no right to expect that I should send him a copy of your Honor’s letter, nor was I in any way bound to do so. In sending him a very full extract, I conceived that I was dealing most openly and fairly towards him; bat, as the event has turned

out, it might have been as well had I sent him a statement of the purport of the letter. At the same time, had he believed in the truth of the chai'ges he makes, it was plainly his duty, having regard to the important interests involved, to have stated them at the time he received my first letter; but it is pretty evident no such idea then occurred to him, and it was only when he found that I had rightly interpreted his silence, that he had recourse to the method adopted iy him of evading all consideration of the question. It is needless for me to pursue the matter further. Your Honor has all my letters before you, and can judge what truth there is in the Agent-General’s insinuations; but, independently of these, nothing more is required to show their groundlessness than a reference to the facts stated in your Honor’s letter to me, which are undeniable.

Though for a long time I have been of, opinion that the present system was iniurious to the interests of Otago, I refrained, probably too much, from expressing my convictions to your Honor. I do so, however, in the belief that the Agent General’s views and procedure were in accordance with his instructions framed with the consent and approval of the several provinces. I have no doubt it was a : mistake not to take advantage of the existing ' agencies of individual provinces, and to eon fine their exertions to the procuring of emigrants for the provinces of which they had ; some knowledge, and in which they felt some interest, instead of prohibiting thsm from giving any one province a preference over the other, an injunction which could hardly in the nature of things be observed. It appears to me impossible for the AgentGeneral long to continue to refuse to send Scotch emigrants from the Clyde ; but if he has any intention of altering his plan he has not informed me, and I think your Honor will see that his last communication to me left me no choice but to open communication with Messrs- Patrick Henderson and Co, for a separate line of ships from the Clyde to Otago. It would have been most satisfactory had the Agent General consented to take this step hitnself, as there seems to me to be no reason whatever to think that that would have been in any way inconsistent with his general arrangements. I have accordingly entered into an arrangement with Messrs P. Henderson and Co, and have the honor to enclose a copy of their letter to me of 27th ult, setting forth its terms. I trust these will be approved of by your Honor, as the best that it was in my power to make in the circumstances. The season, however, is now unfortunately near its close, and, as experience fully shows, it takes a very considerable time before advertisements resumed after so long a period of withdrawal take effect on the public mind. I fear much cannot be expected to be done before next season. The first ship, the Wild Duck, is fixed to sail on 15fch December, and no effort will be spared to procure as large a number of suitable emigrants as possible. With regard to the terms on which these are to be sent out, the subject is one of much difficulty, but on the whole, after consideration, it has appeared to me to be the wisest course for the remainder of the season to adhere in a great measure to the terms formerly acted on, till it be seen to what extent applications are received, and what classes are most likely to take advantage of (hem, so that I may be better able to judge ere the season opens in spring, what changes may be advantageously made. A payment of £5 per statute adult would, I have no doubt, particularly in the case of families, act as a prohibition to most Scotch emigrants. This view was confirmed by Mr Seaton in a conversation I had with him a few days ago. He informed me that a large number of Scotch emigrants whom he saw were desirous to go to Otago, in preference to any other place, but the terms required were such as they could not comply with, and nearly all of them went to Canada. I regret that the seeds, a list of which was enclosed in your Honor’s letter of sfeh June last, and which were ordered in accordance with your Honor’s instructions from Messrs Veitch and Son, of London, cannot be supplied by that firm. They say that there are only two or three of the seeds that they could procure, and that there would be even considerable difficulty in supplying these; I have the honor to enclose herein first of bill of lading and copy of invoice of the books for public libraries ordered in your Honor’s letter of sth June, and which were forwarded by the ship City of Dunedin, from Glasgow, on 20th September last. Messis Patrick Henderson and Co are quite willing to send two ships to the Bluff, and land emigrants there. I have, &c., John Auld. His Honor the Superintendent, Otago, N.Z. Correspondents between John Auld, W.S., Edinburgh, Agent for the Provincial Government of Otago, and I. E. Feather* ston, Esq, 7, Westminster Chambers, Victoria street, London, Agent-General for New Zealand. 21, Thistle street, Edinburgh, September 2, 1872. Sir, —I regret exceedingly that I had not the pleasure of seeing you when in London last week, and that circumstances prevented me from remaining there until your return. . A considerable time ago I wrote to the Superintendent of Otago for his advice and instructions as to the maintenance of the agency for the province here, as that was indispensable from the change which had taken place in regard to emigration, and it was only in the course of last month that I received a communication from his Honor in reply. As the letter is one of considerable importance, and its contents quite unexpected by me, I naturally feel considerable difficulty on the subject, and think it best that you should be acquainted with its terms so far as material. I

therefore enclose an excerpt from it, and i after you have considered it, I shall be glad to hear your views on the subject. You will readily believe that it would be extremely unpleasant to me to bo put in any way in collision with you on the subjeet of emigration; but it is proper that I should state that, in the event of my being unable to make any arrangement with you, I am authorised by his Honor to make separate arrangements for the despatch of one vessel monthly from the Clyde. It appears to me, however, that the withdrawal of all vessels from the Clyde is the chief source of complaint; and if this should be resumed by you, it is not improbable that all parties would be satisfied, assuming that they could be despatched at sufficiently short intervals It would afford me great pleasure if you

could see your way to make some such arrangement as would remove his Honor’s objections. I do not know how far it is consistent with your own instructions to adopt or sanction the whole plan proposed by his Honor, which, of course, would be most satisfactory ; but if it is not, I trust some such arrangement may be made as will meet his views satisfactorily, and I would be very glad to communicate such to him. —I have, &c, John Auld, 21, Thistle street, Edinburgh, 10th September, 1872. Sir, —I am anxious to hear from you in regard to my last communication, enclosing extract from the Superintendent’s let ter to me. I have another letter from him on the same subject two days ago, and I should like to be able to write to him explicitly by the first outgoing mail. A personal interview with you may not be necessary, but if you desire it, or deem it necessary, I shall be prepared to go South. — I have, &c., John Auld. Dr Featherston. 21, Thistle street, Edinburgh, 20th September, 1872. Sir, —Not having heard from you in reply to my two last letters, I assume that you decline to make any arrangement to give effect to the Superintendent’s expressed views, and thus, consequently, I am shut up to make separate arrangements for the passage of emigrants from the Clyde.—l have, &c., John Auld. I. E. Featherston, Esq. Cotfield House, Gateshead, 22nd September, 1872. Sir, —I must apologise for not having sooner acknowledged your last two letters, but owing to family events I have been frequently out of town. As you have only given me extracts from the letter addressed to you by the Superintendent of Otago, I am not in a position to notice the misrepresentations of which you apparently have been guilty. But I beg to assure you that I have neither the wish nor intention to interfere with any instructions the Superintendent may give you, as agent for the Provincial Government of Otago. —I have, &c., I. E. Featherston. John Auld, Esq., W.S., Edinburgh. 21, Thistle street, Edinburgh, 23rd September, 1872. Sir, —I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of yesterday’s date, which I regret to observe negatives all idea of any arrangement being made by you for carrying into effect the proposal contained in his Honor’s letter of 3rd June to me, and of which proposal I sent you a full copy ; or even of admitting an interview to consider that proposal. In your letter you are pleased to say, “ As you have only given me extracts from the letter addressed to you by the Superintendent of Olago, I am not in a position to notice the misrepresentations of which you apparently have been guilty.” This extraordinary statement has taken me not a little by surprise, and, notwithstanding that our previous communications have been uniformly pleasant, I must take leave to state that the offensive insinuation you make against me is unfounded and uncalled for, and I utterly repel it. I was under no_obligation whatever to give you a full copy of his Honor’s letter, or even an extract from it. It was enough for me to state hi 9 proposal accurately, and, to prevent any mistake, I gave it to you in his own words. With the rest of the letter you had no concern ; but you were made aware that it contained instructions to me to organise a separate emigration from the Clyde to Otago in the event of your declining to agree to the proposal made, and of which you had a full copy. What connection these instructions had with any alleged misrepresentations I cannot conceive. They refer to a matter of the future and not of the past, and I had not the least intention of consulting you how I should carry my instructions into effect. I am at a loss to know on what ground there was any call on me to communicate them to you. But as you have now declined to agree to the proposal submitted to you, I have not the least objection to communicate my instructions to you, and I therefore enclose a copy of the remaining part of the letter. As it is perfectly obvious that any instructions which concerned me only could afford you no aid in judging of the proposal, and could not assist you in noticing the misrepresentations with which you charge me, I have to call upon you to state on what grounds you make or insinuate so gross a charge against me, and what are the misrepresentations to which you refer. In justice to yourself, I can only suppose you have written me without having my letters before you, unless, perhaps, that of Friday, the 20th inst.' —I am, &e, John Ausd. Dr Featherston.