VIEWS OF NEW ZEALAND.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1664, 20 January 1904, Page 2

VIEWS OF NEW ZEALAND.

A DISGUSTED EMIGRANTS WAIL. - ; ' VIGOROUS VINDICATION. - " ((From Oar Special Correspondent. „ . LONDON. December 4. " “This country has been very much -over-ratedj' 5 - writes one John S. Wilson V; froiri : a leading hotel iri; Wellington. to > / the Belfast “News . Lette r.”• - lie -has v .rspent two years in New Zealand . with- ■'?_ -oait'gettirig->nythihig to-do c and 'of course ; ; the whole blame must be placed on the : . colony, none lipri himself! ■So John S ; : ' Wilson poors forth hisdisappointed.squi ih bitterness and.: venom, Y denouneing New' -Zealand; its climate, its people, and T especially; its .hotels, -. Y-Hlis; letter. .• is an ; amazing production. • It Ts:. a -tissue, of. V ;the 'most, puerile.; absurdities, but it is : J iyorth .qu otirig bothy as; a puriositv and .as a specimen of what. the colonies -‘have y. to put up -With sometimes. ; . John : S., h YWilsouwhites,on October 19th. .:•, • '“This country, has. /been very. much :: «over-r.atedv ! Living in it is outrageouslydear and'bad. There is. literally no- ;; comfort;: and. the cheating tiiat gobs ; oir- • y; is some thing a(wf ulCanada, to mv’ m i rid, ; ; . offers, fai*. .better' inducements: .so the 'Nlate; Williamy Johnsonfold Imp.. tyhayp : /.' s epent 'atsmall .fortune. getting out here } • and living for .two years.without getting 1 ■ anything to /doI 'consider it my dut ywpto warmother - people/ from being / .se-' . ' •duced by glowing-advertisements regard-’ •-•/'ring' the. oounti-y; - Everything is 'fnglit- . fully dear, and. £IOO a year/at Home is / ' equal:;Tbv : £2oo'befe./ -In" fact y l : would ; . vathen have it than £3OO heffe:. ' There is. ■ /'no. comfort, /as the boarding-houses are . • filthy pigsties, and even the hotels are : : • not;much Y better.- The. food One gets• :".is.. simply beastly. I ,ani leading on the --first opportunity ,r . and going to ’.Canada, y. -yThe ’. scenery/ is: good. ; but fit .costs' a for- r ,/ Tune: toyseo• it, a.s travelling is very dear ;?.: A and very- uncomfortable. ' The place is • •' very -.primitive and” very - /inucli- behind '■' . thQytimas.y, (But The coloilial fancies it is V and equal to . London y; - and, ■ Pailis. / ;Wel lington is. a, v wretch ea; •k >; city. ; r ;and always blowing find raining. T ? Theivistfeetsy;are^narrow//fll-pa^edpbadiyv flighted,- and the footpaths aro a jot;, of/ • ..ruts .and holes.U But the; wharves• arc ; have’beep attending-ythe ; •/sittings of Parliament-and listeningto . 1 i he debates,:.-The membersYarp a .very //poor Jot, most of them being/, .arid uneducated., men. ( There firefonb /. *or ;■two v excepfions//- Sir William’ Russell « ‘-isv a/mfim; of culture and a. • gent-leman ./■ ' yThe .Opposition leader .is a' Nofth r f lre- . >,-land man/- and hails from .Lrphdpnderry 1 '.The,' everlasting, Premier, is the aggies-? >siv e Mr, Sedd-on, and his- follpwefs. aro ; v -:fi set of dumb-dfiyen. cattle, '.who dare, not bp indepeiident. - I tell- all my North Yyof- Ireland friends that I have been most. ; Y cruelly, . deceived- in. tMs ' country' and . Yinost cordially and ..thoroughly dislike y ‘it.-y . T'he. climate is ''.execrable yand not at' . all; what .it : is represented to beliving • :is e2clhemely dear andnrost'abominable; .' . _ and 'everything that you' : purchase . in. ’; : shbps.is thVee;times doa.r.er than atyHome. . YyT have' hpvef..'evbh' hady'a,,good cup of Ytea inythe coldiiy/ janxlthobappri i% yilej; : J ysoV different;; tpY Belfast. , fu- fact, you y}can’t ; get- anythiiig nice . to eat, such as you can even in: Australia. ’I- hope . Y’-that you '.will .' let' my . cdunti'ymeh -see,. ’ ' that one of their .number-has f bund this- .• colony a delusion and a snare, and its .seductiv'e' arlvertisehieiits a libllow mock- ' rerykh ; ’ U"- ■■; y• ■

•..// Colonials • wilk bead this sort of thing // "/with■ amused contempt/ but what must' -v '.people who-i'do not know New Zealand . think of • the, place a/ter reading' a. description like that ? ; -The pity of it "is ’ that Home journals .should open their •columns te such, trash, knowing, as they must, that it. constitutes a gross slander ■ ' upon' a 'prosperous and contented coni- ; munity. I was pleased to see Mr Wil-’ ••;' son’s wild statements vigorously refuted . in issues of the Belfast i ' “News-Letter” by 1 Mr H. ;B. William- • - son;of . Wanganui;,; and "MrS. ' Charles, : -who’ had spent several months iai 'the

• colony. .Both gentlemen did* full .-justice - to .the high ;reputation of New Zealand :hoteliS, and td. the merits of the colony, :■ apddheiif^.efforts to.cduhteract the harm- . ful : impression'' likely to. he created by the extraordinary- effusion, of. John S. - Wilson deserve to. be warmly commendS edi ; /-U b/'-u.:. '•'/ / / - •••.;

v. Emigrants of the John 'S. Wilson type, . seem to" have a weakness for airing their .. grievances in the newspapers. Another Belfast man who has not made the fortune; he . expected in New Zealand', has ; been writing.to. the “Nortliern Whig” in a.somewhatrbitter s'train : regarding life .iri; the polony;' The-journal which prints bis letter, however, points ou t in a very . sensible. .leading .'article that when. men

t; fail in any undertaking, they are only . too reatly.to. excuse their own-faults and s weaknesses and to attribute their want / of success to outside causes. . “New Zea'••v iand';”.says the .“Northern Whig/’ “no ;'.'doubt has its drawbacks, and the man . . who emigrates to it in the hope that ho ; will/get. gold for the picking up is

. likely, to be sadly disappointed.. Those .who ’hope to siiccped. in the.colonies must / . go there determined to overcome every / obstacle. / Our . early . colonists who /proved successful in their •' undertakings were men .not .easily daunted. ' The / /weakling who cannot 1 succeed at Home /isnot, likely., to prove a success abroad, r- If anything more; strenuous efforts must be put forth in the colonies than in the •old country. But in the colonies there is

ample scope for the man of strength, ability and daring, who is prepared to throw his whole -energy into the work which is allotted to him. Let -us admit at the outset that the colonies do not offer any attraction for the wastrel or the ne’er-do-well. Men must possess sufficient stamina if they hope to take their full .share in consolidating the young nations of the British Empire.” That seems to me an excellent rejoinder to the w,ail of the disillusioned emi-

grant. . , ASSISTED PASSAGES. The discussion in the New. Zealand Parliament on-the advertisements 'which the Government is inserting in Bri- . t-ish. provincial newspapers < revealed a

good deal of misunderstanding as to the actual facts. The Government has never advertised that 2.000,000 acres l of “first- * class’ ' land'; were open ~ for y settlement, '.nor has it encouraged a stream, of needy immigrants tp enter New Zealand - by thebcheme of “reduced” passages. The affangement with fh-e shipping com-pan-;ie®Yprovidii)g: for a reduction in the pas-sage-money has been in force for two or three years, for the' benefit of the man. wit-h a small capital who intends to take up’ land and settle in New'-Zealand. This is the type: of immigrant.. surely, . which , - tlie colony, should endeavour, to ehcoufage, bnd' as a. matter of fact the concessions granted by the shipping companies,’ at the instance- of the Government have resulted in a steady increase, 'in the number Of. bona, fide immigrants.

During the past three or four months The increase has been specially marked. The charge that the Government lures these people out to the colony by specious mis-statements is ,an •aspersion upon the Agent-General’s Department, which the facts of The case will not substantiate. It is complained that- tlie advertisements in question made no' reference. to the balloting of Crown lands: but- the. advertisement is. not iriterided to be a complete guide to the would-be •settler, and to suggest tiiat it should be is, absurd. The emigrant -whose att-em t-i'pn. is attracted ..by-one. of-these advertisenients has only to wtit-e to or visit.' They Agent-Geneta’l’s office, and. he is at once supplied with printed instructions -regarding'the - methods of-v -selecting' -Grown lauds,• anclr-wlit-h as much general information .as -he may -desire, hj'o emigrant with any common-sense dt all is going to rush, off to a strange la-ndyupon the strength of a pictorial Advertisedirect^;• liis attention to the quarter; where, he' may ; obtain . they information, .he;.needs, Then,it'has served Yits pui’pose.. This is suiyely vei’y slender -ground upon which tQ' suggest that the poor, ignorant Britisher. is “lured”.' to- ctbss the seas - oh fa-Lse pretoiices';, To criticise a useful and,' energetic department: in such a. strain' is both liiigenerous.and unjust.

In : this connection the:following-, comb me>nt; Belfast ‘Northern" Whig” may be of' interest':—(-“A • lively".debate was recently (inaugurated in the House of RepresentativeSiY.Wellington, regard-*, ing an advertisement which TheYGpverh-! ihent- had published in the ‘Nortiiern Whig’ (setting forth the. advantages of -Ney\y Zealand as a. place .for i colonists. The criticism of Mr Seel don’s action -floes not strike one as heiiig broad-minded. The plain object of his critics is to shew up.-the; worst features of New Zealand life,-and in this way prevent people .from the United Kingdom settling there. This is not i r ery patriotic. Such, apo 1 1 cy is short-sighted .in the extreme, ancl if those, who. are responsible for it hope to benefit by... restricting the supply of labour they are making a great- mistake. A foolish policy like this if given effect to might prove disastrous to the future welfare of Now /Zealand. Surely thefirst requisite to - the success of any colony is a substantial population. It is a perverted system of economy that aims at enriching a'country .by keeping down •its population. New Zealand, in common with all our colonies, needs more men ; and the Government of the country in endeavouring to supply this want- out of the surplus population of the United Kingdom,is entitled to praise instead of llama.”

LIFE AND TRAVEL IN THE COLONY.

Apropos of the attacks, on New Zealand hotels, brought about bv Mr Emery Stark’s eulogies of those institutions in the “'Morning Post,” Mr W. Dymock, wild knows, liis New Zealand a good deal better than ninety per cent, of the colony’s globe-trotting detractors, writes to the “Morning Post.” as follows: —“To a New Zealander it is amusing to see the recently published opinions on travelling in New Zealand. As a matter of fact* there are few countries outside •the- professional type where tourists can be so comfortable. In the first place, the steamers are good and well provided, the clubs are numerous, and to any properly introduced visitor are hospitable.. Being also residential as a rule, they make extremely agreeable restingplaces. As to the hotels, those in the leading centres are well up-to-date, the charges are moderate, food plentiful and of excellent quality, while the liquors are quite, equal to those of any hotel in' London and miles' better than the t-iasli that does duty for whisky in not a few places. In the country the accommodation is adapted to surroundings. My experience has been always - satisfactory. Any sensible traveller may rest assured that the Britain of the South will well repay a visit.” Mr Gerald Ailhusen has an article on

the “cockatoo” farmer of New Zealand, in Dr.-H. S. Lunn’s magazine, “Travel.” He describes the “cocky’s” life as healthy, laborious, and on the whole happy. “Unexpectant of large gains, he earns enough for his present needs, and can save a little for the future. Living in one of the finest climates in the world, what more could the heart of man desire? Surely, in his case, the prayer of Agur., son of Jakeh. lias its fulfilment: .‘Give unto, me neither poverty nor riches, feed me with'food that is convenient for me.’”