New Zealand Times. FRIDAY, JULY 24, 1874.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4163, 24 July 1874, Page 2

New Zealand Times. FRIDAY, JULY 24, 1874.

The circumstances under which Mr. Holloway, agent to the Agricultural Laborers’ Union in England, is now visiting the various Provinces in the North Island of this Colony, have either been very much misrepresented or misunderstood by some of our contemporaries who have essayed explanations of his mission. It is, of course, well that he should, after travellingmanythousands of miles to the Colony, make a tour throughout it. It is also desirable that he should not be here to-day and gone to-morrow, after the manner Mr. Arch visited Canada. By the time Mr. Holloway will have travelled over the North Island as he did over the Middle one, and has made any arrangements he may find himself in a position to effect, twelve months will have elapsed from his arrival, and then he will be able to say that he has seen the Colony in both its summer and winter clothing. This Mr. Arch could not say respecting Canada, and, therefore, his knowledge of what an emigrant should have to endure when the whole country should be icebound during the rigorous winter season, and field labor -would be out of the question, was necessarily painfully inadequate. But to suppose that Mr. Holloway is inspecting the Provinces with la view to be able to decide whether New Zealand is a country which ho could recommend his fellowcountrymen to come to, is simply to exhibit ignorance, and to pay him the poor compliment of supposing that he is utterly bereft of common sense. A week’s experience would tell him that they would be infinitely better off here than where they are. He, it should be understood, came out under an agreement with the Agent-General. He was offered a free passage in the s.s. Mongol, 20s. per diem travelling expenses whilst in the Colony, and 255. per week to bo paid to his wife during his absence, if he could take with him a specified number of emigrants. Some of his fellow-passengers ho has frequently seen since his arrival, living on such fare as they never had before, working shorter hours, infinitely better paid, saving money—which was out of the question with them before—and thanking Providence that they ever came to New Zealand. What better evidence than this that the country is a desirable one for the Union to send men to, could be required? Ho has also conversed with men whom ho knew to be earning 12s. to 14s. per week in England, who have their own cottages and plots of land, with cows and poultry surrounding them, flitches of bacon and plenty in their houses, and who have told him that they have not the ‘ ‘ comforts” here they had in England. Such an absurdity did not impose upon him. He left them with the impression that they had never been so comfortable before in their lives, and then ho wrote to his friends in England strongly advising them to emigrate here if possible. These are his views, and they will not suffer change by anything that may como under his observation during the next six months. Farther travel and inspection can but make his “ assurance doubly sure.” It is pretty well understood by the Laborers’ Union, and by others, that the mission of Mr. Arch to Canada was a failure, for reasons that were obvious at the time to thinking persons. With this experience before him, Mr. Holloway will not make similar mistakes. His idea is that, for any immigrants that may arrive, there must be one of two courses open. The first, and ho thinks it if not the bettor one of the twe, at least as good as the other, is that they should labor until they have saved a little money, at the high rate of wages being paid. The men the Union would send are, ho thinks, much

more likely to save money than those whom Dr. Featherston’s agents select. So far, we perfectly agree with him. If his mission were to acquire this information and to send it back to hia friends he has been successful. We dare say they would rather get nows from him that Now Zealand is a desirable place to come to ; but wo can scarcely refrain from wondering what the agents of the Colony have been doing, if the managers of the Union required such information. But we pass on. Mr. Holloway thinks some of his friends might prefer to bo put upon special settlements, and have blocks of land upon the deferred payment system. But if they, should, he is convinced that the Government, must find them employment three days per week', or during alternate weeks, until they get their first crop, and perhaps for two years. Otherwise, as he says, they cannot live. And if special settlements are made, regard must bo had to site in these, and to grouping the people together. Of all this there can be no question, and Mr. Arch failed in his Canadian mission because he did not understand it. The first of these plans requires little negotiation to carry it out; the second, a very considerable amount. Mr. Holloway will then, after leaving Wellington, steer for Greytown, Masterton, the Feilding Settlement, Wanganui, and investigate settlements in the north-western portion of tho Province of Wellington, the General Government franking him as tho Provincial authorities refused to do so. He will then proceed Northward, and probably steam from Now Plymouth to Auckland. From thence he will return down the East Coast, visiting settlements in Hawke’s Bay and elsewhere. Then it will bo for him to consider what steps to take. He will have communicated with the Provincial authorities and learned whether they can aid him in the work he has to accomplish. And he will learn whether he can make any terms with the Minister for Immigration. His mission, in reality, turns upon this. The Union is not in a condition to pay tho passages of many emigrants. It may be able to pay partly, as there are men of wealth and influence in England who favor it, but to suppose it wealthy is an absurdity. In order to fully understand the situation Mr. Holloway occupies, it is necessary to know not only what the Laborers’ Union is, but also what it has been doing, and the circumstances under which it was originated. In many agricultural villages in the South of England the inhabitants were, for many years, in a state of chronic pauperism. They labored for a few shillings per week, and had nothing to look forward to but either the workhouse in their old age, or a miserable parish allowance that would just keep body and soul together. Nor were the occupiers of land fattening upon them. The fact was that in the districts, far from the seats of manufactures, the population was too large. The labor market was overstocked. Employment was looked upon as a favor. It was not a fair bargain between master and man, but something the former could at any time withhold from the latter, knowing that a dozen men could bo obtained in his place without difficulty. Private individuals had frequently urged the migration of some of these laborers to places where better remuneration could be obtained, but this had only taken place on a limited scale. The Union has sent hundreds of families from the South of England to the North, where a better rate of wages has obtained, and employment has been more plentiful; and it has also despatched several laborers to Canada. The effect has been to raise the rate of wages of those who have remained some two or three shillings per week, causing a great accession to the comfort of hundreds of families. Nor have the farmers suffered from this in tho main ; as the labor market was overstocked, they could do with fewer men, and all their produce has been selling at a high figure. But although the Union has been able to accomplish a vast amount of good, there is almost an ocean of human misery and distress remaining that it is most desirable to alleviate. Such are the circumstances, and it is for us to consider whether we can co-operate with Mr. Holloway in a work that is really of a philanthropic nature. Wo admit that we want population, and that we have room for millions who are what would be here certainly deemed starving. We want men to bring the broad acres of New Zealand under cultivation, and these agricultural laborers have been cultivating land all their lives. But then, their transport will cost money, and the question, as we said before, is one of terms. We know that if we bring these men out, it will be for their benefit, and also for that of those they leave behind them. The subject, it will be seen, is both abstruse and important—very different to what it appeared when seen in the light of Mr. Holloway merely coming to this country to decide whether it is or is not one he could recommend the Union to send laborers to. That is tho very least part of the question at issue.