New Zealand Times. THURSDAY, JULY 30, 1874.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4168, 30 July 1874, Page 2

New Zealand Times. THURSDAY, JULY 30, 1874.

The publication of the most recent despatches from the Premier to the AgentGeneral in London, on the subject of immigration, has bean looked forward to with interest, because an opinion had gained currency that they Avould be found to contain censure of an unusually severe description. This expectation has not been well founded, and how it could have been generated is an insoluble mystery. The Premier, on being questioned in Parliament respecting the subject, said lie was not aware that any despatches of the description indicated had been forwarded. So far, he was perfectly correct, but lie Avas bitterly satirical. Some of the despatches presented to Parliament at the commencement of the session Avere severe enough, and these that folio waroin the very same strain. On reading the former wo expressed a doubt whether Dr. Featherston ever took the trouble to do so, and we now find that some such suspicion crossed the mind of the Premier. Writing to Dr. Featherston on June 29, and enclosing official documents relating to the La Hogue, he remarked of a report that the surgeon-superintendent of a ship had forwarded to the Agent-General’s office, —“ No notice Avfiatever appears to have been taken of this communication, and yon have not even informed me of its receipt, much less of any action you may have taken in consequence. I am led, therefore, to assume that this letter of Dr. Bussell’s has been laid aside as unworthy of attention, and that no closer inspection of the fittings and stores of ships Avhich have sailed subsequently, has been thought necessary.” This conclusion Avas unavoidable, or that the Agent-General read his letters, tossed them into the wastepaper basket, and dismissed them from consideration. Although the greatest alloAvance may be made for the difficulty attending the shipment to New Zealand of so many thousands of suitable emigrants, no one can read the correspondence without arriving at the conviction that there have been mismanagement and neglect of duty on the part of Dr. Featherston or his agents, and that, had instructions fonvarded from here been attended to, disease and death Avould have been avoided. The mortality on board the emigrant ships did not arise from causes beyond the control of man. Although the visitation of disease is sometimes of a mysterious character, that Avhich is endemic may be traced with certainty. The agents of Dr. Featherston shipped emigrants Avho Avere afflicted Avith endemic and infections disease, and the natural consequences ensued. It Avas believed by the medical authorities in Dunedin that a very virulent form of rubeola, or measles, then very prevalent, had been imported in the Scimitar. Dr. Russell had reported that one patient in the La Hogue had died of phthisis, or consumption, after the La Hogue arrived in port, and he naturally asked, “is any medical examination undergone by emigrants, or can a medical practitioner he found so ignorant or so culpable as to certify a phthisical invalid healthy 2”

The three first letters contained in the latest publication of despatches appeared in the former number, but to make the present issue complete their reprint was necessary. Those on the subject of the arrival of immigrants, new to the public, relate to the Scimitar, the Mongol, and the La Hogue. Mr. Vogel made the memorandum of the Surgeon-Superin-tendent of the latter vessel, the basis of his remarks. Parenthetically, we may remark that this document, which has been published, is a remarkably able one. Dr. Russell pointed out three very grave faults in the conduct of the Loudon emigration department. In the first place the emigrants were very badly selected, or rather, it would appear that the agents of Dr. Peathorston had been recruiting in “the streets and lanes of the city,” and had brought in “the poor, the maimed, the halt, and the blind.” Then, as wo have before remarked, the Doctor considered there had been no proper medical inspection before the emigrants were taken on board, or only a lamentably insufficient one. Further, the accommodation on. board the ship, and the provisions for the passengers, were inadequate or of a wrong description. This was the case, notwithstanding the fact that the ship was admirably fitted for the ti’ado in which she had been engaged. Mr. Vogel, remarking upon this, said that the medical examination appeared “to have been, as usual, of a very superficial character.” In writing on the same subject respecting the arrival of the Scimitar, ho said that “great carelessness, to say the least of it, is the rule rather than the exception in the despatch of ships, and that the medical inspection of the emigrants is of such a character as to be practically useless. In the case of the Scimitar the results have been of a very distressing character : the ship was sent to sea with the seeds of infection notoriously on board ; fever broke out a few days after leaving the port; and under exceptionally favorable circumstances as to the character of the vessel herself, the conduct of her captain and officers, and the supply of water and provisions, she became a floating pest-house. More than half of the emigrants were down with one form of disease or the other, and twenty-six died.” Actually, families, in which infectious disease was known, to exist, had been shipped, the Imperial emigration officer and the despatching officer of the New Zealand Shipping Company urging iu reply to the remonstrances of the

surgeon, that the mortality afloat would be no Averse than if they remained ashore. The depot from which the emigrants Avere taken is said to bo damp, and in order to keep up a supply of fever,, after one party had left, another occupied the same beds without the clothing being changed. In respect to the mismanagement, on board the Mongol Mr. Yogel complained that it Avas “ a very serious matter, and, he regretted to say, one of frequent recurrence ; and he trusted that his repeated instructions had received the attention of the officers of the department charged with the conduct of emigration.” It is not for us to attempt an indication of what Avill be the policy of Ministers towards an Agent-General avlio has acted independently of his instructions; and neither, we presume, will Parliament be disposed to urge any course of conduct on the Government. Dr. Featherston’s long connection Avith the Colony, and the services, but recently acknowledged, that he has rendered to it, deserve every consideration ; and this they will receive. But his conduct has been calculated to awaken apprehensions in the minds of hon. members and others. No doubt it has been a source of grave anxiety to the Government. But when we come to consider the facts of the case they Avould seem to be as folloAVs. At the close of 1873 Mr. Yogel Avas writing to the AgentGeneral, cautioning and instructing him. These letters he would not receive until 1874 had for some time set in, and the ships that have arrived recently must have sailed on or about tho date of the reception of these instructions. As we have pointed out, instructing tho AgentGeneral seems about as useful and productive an employment as Avhistling jigs to milestones. But the latter letters, dated June and July, have yet to be received. Of course ho was advised by telegram of tho arrival of the Mongol, Scimitar, and other vessels, Avith infectious disease on board, but it almost seems reasonable to suppose that the Government Avould like to Avait and see Avhat effects these later letters might have before talcing any decided action. The extracts Ave have given Avill demonstrate that they do not contain instructions, but strong remonstrances. The return correspondence, of Dr. Featherston, also published, is of the most meagre character aud interest, save the very last letter, Avhich is on a very different branch of the subject. In it, Dr. Featherston takes credit to himself, in the coolest manner, for acting on a plan that had been repeatedly pressed on him, and thus destroying a monopoly in the carriage of emigrants at an advanced price. The Premier had pointed out to him several times that lie might charter ships independently of the New Zealand Shipping Company or Shaw, Savill, and Co.—Avith the usual result. At last he Avas driven to do so, and this brought these firms to their senses. .The Doctor Avas cock-a-hoop at this, and wrote respecting tho saving to the Government he itad effected. When urged to take such a step before, he had replied that it tvas impossible. The Premier, for his edification, quoted his former letters against his latter one, and informed the elated Agent-General that there had been a singular discrepancy in his statements.