THE Otago Daily Times. DUNEDIN, MONDAY, DEC. 27.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 2462, 27 December 1869, Page 2

THE Otago Daily Times. DUNEDIN, MONDAY, DEC. 27.

1 A.MONG the many errors of judgmentcommitted by the.; government, during ' the late session, perhaps the greatest was the proposal to send Mr A. J. Burns to Great Britain in the capacity of an Emigration Agent. There were three obvious reasons which rendered it extremely injudicious on the part of the; Government to bring such a proposal before the Council. In the first place,, any motion of the kind was tolerably certain to be defeated; in the; second plaGe, it would necessarily lend, colour to, the assertion that Mr Burns's vote on the ,Land question had been influenced by his expectations ; inihe third place, | the nomination of that gentleman was i extremely objectionable in itself. ! Thefce considerations could scarcely have failed to present themselves to the Government, and it is consequently difficult to account, for their action in the matter. We can only suppose that they were misled by some idea of economy in the transaction, Mr Burns offered his services on very moderate terms—that is, having regard to the duties to be discharged as apart from his capacity to discharge them. A salary of £400 a year with travelling expenses would not, under ordinary circumstances, secure the services of a competent man. The Government may; be supposed to have looked so intently at this side of the quescion as to have forgotten that there is another. But :a moment's rreflection might have recalled to their recollections the ancient saying about the «cheap and nasty.' It is singularly applicable in the jpresent instance. If we contrast the qualifications required for the office of Emigration Agent with the qualifica^ j tions possessed by Mr Burns, it is difficult to find any point of identity between the two. The Government might as well propose to send that igentleman as an Envoy charged with: diplomatic functions to represent) the province at the Court of St. James's. The one appointment—so far as the question of qualifications is concerned—would not be a whit more ridiculous than the other. The honourable member for the Taieri would not be less influential with the Imperial Government than he would be with j the capitalists and the working | classes of the mother country. He is just as qualified to meet English States- - men on their own ground as he is to direct the flow of emigration to our shores. His experience as a politician might in fact be expected to serve him in some stead in the capacity of an Envoy ; but we know of no qualification which would enable him to serve the province in the capacity of an j Emigration Agent. This is a matter on ' which his recently published correspondence with the Government throws some light.- Recollecting that an Emigration Agent would be frequently called upon to set forth in print the attractions of Otago as a field for emigration, the correspondence furnishes an appropriate ; test, and one which Mr Burns can scarcely object to as unfair. The first impression created by that gentleman's letters to-the Government is, that in the event of his being appointed, it would be absolutely necessaiy to provide him with a clerk. The publication of such letters in the British newspapers would inevitably tend; to put a stop to emigration altogether. For the gross deficiencies in what are termed the {rudiments of education' displayed by the writer, he may be in a position to plead that Ihe is not. responsible. But when the Provincial Council is seriously called upon by the Provincial Government to consider the expediency of sending him to Great Britain in a most important capacity, it becomes our duty to examine the. pretensions he has taken pains to elaborate. From : a Candidate for such an office as the one in question, the least that can be expectedis a capacity to write English. As specimens of bad spelling, bad grammar, and execrably bad taste, the letters penned by Mr Burns could j hardly be surpassed by a swagsman. One of the first topics which our Emigration Agent might be expected to deal with would be the educational system of the province. It is one of the great attractions which the province undeniably possesses as a field for emigration, and one therefore which amply deserves to be dwelt upon. But the idea of Mr Burns expatiating on that subject, in such language as that in which he expatiates on his own merits, is ludicrous enough to settle the question of qualifications at once. It is perfectly true, as he says, that * I am the worst hand in the world to advocate my own cause.' Any other hand in the province,: we should say, would do it J better. Such an advocacy of" his cause as that contained in the.j letters referred to is -quite enough to j ruin it. It is amazing that the Government,' after reading such letters, should j have felt itself justified in bringing its j influence to bear upon the Council for the purpose of procuring his appointment. . That it deliberately ventured to compromise itself by doing so affords some reason at least for suspicion as to its , motive. Mr Eeid certainly abstained from eulogising his nominee, when introducing the motion for his appointment. He confined his remarks to the abstract question of an Emigration Agency, leaving Mr Burns to advocate his own cause. _-. That is the only palliation of the conduct of the Government in that matter.

We do not suppose for a moment that the qualifications of aa Emigration Agent must necessarily include 'those.of an accomplished writer. The literary deficiencies displayed by Mr Burns would not have attracted any comment from us under ordinary circumstances. He might have continued to 'spell it with a wee* to the end of his days, so far as the criticism of the

press is concerned, had he been content with the greatness which has been thrust upon him, instead of seeking to thrust himself; into greatness for which he is -utterly, .unfitted. Surely it is enough-Jfor'the people of Otaga to know that Mr Burns is one ■of,-their representatives in the Provincial Council and the House of Eepresentatives. The prospect of his beingsent home as the representative of the' province, accredited to all the capitalists and, domestic servants in the Kingdom, is more than we should be asked to bear. We do not doubt that he knows 1 what is wanted' as well as any man. He could hardly have spent his life in the limited area of Otago without forming tolerably accurate ideas of 'what is wanted.' But ib does, not follow that he is the one man in the country who is in a . position to obtain ' what is wanted' for us. Curiously enough, the idea that capital is j one of the things; 'what is wanted' in ■ Otago does not seem to have occurred to Mr Burns until a week after he had penned his application for. the Agency. Under the inspiration of that idea, apparently, he sat himself down to pen a second edition of the application, setting forth his views on the subject at large. The views, unfortunately, are rather meagre. They are confined | to a statement of-two facts—first, that j we require capital, and secondly, that a large amount of it could be absoi-bed just now.- Possibly, however, Mr-BuRNS was under the impression that' His Honour, and His Honour's Government' are not aware of these facts,.and was thus led to dwell upon his peculiar qualifications for manipulating capitalists. It is instructive to notice how his imagination began to expand under the influence of this great idea. The connection between capital and salmon ova is of of course obvious, and accordingly Mr Burns proceeds to offer his 'experience' on the latter point without any charge for extras. Salmon ova, again, are naturally suggestive of railway plant and ; iron woi'k for bridges, and Mr Burns's generosity proves equal to the occasion. Nor is this all. His Honour and His Honour's Government are assured that ' there are many other ways' in which his services would benefit the province. What these ' ways ' are, we are unfortunately left to conjecture ; our only guide to a conclusion being - the touching reference to his habit of working con amove, ' as what benefits the province also benefits myself and my children.' All this for £400 a year is certainly cheap, and we are not surprised that Mr Reid and his colleagues should have thought so too.