IMMIGRATION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 3250, 6 July 1872, Page 3

IMMIGRATION.

TO THE KDITOIt, Snt—The letters you lately published of the Agent-General and Mr Galbraith are important, inasmuch as they indicate an entire change in the arrangements for conveying immigrants to this po.-t. It may not Vie uninteresting to take a look at the past history of this matter. Owing to the influence of the Otago Association from the outset, we have been fortunate in the class of ships employed. The John Wicklyffe and Philip Laing, which conveyed the first party to these shores, were superior vessels to those hitherto employed in the New Zealand trade. They were followed by the Victory, Ajax, Moultan, Agra, and other first-class ships, mostly from the Port of London, to which place emigrants from Scotland were convoyed by steamers. This steam voyage, and the expense entailed by detention in London, from the vessel* seldom sailing on the appointed day, was found vexatious, and inconvenient to pas scngcrs. In 1857, Mr James Adam wan sent home an cmigra'iin agent for this Province, Mr Reynolds accompanying him to make the necessary shipping arrangements They established relations for the conveyance of emigrants from Scotland, to be embarked from Clyde, with Messrs P. Henderson and Co., of Glasgow, which resulted in anew and better class of ships being employed ; and as time went on, still better and faster ships have been put on, until we now have a lints of vessels that for strength, symmetry, j and accommodation, arc not excelled by any j coming to the Australian colonies. At the I same time, by the experience gained, and tlie character of the captains and officers employed, some of whose names are household words in Otago, the voyage is not now bo much dreaded by intending emigrants, many feeling themselves quite at home in embarking in a ship that had conveyed their friends, and with a captain known to them by repute, and who could give them intelligence of the place they were going to, and of their acquaintances who had preceded them.

The Clyde was chosen as the port of embarkation, for being the most convenient place for collecting and dispatching emigrants from Scotland. Liverpool and Glasgow stand pre-eminent as emigration ports in the kingdom, and long %nd large experience has enabled them to conduct this business more easily and perfectly than can be done at other ports. As points of (starting, they have the advantage of situation, which enables vcnsels to get sooner clear of the land, and thus save a week on the voyage over vessels starting from the East Coast; whilst their facilities for collecting passcn-

gers by Bteamcr and rail, together with their good arrangements, enable them to start the ships with punctuality. For instance, since our connection with the Clyde, the following has generally been the routine :— The vessels and their dat^ o! sariing are advertised several months in advance. Jne pusengers for fi»t vessel to sa.il are notified to be at the Broomielaw, with their effects, at noon on a certain day, where a steamer is in waiting which conveys them to the ship lying at anchor off Greenock. On the iollowing day at noon, a steamer is waiting at Oreenock wharf to take on board the Governroent Inspectors, cabin passengers, and any friends who wish to see the emigrants before sailing-notice being given of the railway trains leaving lulinbnrgn and G asgow to arrive w Greenockat that; time ; Ihe inspection lasts about an hour, and between two and three o'clock the ship is towing down the Clyde to sea. Families are thus enabled to calculate their arrangements with the utmost accuracy. Too much importance cannot be attached to this point, as unpunctuality in a ship's sailing means the loss of many pounds to a family, and may even act in bar of their proceeding at all. During the iirsfc three years two ships were dispatched from the Firth of *ortn, but the experiment was not repeated, as the arrangements were found not so,goo* I besides the inconvenience to the passengers ot a stormy, passage round the North of Scotland or of a tedious one down the North Sea, and through the English Channel. In face of the experience we have gained, it Beems strange that the Agent-General, in order to a nominal saving of 10s per adult, should commence sending Scotch emigrants again from London. Even if this sum is saved, which does not appear at all cltar from the correspondence it is no equivalent tothe«tra.lu^mfortthatwilbe ? ndn«d by the emigrants from bcotiann, whilst it is not to the mtcrest* of Otago that the voyage should be made longer anil more uncomfortable than it has hitherto been to our irarnigrants, It never could have been contemplated that when our Edinburgh agency (which is a continuance of the Otngo Association, and in operation aince the foundation, of the settlement) was placed under the supervision of the Agent-Cienoral, that ho would proceed to snuff out existing arrangements, which by all accounts he seems to be doing very effectualy, and to buy his experience at our cost. It would have' been Wter to have commenced experimenting at other ports of New Zealand whose shilling arrangements do not appear at present to be satisfactory, as may be iseen from the endeavour to get up a freight company at Auckland and Weilingtou. An extract from a home letter you publifibed a few days ago, stat«« "that in London, New Zealand means the North Island." If your correspondent went to bcotland, he would find that there owing t<> our long t^S^^& l%&^ Ot'go and Canterbury. How long it will continue to be so under the new system, it would be difficult to say. It looks as though the Agent-General was endeavouring to ctnlralise all shipping arrungemeuts in London, and with the view possibly of making Wellington the distribnting port in New Zealathi. I notice the Halcione (Wellington trailer) is to convey to tiiat port over 200 emigrants, whilst the Jaima Nicol Fleming, loading at Glasgow for Port Chalmers, and built especially for the Otago trade, is not to be favoured with one. A very funny idea seems to have entered into the Agent-General's mind. Ho talks of/ despatching a vessel from Dundee for Napier and Otago, ft'rst Landing tho [jassengers for Napier, and proceedings on-here with the remainder. As the vessel would probably sight Cape Saundcrs on her way to Nax>ier, the Otago -passengers-woul.l have a good deal of voyaging for their money. _ The sooner the control of our immigration and sh-pping arrangements are placed in £ "T^nr °ar W ' better. —l am, &.c,

OhU C'OLOKIST.

THE STORY OF AN TINDER-

MASTER.

[By MM. Ebckmamk- Chatb.uk.]

( Tmuditted ftir the Otago Daily Times from tha Revue dcx Deux Mcmdei*. )

Chapter yiii.

I had already spoken several times to M. Guil'anmo of tny sad position at Lea Roches, if all my pupila continued to leave one nfter another, and you may imagine with what satisfaction I r°lated to him the following Sunday the proposi-

tion made to mo by M. Je"r6me r and the answer of tho Anabaptists. Everything pictured itself brightly before my eyes. I aaw myself, in anticipation, walking over the fields with the chain and pegs, drawing my lines, measuring my angles, carefully explaining all my calculations to my new pupils, and then returning in the evening to supper -with the old guard. What will you have ? Youth is full of lofty aspirations. M. Guillahmc; seated at the table in front of me, listened <juite absorbed without answering. He suddenly asked if I had the permission of AL

Bernard-

" What permission V* I said to him,

"Do I require permiiision f M. le curd knows well that I cannot live on the air, and that, if all ray pupils go off without others coming, I shall bo obliged to leave as well" "All this," «aid M. Guillaume, "is very well; but these Anabaptists-are heretics. You could not tench them the catechism ; and as for the rest, surveying, arithmetic, and private deeds, you must sec wliat SiBernard will say about it," "But, in Heaven's nnme, monsieur Guillaume," I exclaimed, " what harm do you gee in that f And how could M. le curd, my benefactpr, who got me out of so unfortunate a position, and .who wishes me bo well, how could he refuse me a thing so just and so natural ?" Pure Guillaume, shrugging his shoul-der-i, repeated quietly—"Jean-Baptiste, believe me, consult JVL le cure. Now, rectors, inspectors, professors, principals, are all'nothing" compared to MM. Fes curds. They alone do everything, and decide everything," "Yes, Jean-Baptiate," said mere Catherine, "do nothing without asking M. le cure*. If we had asked permission for the evening school, you would still be at Chthie-Fendu." These words surprised me. I looked at the old master. He had turned pale, and cast furtive glances at his wife. "I told you, nevertheless*, not to speak of this affair to anyone," he said, in a low voice after an instant; " but ail women are the same ; it is useless to beg them to be silent ; it is as if you said nothing to them." " Hd! mon Dvtn, Gnillaume," replied mere Catherine, " you have no occasion, to get angry. It was certainly.necessary to warn Jean-Baptiste, without whichj if fresh misfortunes occurred, we should be to blame." This reflection appeared to strike the : honest fellow. He went to the door, , opened it, and looked to see that no one

was listening on the stairs, then he returned and said to me calmly :—"Well, yes, Catherine is right. I did not wish to tell you, Jean-Baptisto, in order not to give you pain; and also because you are young, and at your age one quickly loses temper, and allows oneself to do things which one regrets afterwards. But now, it is necessary you should know everything ;, for, if you undertake this school notwithstanding my advice, and if any fresh unpleasantness happened to you, I should reproach myself all my life

for not having prevented yon. " Then the old master, still further lowcr j n g his vo i C£j related to me that he fc^y f rom a reliable source—without however being able to tell me where he obtoinod Ws i S fonnilt i <)n that the affair , , ,„ _ , . , , ' , . . otitoCha** had been arranged by sister Adelaide ; that this old creature, who was very envious and very mischievous, but also very prudent, could not have undertaken it herself, and everything sanctioned the supposition that she had acted under the orders of M. Bernard, I exclaimed against this, saying, t j, at j t was not po Sß ibl, }> that M. le cure had always benefited me, that he was an ht i UC apable of such an action; tl at * beaidca L did not what interest ,'.-•■,'• ~ , . he <=°ui<l have in suppressing the school for grown-up persona ; a« I even ended by getting indignant at such a supposition, M. Guillaume said to me gravely, "Listen, Jean-Baptiste. You are a good under-master ; you know more about orthography and arithmetic than three-fourths of your colleagues, and even than nmny schoolmasters ; but you do not et know men Because you are naturall juat f^j^ that others re . y** Jj { < k M J . . . , ™}7 recognise their interests ; and the interest of the curds of all religions is to keep the people m ignorance. The more ignorant the people are, the easier it ia to lead them ; this is self-evident, Our evening school must, then, have been displeasing to M. Bernard. If we had taught our pupils chanting and Bacrcd history, everything would have cemed very good to him . bu t as we Mv * « orthography, the , *>. i , , , .. » *■ •*' . J»wing up of deeds letters, and petitlon8 > a. md M *hw . m»Bht & VQ c th*™ the idea of instructing themselves further, by reading books and newspapers, he said to himself that it was'dangerous, and that it was necessary to strike at the root of the evil. Nothing prevented him from closing our school, as he in the master; b ut j n acting i n this manner, he would havQ 3 - ftown tha t he did not wish them to })O inßtructed w hich would have made X enemies in the village ; and ", " .i* Zu «• •,t+l . mi a i, », tnat v why the aflair of the ChMn happened 80 opportunely ; that is why you are schoolmaster at Les Koclies, instead of Sister EMonorc, who possesses a fine voice for all instruction, and who sings the hymns well. These things are as clear as the day. Now, yon w ish to receive Anabaptists into your school, and teach thorn surveying, T j lis a pp ears c ,uite simple and natufaJ Take care, it is much niore serious } ~ fc t , Anabaptists aro "^S you must reflect well over it. Inhere me, Jean-IM^te, do nothing without consulting M.Bernard, and take care, above all, not to say to him that you have already given your word ! In a j time like ours, it is necessary to consult an d to confess, to confess and to consult, MM. les cure's, representatiyoa. of God I. and t he King. If you had the misfortune to-receive the Anabaptist children without t h e authorisation of 'it^.Bernard, he would j . fc f if vo d<J t , ;"* " . '^' /V v«f l .« e t,>» ~c . fess ourselves, others con few for us. everything is known, eveiytlung is learnt, jeveryjhing /is received, and «somettnng{=: might again happen to you, worse than at I the carnival " These reflections of M. Guillaume filled : me lv jth alarm. Without believing pre- ; cigejy all that he said about M. le cur«j, I ' -untiyrgtodd that he might well be not altof'elher wronff. Therefore I promised to fjj Mg adv f c and d , ]ring the w holo f j m nofchin bnt " poJKlfcr over it, aSn?niyself, what would become of ~ l d _ d tJjo a , lthoril , ation of M. Bernard, and seeking, excuses to get out of the arrangement with the Anabaptists. All these things alarmed me; and in the vestry, -while helping M. lo curd to unrobe, I nearly had si trembling at the thought of asking him the permiaeion which had at first appeared to mo so natural. He himself noticed it without doubt, because, in coming out of church, he said to me : " Well! let us see, what has happened ?" I then at once related to him what had occurred, not daring however to tell him that I had already given my word to grandfather Jacob. •He stopped, quite surprised, and said

to mo : ** Wliat, the Anabaptists wish to come to your school! Aro you quite sure of it ?"

"I believe so, monsieur le cure*. The guard Juromo told me that it could toot fail, if I taught them surveying, drawing up prirato deeda, and book-keeping." "Htfl" he said laughing, "teach th.era all they wish, my dear Rcnand, iron Dieu, it is very simple, you cannot.live on nothing. Sister Eldonore relumed to the convent eluring the summer season ; you liavo not this resource, you cannofc j ! either be at tlfe charge of your parents, | it is a forced posiewn—obliged—yea...yes... j I authorise you to do so. You hare done i well, however, to inform me. If any difficulty arose, I should be at hand..,.lt is well !...Jt is well!" Not only did,M. ?e cure* grant my request, but moreover he appeared very satisfied, and at the door of the presby- ! tery he gave mo his hand, which had ! never occurred before. I therefore left, ! happier than I could tell yon. M. Guillanme and lime. Catherine returning from vespers, waited for me, from curiosity, in front of the school at the foot of the stairs. " Well ?" enquired the old j master " lid !" I exclaimed, quite joyful, waving my cap. "I have the permission. M. Bernard asks nothing better; he granted me everything without difficulty ; ho is the best man on earth. You see well, that you must not believe what ia said by maiicioua tongues."

I then related to him. our conversation in detail. M. Guillaume and his wife stood amazed—lt is surprising'! . . . It is surprising! they said, looking at each other. At last the old master exclaimed :— "Very well, so much the better; it gives me pleasure. . . . Now you are in order . . . there can be no objections made against you ; but it is all the same, Jean-Baptiste, I could not have believed it . . However, . . . however . . . you have the permission . . . that is the principal thing." We parted from one another at this place, and 1 left quite delighted, thinking only of the Anabaptists, and of all the bright hopes that I founded on them. Never had the weather been so bright; and more than once, before arriving at Les Roches, I stopped among the broom to look at the country. There was a general hum at the close of day ; t<> the right, over the summits of the pine trees, I discovered the farm of old Jacob, liko a spark at the bottom of the wood ; the sun was shining on its little window panes. The fear of Pore Guillaume, and all that he had narrated to me of M. lecurd, made me laugh ; and I said thnt the good man resembled those old hares, whicn become every, year more timid, from hearing the shot whistle about their long ears.

they said,

you have the permis-

that is the principal thing."