INFORMATION FOR INTENDING IMMIGRANTS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 3686, 27 November 1873, Page 2

INFORMATION FOR INTENDING IMMIGRANTS.

.From our issues of the past four weeks .we compile the following items of special interest to those who may be .thinking of emigrating,to, Otago :-~r. : - l -

THE EEV." DX BEGG's OPINION. OF OTAGO. The Rev. I)r Begg has beep:' visiting us during the last few weeks, and returns tol Britain immediately. On the 18th inst. he addressed a public: meeting in'Dunedin, and a verbatim report of his:remarks appears in this issue.. ;.• It will.be ,Been that he speaks very favourably ofiOtago, and the* prospects ; it,':.holds' out to the industrious. "It is," he says, and says. truly, "a land . in- .which if a man chopses ,to "^behave} himself, and is able to work, he ; need not "starve." ■ "Jnfact,"Drßegggoespn.to,say Jl ffheneed not' starve'even if he.panhot' twork, besaiiae. 1: have seen nobody starving here. You have no poor rate, and 1 hope you will ;long,,be kept frojn haying one." ; .. ; .We recpmmend'l)r Begg's' speech tb'-thJB careful'attention ofour, home /readers; |He is not a man to talk empty nothings^ or to indulge in hollow coiiiplimehtsj-and this it is jihat renders his 'testinioiiy in favour' of; Otagoparticularly valuable. ; ' >/; otaqo's new,emigration Agent. Contrary to the expectation entertained: by us at the date of bur last 'Summary, Mr James Adam, the special Emigration Agent for the ; Province, has not yet'taken his departure for Britain, the reason* being j that the ship'in: which he is iesailisnotyet ready for sea. The delay has been turned to '00011 account by Mr Adam/.however, as he has availed himself of it to visit most of the townships in the Province, where he haa held meetings in connection with the object of his mission. .He has, everywhere been well' receivedr-^ fact which showsthat his appointment is ajp-" proved of by the people of Otagoj—and lie has received many letters of introduction to people in the old country, so that Ihe will start well prepared to perform the . services expected •of him. It has; been stated: that- Mr Adam contemplates issuing at home a pamphlet exclusively devoted .to'.Otago in conjunction with emigration, and in the course of conversation and. his visits during his tour he has noted many, things as items for its pages. We direct j special attention to a series of articles,! published in another part of our present issue, dealing with Mr Adam's mission, and detailing the. prospects which he will be able to hold out to immigrants; SOW LATE ARMVALS HAVE FAKED. Only one shipload of immigrants has arrived since we last wrote, viz., the Lady I Jocelyn from London. Those who stayed at Dunedin were snapped up as soon as they were open for engagement. For single women, as usual, there waß a perfect rush, and every one of them was engaged in the space of au hour, at good rates of wages. Forty of the immigrants by this ship volunteered to go to Invercargill, whence urgent appeals! for immigrants had been forwarded to the Provincial Government. They were forwarded from Port Chalmers by steamer, and with respect to their reception at Invercargill one of the papers published in that town wrote as follows :—" The local Immigration Officer, Mr Pearson, met the party on their arrival at; Bluff, saw them provided for there, accompanied them up, and conducted them, to their temporary lodgings in Esk street. Yesterday the barracks was thrown open to employers, aud within an hour or so all who wished for immediate employment obtained it at high ratea of wages. The^ married couples, with families, and two single men, remained in the barracks last night, but a^t for want of offera of employment.

All the men could have found work at-. once, but seeing they could command ajob at any rime they were in no haste, the married ones preferring to take a day or so to look out for houses for their' families before commencing work them* selves. The Immigration Officer informs us that if a hundred and fifty more had come all could easily have made engagements, and he has on his books now applications for a large number of workpeople of all classes—carpenters, bricklayers, ploughmen, shepherds, labourers, domestic servants, &c, <fee. The immigrants were much pleased with the manner of their reception in Southland, and some of them have already taken advantage of the nominated system to send fortheir friends." ~ THE LABOUR FAMINE. >■ From alLparts-of the Province comes the cry for more labour. Shearing has now' fairly begun, and of.. course absorbs a large, number of hands,-^he railways and other public worjst^mploy a great many men, while buildiiig|operations are unusually brisk, not "only iii Dunedin, but in several of the country to wnshipa. Altogether the demand ir.tery largely in excess of the supply, and the; arrivals of" immigrants seem to have tho effect in satisfying the outcry for, lalfourers. A ship arrives, the immigrants* are engaged at once, and the complaints of scarcity of labour, continue>unabated —this is the tale we have" constantly -to tell. Asan extreme case, we may mention that in Western^.'District of theProvince some men/are actually getting: from-£2to£2 10a per week "and found. Our correspondent in the'district adds that "if a supplyof^labpurilbes not come into the district soon; operations must to a certain extent come to a stand-still. It is to be hoped that a few-hjuidred immigrants will findtheir way down here before harvest. "The Mount-Ida paper in a recent issue says :—" We have again to call attention to the great' excess of demand over supply. with/.j&gard to the labour market in this district. The sludge channel contractors want 100 'hands; Mr Abbott requires another lOpjor more for; the head-race ; Mr Dillonj^ifeo^lwe believe, is short-handed ; aridgkwiiffitaili this we must add that that, verycyaluable article on a goldfield—-water—has been running: to waste for want of haridstp iise it. 9s and 10s a day are freely■* offered at any kind of work." ' / i PRICES OF PROVISIONS IN = imjSEDIK. We reprint our last report (published on the 22nd inst.) regarding the retail \ household market? in Dunediri^as affording an idea of the prices! "of provisions here— —" The butchers are well supplied with beef and mutton, of superior quality, but,they still complain of .high prices and small ; profits. ! Bacon and',, hams arejui better supply—roll bacon retailing at 9d, and hams at ,1s per lb. Good old cheese is plentiful, and selling at 6d to 1b per 1b.,, new is beginning to come in, and ia worth 9d to lOd. Fresh butter and eggs are in good supply—the former selling at 8d to--9d per lb., and the latter at Is per dozen. Fifty-pound bags of flour sell at 6s 6d, and twenty-five pound bags of oatmeal at 6s 3d. The four pound loaf of bread >isnow worth. s|d cash. There is still- a great scarcity of white headed cabbages 5 and cauliflowers. New turnips are coining in, and sell at 4d per bunch. Peas and new potatoes are; more plentiful,- 'sthe former bringing 6d arid the latter 4d per lb. Old potatoes of fine quah'ty are. freely offered at 3s 6d per cwt. The supply of green | gooseberries is gradually on the increase, ! and large-sized berries may now be had at 4d per lb. Rhubarb sells at the same rate. Poultry, are in demand at former rates.. Sandpipers and kakas have been the only substitutes for game during the week. There, has been a. good.supply of fish during" the ' week, especially barracoutas, flounders, cod, garfish, mokis, and gropers. OnFriday, a boat brought up three or four dozen of gropers, which there was some little difficulty in disposing of. Some of them were sold about town at 2s to 2s 6d each. Barracoutas sold, during the week, at 6d to 9d each." TABIOUS ITEMS. . The number of applications received under the .nominated system of mv» immigration at the Immigration Office, and transmitted by the/last; niail^ was 212 souls, equal to 172^ statute adulfei Our Oamaru correspondent," in a recentletter wrote--: —" Notwithstanding tievery large number, of houses tiiat havabeen lately erected iii the' .jp'wgii; there ia* .still a continuous i demand!'.^ for cottages."* | This will serve to show, that working men ; in Otago soon get into a position enabling, j them to erect houses for themselves.

The returns? ,pubUsKedJiliC|;*another column of the Customs-•fevenue^colle.cted in the Colony during thej ending on the 30th September, afford evidence that Otago ia going ahead. As compared, with the corresponding period of last yeartliereia an increase of nearly third in the amount of revenue collected, in Otago.

Our Green Island correspondent wrot* the other day as follows :^" During the last year the workiDg population of th* district has more than doubled, and great scarcity of house accommodation for families exists, i every nook; and corner ..being, cooped;^with<;:icuna^!|ti^Elaihray- ;- works, mining, fellmongeries;:iaiid m^l». employ a large number of hands *at vexy satisfactory5 wages. - New works ar» deleting the old identity landmarks, and new faces, foreign and Colonial, are seen. Altogether, the district.^ is tin a highlyflourishing c6nditioni".^;^r. «-'- v.t z ■-