THE SURAT PASSENGERS' LUGGAGE.

Otago Witness, Issue 1162, 7 March 1874, Page 1

THE SURAT PASSENGERS' LUGGAGE.

TirE negotiations between t Jic Surat p i.s-etiger,s, the Govern im: n t, ihe purchasers of the vessel, and the New Zealand Shipping Company, ajo being protracted to an unreasonable length. Meantime the luggage is, as the unfortunate p isnengers declare, "rotting." Can nothing be done to hurry a settlement.' Wo do not cure to express an opinion us to tho legal aspects of the ease. There is every probability of the matter being* brought before the Courts, and we cannot properly enter upon the question now. At th« same time we until express a very generally felt opinion that it is something worse than a mistake to let the passengers .suflbr. Whoever has to pay they should be scatheless, save in so flu 1 as the injury done to their effects is concerned. \Ve may lawfully cast upon them the injuries done by tho sea-wati-r, but it is neither politic nor just to allow them to lose possession of their private property. We are by no means advocates for Government interference in most mattors. The disembodied power we call the Stato is too often called iv as a veritable Deus ex inachina to ststlio such disputes by payment. Wo aro not inclined to advocate a payniout out of the ftfcata purge, us the uUiinute nw-

thod of arranging the difficulty, but we think this exactly one of those cases in which tho Government might well interfere in the first instance, and ])ut an end to the wrong which delay is inflicting upon the castaways. No one blames the passengers or doubts that they ought to have their property handed over to them, no one really thinks that they ought to pay. Opinions are much divided as to the parties upon whom the charge should ultimately fall, but every one is agreed that those who paid for the luggage when they bought the ship, ought to get their money back, and that those whose property was sold against their will ought to receive that property back.

We would put it merely as a matter of policy. IT we could read the letters that weut home by the last mail there can be no doubt tin. t we should -all realise the impolicy of lotting such antiemigration letters go home. .Naturally the complaints will be deep and loud from the Snrat.s. that while their truuks are under their very nose, so to speak, (.hoy are not allowed to touch then!, because they had the misfortune to come out with a eaptiin who was nob up to hiswerk. Tinough no fault of their own, they arc left without the very things they thought most ueenssary to their welfare and comfort. Is it wise on our part that such complaints should be allowed to go homo mouth after month ! We are deeply committed to a policy which, above all other things', demands an increased immigration. If it is rcmembeied that the main cause which prevents people emigrating is the fear of the perils of a long sea voyage, and the doubts natural to those who have never left fcLeir native village, ifc will be seen that it is nothing less than madness to hesitate in remedying, as far as possible, the e\ ils consequent upon this uost unfortunate wreck. As ifc it-, the danger to life, the discomfort, the anxiety of the passengers, haAo, we may be sure, gone homo to a hundred homes in England iv a aeries of thrilling narratives calculated to stop emigration from each single neighbourhood. The o-i. so is bad enough as it is 1 . Are we to make it worse by allowing the passengers to go on, mail after mail, reiterating their lament that when they goo Hshoio, by good luck, with their lives, they were still deprived of their luggage, and "ifc would take them many years to make up their losp, undo 1 tho most favourable circumstances.'' Wenlllrn.iw, from our own recollection, how the peri's of the trip, which now seem io us so infinitely suiali, wore ins is ed upon by every female relation ere we left the old land, as good reasons for nnt risking so much. Why, every grandmother, and uncle, and aunt assured us we werenothinglcps tb.ui born fools togo. Such advice will, we may be quite sure, be repeated in every circle in which a letter from a Surat passenger is read aloud as " tho latest information from Now Zealand." 'Twill be used as a solemn face against a, change, that not only is tin 1 ii.sk great of taking the long !va voyage mvr the ocean, butthatif anything does happen, the unfortunate sufferer will, if he does not lose his life, at least lose his property. Wo repeat, 'tis nothing less than madness to have such anti-emigration facts going home.

Whoever lias to pay, the passengers must not, ]i' the money subscribed for the Suiat Relief Fund had been devoted to buying the luggage, tho immigrants would have b?en landed here in at least as good a condition as any other immigrants. It is too lalo to think of this now. The liberality of the public has been fairly tried, and they have responded nobly. We by no means blamo tho Committee for spending the funds at their disposal as they did. They could hardly have do no otherwise. Had they known how things would turn out, it is morn than pi'obublo they would have spent the monoy in buying the luggage, but they

had to act promptly, and we believe they acted with the soundest judgment. It is not the less a fact that, with the luggage absolutely stored in Dunedin, no " relief " could have been more wisely bestowed than in giving it to the rightful owners. We sincerely trust that before another mail goes out, the matter will be settled, so far as the passengers are concerned. The next sitting of the Supreme Court is some two months hence ; if that be waited for, the mischief will be done, and though the passengers then get hold of their property somehow, it will be useless as a matter of public policy.