The Poverty Bay Herald AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. Monday, November 3, 1879.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 940, 3 November 1879, Page 2

The Poverty Bay Herald AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. Monday, November 3, 1879.

Nearly twelvemonths ago we wrote in the columns of this Journal as follows as regards the condition of this Colony : — " There is looming in the distance bad times, due in a great measure to the recklessness of Ministers in dealing with the finances of the country ; but there is this much to be thankful for — that no man sober, steady, and capable of work, who rose from his bed this morning, that is not able to obtain a breakfast for himself and his family, nor will he and his belongings go to his night's rest supperless." We fear much at this time whether, speaking truthfully, we are able to say the same. ludeed we ai-e sure we cannot, for there are hungry bellies in the land, and men — very many men — we lament to say, who are both willing and able to work who cannot obtain employment. In a new country like New Zealand, with its many fine natural resources, this is a serious matter for contemplation, and demands prompt remedial measures to avert the present calamitous state of affairs from becoming intensified. Even in the hitherto prosperous Gisborne there are men with families who ai-e hard set to obtain sufficient food to carry them on from day to day. The summer may help to mitigate existing hardships, but it is not enough to say, sufficient is the day for the evil thereof There is the winter to follow, and unless Poverty Bay obtains that justice which is assuredly due to her by receiving a share of the public moneys for public works, our state is likely to become very pitiable. When the immigration scheme of Sir Julius Vogel found favor in the eyes of New Zealand politicians, the majority of our fellow colonists were not in-

clined to give it due consideration ; but the large landowners and other employers of labor very soon arrived at the conclusion that for their interests at least, it had its advantages j and selfishness blinded them to the fact that what benefited the rich, might bring ruin and misery to the poor. Time has afforded an opportunity of judging more correctly as to the merits of Sir Julius Vogel's grand schemes for railways and public works, and it must now be apparent to those who will trouble to think and reflect that the immigration policy has not been attended with such favorable results as were anticipated. What reason, asks a contemporary, writing from a centre where a wail of distress is heard, can be assigned for the failure of a measure which was calculated to work wonders in this Colony — to make New Zealand worthy of the appellation of the " Britain of the South," and this is the answer he returns : — " Why, no other than the " 'prentice hands" — perfect muddlers — had the control of Immigration aifairs, and the result of their mismanagement is now proving a curse to hundreds of poor people, wbo were deluded from their native land through the uncrupulousness — to say the least about it — of inert subordinates. It would appear that the heads of the Immigration Department — either through incompetency or wanton negligence — appointed men whose only aim was, apparently, to pocket their fees, or head-money, while " selecting immigrant sin the mother country, and the consequence is that thousands of of people have been landed, almost penniless, on these shores, very many of whom are unsuitable to work for a living in a new colony. Had the precaution been taken — as was pointed out to Mr. Vogel shortly after the initiation of the movement — to appoint emigration agents of colonial exper'ence and conversant with the vernacular of the districts in which they may be deputed to labor, for the purpose of travelling through the rural districts at Home, and explaining to farmers and farmlabourers the true state of agricultural affairs in this Colony, a sufficient number of suitable men could, no doubt, have been easily induced to leave a country where they had to struggle for vhe mere necessaries of life, and settle on the rich land of these islands, — provided means had also been adopted to secure the immigrants suitable holdings and steady employment.

It is a notorious fact that worthless creatures — through the recommendation of old country " gentlemen," who were, no doubt, glad to get rid of the pests of the villages have been sent emigration agents for a passage to the colony, while the noble-minded picker-up of his fellowman cared not a job to the qualifications of his prize so long as he pocketed the head-money. And this is the way in which, in many instances, the public funds of' this colony have been thrown away to briug out people who are a nuisance in the country. It would be bad enough if the agricultural and mechanical scum of Britain were the only drones into this colony ; but, unfortunately, through the glaring reports circulated at Home of the state of trade here, hundreds of " genteel " young men, not brought up to work, have been induced to emigrate, and after seeking employment in vain, are either compelled to earn a livelihood in humilitating ways, or struggle along in a state of semistarvation. And yet the tide of emigration is still flowing onward. A correspondent of a local contemporary says : — " Within the last month no less than 2000 souls left the United Kingdom for England, and the rushs till continues." How, then, are the great numbers likely to be brought out here during the next twelve months to be provided for? That is a question not easily answered, for from all parts of the colony comes the cry of the unemployed, " Give us work !" Assuredly, the Government, as well as other public bodies, have been making efiorts to find something to do for those out of employment, and the better-disposed portion of the laborers turned willingly to the tasks they were set at ; but there are very many respectable men in all parts of the colony who cannot possibly find work, and know not where to procure meals regularly.

Yet in the face of so much existing distress, only very lately Sir Georob Grey, the great friend of the working man, sends a cable message of which the following is taken from the official record : — " Sir Michael Hicks Beach, Baronet, Colonial Office, London. — New Zealand Government regrets greatly distress in mother country. It respectfully informs Imperial Government that 6000 ablebodied emigrants could at once find permanent and profitable employment in New Zealand in addition to large numbers whose passages are being paid to the Colony. Agent-General directed to place services at disposal Imperial Government should it desire to forward unemployed and families to Colony. He will indicate classes laborers in demand who may by industry and perseverance become their own employers. — (Sd ) Grey."

If ever any man deserved the execrations of the people of this Colony, Sir George Grey does, if for nothing else than the sending such a message. Fortunately Sir Julius Yogel was more honest than Sir George, and it

was through his instrumentality that six thousand human families were saved from so much misery, and probably, absolute distitution.