OUR PRESENT IMMIGRATION DEPOT.

Southland Times, Volume 3, Issue 102, 17 October 1863, Page 3

OUR PRESENT IMMIGRATION DEPOT.

(]?Voni tho Invercargill Times, 7th Oct.) Better — or, at any rate, more exten-sive^-accoinmodation is wanted for the immigrants who are weekly arriving, than is afforded in the Depot on the Government Heserve. This Depot does not go much beyond a dark old rookery, where birds of a feather are huddled together, without any regard to air, light, health, or comfort. The economisatiou of space is there impressed upon new arrivals in a manner which they will not be able to forget soon, and which they will probably describe in homoward letters in a style SO glowillgj lliat t\\o ,nomad class though appreciating the consideration of the Provincial Government in offering to pay half their passage money — will be almost afraid of trespassing upon Invercargill hospitality. In earnest truth, a barrack of a more roomy description is required. At present, men and women are placed in a sort of pound, where there is more juxtaposition than is exactly suitable ; the single men by the Sir William Eyre, were quartered next door to the single women. To obtain a situation in a respectable family* a female servant's reputation must be like that of Ctesar's wife. Now the present arrangements of the Immigrant Depot in re crowding together, are ■of a character which, though perhaps designed for the best, yet give an opportunity to the malicious to insinuate. Not that the female wards should be turned into a convent, or the male into a monastery ; but a better line of demarcation might be drawn ; that is, the buildings of the two classes might be advantageously situated with more remoteness. The revelatious of Miss Rye in regard to the Depot of another town, which must be fresh in the minds of our readers, are a sufficient proof of the reasonableness of what we adduce. True, the female immigrant is not, as in Dunedin, placed in close proximity to good-looking policemen ; but yet there remains to Phyllis the Corydon of a long sea voyage, and, in a worldly point of view, it is as well, either as regards a happy matrimonial speculation, or the good reputation of both, to keep them asunder, and at a respectable distance, tiil their respective ways of life in the new 1 land have been marked out for them. Another thing — a fever ho9pital, or, to judge from the bolts and bars, an asylum for violent lunatics, is not the most pleasant association to twine round the dwelling of fresh importations. An institution of this kind, no doubt very complete, forms part of the Depot Block. With what intention it has been placed there we cannot imagine, unless to impress upon the immigrant the salutary example of the Anchorites, who, for the more Serious contemplation t of the instability of human affairs, always kept in the house a leady-made coffin. Neither an hospital nor an asylum are, however useful v ,hey may be, a cheerful prospect, nor exactly calculated to encourage people h the outset of their career in a strange country^ We do not think, then, we ire outraging common sense in suggesting an immediate removal. Again, thj domestic appliances of the Depot aresadly inefficient ; one instance will suffici to prove it. For the whole barracks there is but one fireplace, and at thattheinhates— married couples, single -men and ingle women, numbering at a time perhps one hundred, perhaps two — have ti wait their turns to cook their food ; au this fireplace is fitted up with no pove or cooking apparatus of any desciption. The most dismal stories a 2 told of family men, who, getting *p at unearthly hours in the

; 'm : ,,Uie r; .nr;e,s.-;ha.«e: : foun'd;..:it .crowded, land[ been-obliged toJinger;hours andj;hoursl before" th£.,m^ be boiled.. ;It iseyeu said^that upon! one occasion there' Was a 1 battle' royal for" pre^denice^ y>;liibli resulted in a' good manyoT&rpiceri kettle? and i heads.' Were we W believe: information; received, we should .' : ; understand; t oat at, meal time, in fact all times, -a perpetual anarchy, reigns. The solitary tire-platie has long been the cause of bickering and disttirbancJe, eVery man's teapot has been against his neighbors', and the best friends have become mortal foes. But, indeed, this sort of '• thing passes a jest! \ Constant co.mp;lajfit : |^jy^^een made of the miserable, ,ia.e.c t ai3aiftodatlon ; for" immigrants- prgsßfo'te'd s by tliis ; provihcerFirst j.mpressiq,^Sj|a|e^en(iu'|in : g J ; anjd if new arrivals are-notreceiv@d:anxi<hpu'sed' with comfort, 1 order, !l "and i "cle t anlinessi ; we shall find hereafter, i'to.pu'r. own.cpst; that the better descriptionof irrimigralnts will seek a more congenial , home. If something beyond . the' tiding over of the hour is to be looked to, and if the flit u re colpnisation'ofjtheprovirice is ,to ,be considered of any importance, an immediate reform must be begun on the Government reserve. A new immigration depot must be constructed on a totally different system ; the sexes must be placed at a greater distance 5 the domestic arrangements must be assimilated to numbers, and the immigrant, assisted though he be, must no longer be regarded in the light of a wild animal, whose food is carrion. ' ,