THE AGENT-GENERAL AND THE OTAGO IMMIGRATION AGENCY.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3856, 14 July 1873, Page 3

THE AGENT-GENERAL AND THE OTAGO IMMIGRATION AGENCY.

Writing to his Honor the Superintendent of Otago on the 6th March last, Mr Auld, the Home Agent of the province, says : — " I yesterday received from Dr Featheraon a copy of a memorandum, dated December 20, 1872, from the Hob the Minister of Immigration at Wellington, in which ha trusts that the instructions formerly sent to the Agent-General have resulted in his taking over the agency, as conducted by me here, but if be had not clone so, instructing him to take thiß course, and authorising him to pay me any moneys I may have advanced, as well as to provide for any liabilities I may have incurred, in connection with the resumption of emigration to Otago on behalf of the Provincial Government. I beg to enclose a oopy of the memorandum in question. In the letter which accompanies this memorandum, Dr Featherston states that he is unwilling, or rather net in a position, in any way to interfere with my arrangements until he has seen me, and asks me to continue to act on his responsibility. I believe Dr Featherston, by this remark, refers to the state of his health, which, I am very sorry to say, is far from good, and he is at present quite incapacitated from attending to business. Of course I jahall continue to carry on emigration as before, not so muoh on account of the abovementioned request, but because having received my instructions entirely from your Honor, it appears to me very questionable whether I am at liberty, on the call of any other party whatever, to demit the duties entrusted to me without the express sane* tion of your Honor. At the same time it is quite plain emigration on the part of the province must be carried on on equally favorable terms with those offered by the Agent-General, and he informs me that he has all but made up his mind that it is necessary to grant absolute free passages to the classes required, as the only means of meeting the competition in emigration. If, us I rather believe, the Agent-Q-eneral has. issued instructions to his subagents to this effect, I must act upon the same principle, but in doing so will act in the meantime on the responsibility of the AgentGeneral. I shall be glad to hear from your Honor on the whole of this subject, and with referenoe also to the position I shall occupy in the matter of emigration in the event of Dr Featheraton'e instructions being approved of by your Honor." Writing on April 13, Mr Auld further says : — " I beg to refer your Honor to my letter of the 6th ult. Since that time I have not heard again from the Agent-General, but in obtaining emigrants for the J. N. Fleming I have givon passages upon the conditions in regard to free and assisted passages laid down by the AgentGeneral and contained in a printed statement issued by him on the 3rd of March last, and of which I enclose herein a copy, from which you will see that free passages are granted to married agricultural laborers and female domestic servants and certain other parties. These terms have proved successful, and the J. If. Fleming wiil sail to-morrow for Otngo, having on board about 200 adult?, assisted emigrants. Of course, it is distinctly understood that these passages have been granted on the responsibility of the Agent-General. He has, however, altered the terms above • mentioned and come back to his former regulations, whereby assisted passages only are granted to married laborers and others of that class on their granting promissory notes for £10, or paying £5 in cash per adult, and he has altered the payment to be made by single men, from whom h» new require! a payment in Cftih^of

£8, or £4 in cash, and a promissory note for £3. I fear these alterations may operate injuriously upon future emigration, as I am informed that Mr Seaton and Mr Birch had made the more liberal terras very extensively known by circulars, advertisements, and meetings, so that it will be extremely difficult to induce those to whom free passages were offered to emigrate upon the terms con* tamed in the altered terms; but in regard lo this matter I shall put myself in communication with the Agent-General, who, no doubt, has good reasons for his change of conduct, though it 18 to be regretted that be had ever published the more favorable terms. These terms, of course, could not be altered as regards the J. N. Fleming, and the alterations can only, if adhered to, come into operation in the case of succeeding ships." On the 11th June the Superintendent wrote to Mr Auld : — •" I note your remarks as to the future position of the agency. I find on communication with the General Government that it was not intended that tho AgentGeneral was to take over the agency in the sense of suspending, or in any way interfering with your operations. The instruction is, that the Otago agency ia to be continued in every respect upon its former footing, the Agent-General to provide the funds out of the Immigration Loan. The term 'to take over' seems to have been intended to apply to the contracts entered into by- you with Messrs P. Henderson and Co. You will, no doubt, understand from this the real position of the agency, that is to say, that while tho AgentGeneral furnishes the supplies, you are in no way under his control, but are to act under instructions from the Provincial Government, by whom, in case of need, you will be placed in funds. At the same time, you will, of course, see the expediency of working in harmony with the Agent- General, so long as that can be done consistently with the position of the agency,"