96

D.—l

necessity to fill up his ships." Such a class of immigrants I can scarcely think would be beneficial to the Colony. The suggestion contained in the following paragraph from the Memorandum of the Hon. Minister tor Immigration is not, I think, warranted by anything contained in my correspondence : the question arises, " Would it be right to offer free passages to capitalists of from £400 to £1,000, whilst all other immigrants] have to contribute to the cost of passage according to the fixed scale which I append ?" Apart altogether from what ought to be the answer to such an abstract question, I submit that if free passages are to be given at all, they could not be better bestowed than upon a body of settlers of from 100 to 200 of such character as the Moravians have proved themselves all over the world, wholly irrespective of their possession or non-possession of capital. My suggestion as to possession of capital applied only to twenty or thirty persons out of some 200, and referred to the conditions which would insure a successful settlement, rather than to a sine qua non of free emigration. Permit me further to remark, in reference to the fixed scale appended, that the system of taking a promissory note for double the amount which would be received in cash, cannot fail to be injurious to the immigration system, unless it is clearly understood that this " double " amount is in the nature of a penal bond, which will be satisfied upon payment of the original amount with ordinary interest. And whilst on this subject, you will, I trust, pardon my suggesting the necessity for having the terms upon which the Government immigration is conducted being made clear and intelligible. Scarcely a week passes without applications to me for information on the subject, which I regret to say I cannot give. I have had, and have seen, letters of a similar purport from England, from persons who have vainly endeavoured to obtain the necessary information. It may be my stupidity, but I really cannot ascertain with any certainty what are the existing Government Immigration Regulations ; how then can the average English immigrants or Colonial friends be expected to know them ? A copy of your letter, and of the memorandum &c. annexed, I will transmit to Mr. Dunn, and will, so far as I am able, endeavour to give practical effect to the views and wishes of the Government in the matter. I have, &c., Thomas B. Gillies, The Hon. the Colonial Secretary, Wellington. Superintendent.

Enclosure 2 in No. 104. The Hon. G. M. O'Boeke to His Honor T. B. Giilies. Sib, — Immigration Office, Wellington, 21st June, 1873. In reference to the correspondence which has taken place between your Honor and the General Government on the subject of establishing a special settlement of Moravians in Victoria Valley at Mongonui, I would feel obliged if you would inform me whether the scheme is likely to be carried out. Tour last letter on the subject, dated 21st February, while it seemed rather to disapprove of the terms offered by the Government for the conveyance of this body of Moravians to New Zealand, yet, aa it closed with stating that you would communicate the terms to Mr. Dunn, and that you would, as far as you were able, endeavour to give effect to the views and wishes of the Government in the matter, induced me to refrain from entering into controversy with your Honor on certain portions of your letter not particularly affecting the special matters in hand, my desire being that no conflict of opinion between us should have a tendency to mar the success of the scheme of Moravian settlement of which your Honor is the author. It is right that I should however observe upon what appears to me the very erroneous construction you put on certain words of mine in the Memorandum to which you were replying. You express your regret that the authority given to the Agent-General as regards granting free passages was only "to enable him in case of necessity to fill up his ships ;" the inference from which would be that only the lowest class of emigrants would thus be obtained. But that is not a fair deduction from my language, which was as follows : —" The Government in that month (November) instructed the Agent-General that if the supply of the number of emigrants which he was directed to send out to the Colony would be expedited by granting free passages, he was to do so." He was iv fact authorized to abolish all charges, and not merely, as you seek to imply, to grant free passages for the mere sake of filling ships. Having informed you of the instructions given to the AgentGeneral quoted above, I added that there had been no advices from him to show that he had been under the necessity to offer free passages. "With regard to the difficulty your Honor complains of in understanding the terms on which the Agent-General conducts the Government immigration, I may state that, under cover of my Memorandum, I despatched to your Honor a bound set of the Emigration Regulations, page 49 of which should, I think, have made the charges clear as they stood at that date. Since that they have been altered, and are as follows : — Married couples, £5 per adult cash, or £10 promissory note. Single women, free. Single men, £8 each, or £4 cash and £8 promissory note. I have only further to add that if you refer to your letter of the 30th December, 1872, you will see that I only followed your directions in requiring that of the 200 people proposed to be sent out there should be twenty or thirty families, or one-half of the whole party, possessed of the prescribed capital of £400 to £1,000, and not merely twenty or thirty persons, as you state in your letter under reply. I have, &c, His Honor the Superintendent, Auckland. G. Matjbice O'Eoeke.