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you could execute an order for any specific number of emigrants within a given time. Had that announcement been made to the Government when it assumed office, it would have been their duty to have taken steps to insure the arrival of the number they thought requisite for the Colony during the year; but your promises of a large flow of immigrants buoyed them up, and prevented them sending home special agents to collect the number and class of immigrants deemed absolutely necessary to meet the demands for labour throughout the Colony. The Government cannot, with the stream of emigration amounting to a quarter of a million flowing annually from the United Kingdom, and with the command of sufficient money at your disposal for the requirements of the year, admit that the execution of their order for 10,000 or 13,000 emigrants should have presented insuperable difficulties. It remains for me to say, that while your letter states that you never held out to the Government the expectation that an order for any specific number of emigrants within a given time could be executed, a telegram of more recent date, 25th April, 1873, conveys the gratifying intelligence that the " emigration order will be executed during current year." G. Maijeice O'Koeke. Immigration Office, Wellington, N.Z., sth July, 1873.

—I————^i^——— lIWIMIIIIIItIM I 11» No. 117. Memorandum No. 146, 1873, for the Agent-Geneeal, London. Hebewith are forwarded copies of reports of Immigration Commissioners upon the ship " Jubilee," which arrived in Wellington on the 21st June, and of notes upon the same vessel by the Immigration Officer at this port. It is matter of great regret to the Government that greater vigilance is not exercised by your Despatching Officer in inspecting the provisions and bedding for the emigrants. The biscuit is reported as unfit for food, and the bedding of most inferior quality. The inspection of the emigrants appears to be of the most cursory character. In this instance, a single woman, within a month of her confinement, was allowed to embark. Very little care seems frequently to be taken in the selection of the surgeon. In the case of the " Jubilee," the surgeon seems to have been taken at random, a few hours before the emigrants embarked, and no inquiry appears to have been made as to his qualifications or character. As another instance I must note the appointment of Mr. Montague Welby to the " Edwin Fox." Referring to the memorandum of the Immigration Officer, I have to request that you will endeavour to remedy the inconvenience caused to emigrants by being summoned to London ten days or a fortnight before they are embarked, and that you will call upon your Despatching Officer to explain the carelessness which took place in inspecting the biscuit and bedding on board the "Jubilee," and. generally upon the complaints made in the report of the Commissioners and the Immigration Officer. Immigration Office, Wellington, Bth July, 1873. G. Maueice O'Roeke.

Enclosure 1 in No. 117. Eepoet by Ihmi&eation Cohmissionees on Ship " Jubilee." Sic ; — Wellington, 25th June, 1873 "We have the honor to report the arrival of the ship " Jubilee " on the 21st inst., with fortytwo statute adult immigrants; one single woman having died on the 6th inst. from puerperal fever, leaving a male infant one month old. The child will, however, prove no burden to the Colony, as it has been provided for by the mother's relatives. We also regretted to hear that one of the married women was subject to violent fits, apparently of an epileptic character, which will prevent her taking any employment. The immigrants by this vessel appear to be of a very desirable class, and we should be only too happy to find a continuance of the same kind of people among future importations. The ship was in every way well suited for the requirements of the small number of people on board, each compartment being roomy and well ventilated. We noticed a great improvement in the hatches, the fixed combings being much higher than usual, and consequently the compartments below were dryer. The immigrants, on being questioned, stated they had no complaints to make. We recommend the payment of the usual gratuities to the captain and officers of the ship. So far as we can ascertain from inspection of the surgeon's journal, &c, he appears to have satisfactorily performed his duty during the voyage ; but we submit for the consideration of the Hon. the Minister for Immigration whether it would not be advisable for the Government to punish him, by making some deduction from the remuneration promised him by the A gent-General. AY c think some explanation as to the Agent-General's knowledge of the antecedents and reputation of the doctor should be obtained, as the character and future prospects of single female immigrants mainly depend upou the behaviour of the surgeon, and the treatment they receive during the voyage. We have, &c, Alexander Jottnston, M.D. H. J. H. Eliott. J. Hackworth. The Hon. the Minister for Immigration, Wellington. John Hallidat.