D.—2a

1873. NEW ZEALAND.

IMMIGRATION TO NEW ZEALAND. FURTHER PAPERS PROM THE AUENT-GEHERAL. Presented to loth Houses of the General Assembly by command of His Excellency. No. 1. The Agent-General to the Hon. the Colonial Secretary. 7, Westminster Chambers, Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W., Sir,— 12th April, 1873. Referring to the Hon. Mr. Ormond's Memorandum of 4th September, 1872, in which he says, " I desire specially to call your attention to the great disproportion which exists in the immigration that has taken place to the Province of Otago. That Province was shown in the Memorandum above quoted to be capable of absorbing a larger population than any of those to which vessels were directed to be sent out; but during the three months specified fewer emigrants have been despatched to it than to any of the others. For your future guidance, I trust it will only be necessary for me to point out to you that it is of the utmost importance that the supply of immigrants be proportionate to the requirements of individual Provinces as well to the respective Islands, and that as the instructions given to you from time to time, regulating those proportions, are the results of much deliberation, it is absolutely necessary that they be carried out as closely as circumstances will permit:" Referring also to the Hon. Mr. Waterhouse's telegram, received on the 12th November, 1872, in which he says, " Insufficient emigration. Division between Provinces not accordant with instructions as pointed out by Memoranda 114 and 115. Consider foregoing instructions absolute:" I have the honor to offer the following remarks : — 1. My first instructions from the General Government with respect to emigration were contained in a letter from the Hon. Mr. Gisborne, dated 26th November, 1871, and received by me Ist February, 1872. 2. I have already intimated that it was absolutely essential before I could take action upon this letter, that I should establish a uniform system of regulations, which (as already reported) was done by a Conference of Agents at my office, in February 1872. 3. I intimated to you, in my letter of Bth February, 1872, that it would be impossible to establish a stream of emigration to New Zealand before April, from which time, as I had every reason to believe, it would assume larger and larger dimensions. 4. At the same time I received instructions from the Government that no emigrants were to bo landed in Otago in the months of June, July, and August, whereas no such embargo was laid upon emigration to other Provinces. 5. In consequence of these instructions, I was prohibited sending out emigrants to Otago during the months of March, April, and May, while to other parts of the Colony I was not restricted in any way. 6. It naturally followed that while I was pouring in emigrants to other Provinces up to the date of Mr. AVaterhouse's Memorandum, emigration to Otago during a certain portion of the year was altogether stayed by my instructions from the Government, or in other words, I was prevented sending a single emigrant to Otago to be landed before September. Mr. Waterhouse, however, with these facts before him, charges me in his memorandum and telegram already cited with not having sent a fair proportion of emigrants to Otago. In answer to this charge, I would simply observe, that up to the 31st December, 1872, the following emigrants were despatched to the several Provinces, namely: —To Otago, 1,916; to Canterbury, 1,719 ; to Wellington and adjacent Provinces, 1590; to Hawke's Bay, 795; to Auckland, 871. It will be sufficiently evident, therefore, that I have acted entirely in accordance with my instructions, and that there has been no neglect of Otago in the distribution of emigration. I have, &c, I. E. Featherston, The Hon. the Colonial Secretary, Wellington. Agent-General. I—D. 2a.