15

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health, he must be held to have approved of them. He several times expressed his wish to me that he should have as large a number as possible under his charge in this ship, which was held in reserve for him. In order that you may judge what reliance is to be placed on the accuracy of Mr. Concannon's statements, I enclose a letter from the educated and highly respectable lady who was matron on board the " Christian McAusland." The contents of this letter show grave misconduct on the part of Mr. Concannon, which, if true —and I have no reason to doubt the veracity of the lady in question — disqualified him from reporting on, let alone maligning and traducing, the character of a large body of poor but on the whole deserving emigrants, who probably knowing nothing about Mr. Concannon's report, were unable to defend themselves from these aspersions on their characters. I am free to admit that, in selecting over 2,000 emigrants as I have had to do under the Brogden Contract (not including 70 or 80 selected by Messrs. Brogden's agents at places I was unable to visit), that some few undesirable ones may have crept in and been accepted by me ; but taking them all in all, I venture with confidence to say, that a finer or more useful class of working men has not before been sent out to New Zealand. I have, &c., To the Agent-General for New Zealand. C. R. Carter. Sub-Enclosure 1 to Enclosure in No. 3. Copy of the Medical Inspector's Letter referred to by Mr. Carter in his explanation dated Ist May, 1873. Sib,— 28, Great Smith Street, Westminster, 29th April, 1873. I have no recollection of the names of the different ships that sailed from London with emigrants for Messrs. Brogden's works in New Zealand, but I can certainly say that all I examined, both men and women, were in perfect health, not a sign of scrofula, or tubercular, or any of their kindred diseases, and very far superior in physique to the general run of emigrants, owing in a great measure to your own watchful care in selecting them before they came to me to be examined and passed. I have, &c, C. R. Carter, Esq. Geo. Huton, M.R.C.S., L.S.A., F.Z.S. P.S.—The foregoing applies to all that I examined, whether they sailed in the " Christian McAusland " or not. Sub-Enclosure 2 to Enclosure in No. 3. Extract from the Letter of the Matron of the " Christian McAusland," dated Otago, 17th December, 1872, referred to in Mr. Carter's explanation. " The doctor (please tell Mr. Carter, Mr. Ottywell, and any other gentleman whom you know) was the greatest scoundrel I ever came across, and long before the end of the voyage was not on speaking terms with any, even of the cabin passengers. I had constant sickness among the single women owing to his neglect —while he used to fall on the deck drunk, and quite openly and on the poop kiss men's wives while he filled the husbands .with drink. He told me I was too kind with the girls, while he informed the captain that I was a tyrant, the very last day and before my face. He told me, too —and I blush to write it, but he ought to be exposed—that it did not want me there : the girls wanted a hag who would turn and give the girls a good round of swearing, and a whoremonger. He told captain no end of lies about my neglect of the work, and he believed it for long ; but as I felt I did the very opposite, I was not unhappy. In the end every one found him out. My girls would not see him, long before the end. It is a pity he cannot be exposed, and I hope he will never get into another ship, to make every one unhappy through his bad behaviour and neglect."

No. 4. The Agent-General to the Hon. the Colonial Secretary. 7, Westminster Chambers, Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W., Sir,— 13th May, 1873. Referring to Lands and Immigration Memoranda, Nos. 10, 1873, and 13, 1873, of 16th January, and No. 25, 1873, of 12th February, I have the honor to send enclosed copies of letters from Messrs. Shaw, Saville, and Co., replying (1) to the complaints of Edwin Major, Charles Jones, and Simon Fraser, (full-paying passengers by the ship " Jessie Readman,") as to the nature of the accommodation allotted to them during the voyage of that vessel to Wellington last year; and (2) to the complaint of Jonathan Heape, an assisted emigrant by the " Agnes Muir," that an insufficient quantity of bedding and mess utensils had been supplied to him by the contractors. The Government will observe that Messrs. Shaw, Saville and Co. have authorized the refund to Mr. Heape of the whole amount of his deposit —namely, three pounds (£3). On heariug from you that this amount has been repaid to the complainant, I will claim a similar sum from Messrs. Shaw, Saville, and Co. I note that the Government has reconsidered the question of the admission of full-paying passengers into vessels conveying assisted emigrants, and that it is now left to me to decide whether it is desirable to allow this class of passengers in these ships. I have, &c, I. E. Featherston, The Hon. the Colonial Secretary, Wellington, N.Z. Agent-General.