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2. It is to be borne in mind that whatever instructions may be sent home for emigrants to be forwarded to particular Provinces, it rests with those who desire to emigrate, to choose the Province they wish to proceed to, and having chosen it, it is not often that they alter their choice. 3. From the instructions sent home, the Agent-General will understand that he is to select a certain number of emigrants for Marlborough, and to send them by vessel proceeding to Nelson. As your Honor, however, desires two direct shipments, I have cabled home to that effect. I have, &c, His Honor the Superintendent, Marlborough. Julius Vooel.

No. 56. The Hon. J. Vooel to the Agent-General. (No. 03.) Sib, — Immigration Office, Wellington, 9th April, 1874. I have already acknowledged the receipt of your letter No. 802, of 30th January; and I stated that I would further address you concerning it. 2. I observe that while you state that, in the main, you agree with the views I expressed in the letter to which yours is a reply, you still approve of the employment of local agents, paid by commission, in preference to having officers paid by salary. 3. Inquiries I have instituted, lead me to suppose that the local agents are by no means inducers of much emigration. No doubt, persons who contemplate coming to New Zealand may refer to the agents for certain details of information ; but, as far as I can gather, from inquiries amongst the immigrants themselves, the great bulk of those who come to New Zealand do so because they have relations or friends in the Colony, or because of what they hear from friends who have relations in the Colony. To a smaller number, the first inducement to come to New Zealand is supplied by advertisements in the newspapers having popular circulation. 4. I do not doubt that you have chosen with much care the agents you have appointed ; but it appears to me that, of necessity, they are hardly fitted to carry out the purpose we desire. 5. We arc now giving free passages, which arc intended for persons of such classes as we want in the Colony, and who are of good character. To industrious persons at home, who are not in good employment, and who are not possessed of means, a free passage to New Zealand should be the greatest possible boon. By it they are enabled to rid themselves of the cares and anxieties inseparable from poorly-paid labour, and to come to a country in which, by industry and frugality, they are almost certain of attaining independence, besides constantly enjoying the means of educating their children to an extent far beyond anything they could hope to do if they remained in the United Kingdom. As the inducements oft'ered by New Zealand become known, through the information given by the thousands of emigrants who have recently come, or who are now coming out, it is reasonable to expect that the boon of a free passage will be looked upon as of the highest possible value, and you should have very large numbers of applicants from which to select. It seems to me that, in making that selection, no pains should be spared; and certainly, no reasonable expense could be considered wasted. 6. I estimate at a large sum the value to the Colony of every adult who is disposed to become an industrious settler. Upon the other hand, I am of opinion that each undesirable immigrant may bo considered as not only a loss to the Colony to the amount of his passage, but as probably counterbalancing the value of several desirable immigrants. Suppose, for example, that even ten undesirable persons are included in a shipment of three hundred : allow me to ask you to consider the loss to the Colony which such a fact would entail, and how trifling, in comparison, would be any reasonable expenditure devoted to a careful personal selection or approval before shipment. It is to be remembered that undesirable immigrants are not only not likely to' benefit themselves or the Colony, but that their example is calculated to do much mischief to others, besides generally discrediting the system of emigration. 7. You say that the employment of paid agents is the less necessary, because you have secured the services of the representatives of all the principal Agricultural Unions in England. lam gratified that you have shown a disposition to follow the opinions expressed in New Zealand as to the desirability of maintaining relations with those Unions. It is not to be expected that landlords or employers of labour would be altogether on your side. They cannot be pleased to see the best artisans and labourers leaving the United Kingdom. Therefore it was that I endeavoured to impress upon you the necessity of cultivating connections with the artisans and labourers themselves, and especially with those Unions which had been established avowedly for the purpose of bettering the condition of the labouring classes. 8. But it is in the very nature of such Unions that they should include alike the best and the worst of the agricultural labourers. It may be said that in Great Britain a labourer has nothing better to expect thau to live and die a labourer; while in New Zealand it has been said, upon good authority, that a labourer, within three years, by industry and frugality, may. if he will, become a freeholder, and an employer of labour. The desire to come to the Colony may reasonably be expected to animate a very large number of the members of the Unions, irrespective of whether or not they are the best of their class. 9. Whilst, therefore, I am still of opinion that the Agricultural Unions are most desirabk agencies through which to obtain those emigrants we desire to get from the agricultural labouring classes, I must ask you to recollect that it will not do to give to any of the Unions an unfettered discretion as to choosing those of the members to whom you are to give free passages. It is but reasonable that the managers of the Unions should desire to weed out the least meritorious of their members ; and, so far, they would be co-operating with the landlords and employers. This would, no doubt, be more or less counterbalanced by the individual ambition of those of the members who may desire to strive after a better life in the Colony : but the Unions are governed by well-defined organizations, and it is probable that though such individual aspirations might be largely recognized, yet that, on the other hand, considerable pressure might be brought to bear on those members whom the