D.—6

4

" homestead system." This system means the selection of lands out of first and second class rural lands, free, or without payment, subject to certain conditions, which I will explain to you, if necessary. Taranaki land laws differ somewhat from Auckland. Town, suburban, and rural lands are disposed of, firstly, by selection; secondly, by public auction, at an upset price of not less than 20s. per acre for bush land, and not less than 40s. per acre for open land. They, too, have the " deferred-payment system," payment to extend over a period of ten years ; and then, with certain other minor conditions fulfilled, the occupant obtains a Crown grant, and the land becomes his own freehold property. They also have a " special-settlement system," to explain which would take up too much space in a report, but of which I will give full particulars in my lectures. Westland Province has, at my suggestion, been making provision for the special settlement of some 60,000 acres of land upon very advantageous terms, which I am prepared to explain to you, if necessary ; but, as there is likely to be a change in the government, I should like to get the concurrence and guarantee of the General Government as well as the Provincial. My own opinion is, that while it is well to make arrangements, if possible, in any of the colonies for special settlements, yet, if the subject be carefully considered, the more preferable system is for our efficient farm labourers to go out and work their way upward ; say, work for some employer for a year or two, thus acquiring a knowledge of colonial life, which would be of infinite advantage to them in after life, and when they are in a position to take up land they will find no difficulty in suiting themselves in the Colony of New Zealand. FEEE PASSAGES. The Government is still giving free passages to eligible individuals, but it is thought they will not be continued for more than another year, so that it will be necessary to strike while the iron is hot. Assisted passages will probably be continued for some years to come. I have much advice to give to intending emigrants which I cannot embody in a report, but which will be brought out in my lectures. I cannot close my report without expressing my thanks to the Governments of New Zealand, both General and Provincial, for the opportunities and facilities they willingly and generously afforded me of obtaining a thorough knowledge of the resources and advantages of the colony, and also for the uniform kindness, and courtesy which I everywhere experienced. I also endeavoured, every mail, to keep you acquainted with my progress through the colony, and in the lengthy letters I forwarded for publication every month I stated my own views and opinions pretty freely as to what I thought of the various provinces, and the inducements each presented as fields of settlement for the class of people I represent. Gentlemen, in laying this report before you, I have endeavoured, simply, but honestly and truthfully, to give you my own convictions and opinions of the Colony of New Zealand and its resources as a suitable field for the settlement of large numbers of English farm labourers, with the certain and encouraging prospect before them, if they possess the qualities I have elsewhere named, of rising in the social scale, and eventually becoming the occupiers of farms themselves. I.leave you to judge whether I have done my duty, and also as to the advisability of your embracing the opportunities now presented by the New Zealand Government in giving free passages of pushing emigration to that fine colony —the Britain of the South, and encouraging it to the utmost of your power. I am, Ac, April, 1875. C. Holloway.

No. 2. (Reprint from the Agricultural Labourers' Union Chronicle, of 3rd May, 1875.) Me. C. Holloway, who has recently returned from New Zealand, delivered a lecture on "New Zealand," in the open space in front of Ejilingworth Castle, Wootton, near Oxford, on Thursday evening in last week. Mr. Holloway, after some prefatory remarks, said it was intention that evening to give them an honest, fair, and faithful account of New Zealand, as a field for intending emigrants, and as a colony suitable for the settlement of some thousands of their fellow-countrymen, with their wives and families. He had, as they were aware, been delegated to visit that fine colony with a view to ascertaining, from personal observations, its resources, climate, and capabilities. Before proceeding, however, to give his views upon that country, he thought it necessary to state briefly the reasons which led to his undertaking so important a mission. If they looked back to the beginning of the year 1872, they might be struck with the apparent prosperity of our country. Trade and commerce had increased to such an extent that many of our merchants had become fabulously rich. We had also our millionaires; and if they turned to the agricultural world they would find that the competition for farms in this country haxl been so great as naturally to induce the landowners to increase their rents for the same, and which they easily obtained. This, together with the additional burdens of rates, taxes, Ac, were such as to compel the tenant farmer, if he would get anything like a fair return for his capital, to cut down the wages of his labourers to the very lowest penny; thus reducing the condition of the tiller of the soil to a state of serfdom, wretchedness, and degradation. ("Shame.") The lines of Lord John Manners, composed some thirty years ago, describing the condition of the labourers at that period, was applicable to the labourers of 1872. Ho wrote — " The modern slave, Doomed from the very cradle to the grave, To tread his lonely path of care and toil, Bound in sad truth, and bound down to the soil. He dies, and leaves his sons their heritage, Work for their prime, the workhouse for their age." ("Shame.") He could conceive of no condition so wretched and deplorable as that of the peasants of our country at the time of which he was speaking. How could it have been otherwise when strong