D.—4

1880. NEW ZEALAND.

INTRODUCTION OF COAL-MINERS FOR THE WESTPORT COLLIERY COMPANY (LIMITED) (CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO THE).

Presented to loth Houses of the General Assembly hy Command of Mis Excellency.

No. 1. The Agent-General to the Hon. the Minister for Immigration. Sir, — 7, Westminster Chambers, London, 21st May, 1879. Referring to your letter No. 6i, of 6th March last,* respecting the coal-miners required for the Westport Colliery, I have the honor to inform you that I have sent Mr. Holloway to the mining districts to ascertain and report to me as to the best localities from which these men can be obtained. I shall probably employ Mr. G. M. Reed and Mr. Holloway in personally selecting these men. I expect to be able to arrange so that they will embark some time in August. I have, &c.j Julius Vogel, The Hon. the Minister for Immigration, Wellington. Agent-General.

No. 2. The Agent-General to the Hon. the Minister for Immigration. Sir, — 7, Westminster Chambers, London, 14th July, 1879. Referring to your letter of the 6th March last, No. 64,* and to my letter No. 391, of 21st May, respecting the coal-miners required by the Westport Colliery Company, I have the honor to inform you that, in accordance with my instructions, Mr. Holloway first proceeded to the Forest of Dean, and, after personally interviewing a number of men in that district, he sent in completed application forms and certificates of about twenty men and their families, most of whom I approved for free passages. Mr. Holloway then proceeded to Lancaster, and, having adopted the same course, I approved about fifteen men out of that county. Having received a letter from the Rev. R. L. H. Gough, of Chilton Moor, Fence Houses, Durham, recommending me to select a few miners from that county, I then instructed Mr. Holloway to proceed there, and place himself in communication with that gentleman; and the result was that I approved of about fifteen more coal-miners from that part of England. This completed the number (fifty) which you instructed me to send out; but, as a number of both the Lancaster and Forest of Dean men had not finally taken their passages, I took advantage of a recommendation of a gentleman (Mr. G. M. Richardson) from Yorkshire, and sent Mr. Holloway to Barnsley, Yorkshire, and from that district I have obtained the number sufficient to complete the party. All the men have been personally interviewed by Mr. Holloway, who has reported specially in each case as to their eligibility. I trust that the result of the course which I have adopted in the selection of these men will prove satisfactory to their future employers. Having ascertained from Messrs. Neilson and Maxwell, of Glasgow, that there was no likelihood of their sending a direct ship to Westport, as mentioned by Mr. Burns in his letter, copy of which was enclosed in your letter of 6th March,* I have arranged with the New Zealand Shipping Company to despatch their ship, the "Opawa/'' to Nelson, sailing from Plymouth 22nd August; and by this vessel I propose to send these men, together with such nominated emigrants for Westland, Nelson, and Marlborough as may be then ready to proceed. I have, &c., Julius Vogel, The Hon. the Minister for Immigration, Wellington. Agent-General.

* So. 31, D.-l, Sess. 1,, 1879. 1—I). 4