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not exceeding three per family. If there were more than three children in the family, promissory notes or cash were taken in payment for passages. A Committee of the Legislative Council in 1873, which inquired into the operations of the Immigration Act, found that very few settlers had ultimately been settled on the land, and as a result the Immigration Land Act was passed in 1873, which provided that immigrants who paid their own passages were entitled to £2O worth of land in any part of the colony that they might select within five years of their arrival. It is interesting, also, to note that companies or persons who paid for immigrants' passages were, under this Act, entitled to grants of land equivalent to the number of immigrants who might arrive. Under the new arrangement the immigration figures were doubled in 1874 and 1875, the average cost to the Government of each immigrant being £l7 13s. By 1875 the number of immigrants available from Great Britain was sufficient to meet all the requirements of New Zealand, and hence the Government decided to cease contracting for Scandinavian immigrants as from 1875. By this time, however, there was sufficient population to cater for most of the needs of the country, and consequently the Government decided to reduce the number to arrive in the country. The figures for 1875-76 showed a drop from 30,000 in the previous year to 16,000. By 1878 the number had dropped to about one-third of the number in 1876, and by 1879, on account of the serious economic depression which was then affecting the country, the Government announced that the free-passage system was to cease, except for single women, and women not less than forty-five years of age who had not more than three children. Males from that date were required to pay £5 as their fare. It was also agreed that the principle of nomination was to operate more exclusively than previously. A change in Government at the end of this year resulted in the temporary suspension of nominated immigrants, the exception being single women. The major reason was that employment was scarce, and immigration was only aggravating the problem. By 1881 the immigration figures had dropped to 833, and in 1882 it was only 118. In 1883, however, the number rose to 3,000 again, since the Government had- resumed its policy of assisting nominated immigrants. Two hundred thousand pounds were set aside for three years for the introduction of 5,000 immigrants per year, a special provision being that 1,000 single women should be included among the 5,000. Under this provision the figures rose to approximately 6,000 in 1884, but fell again to 1,000 in 1885. The depression, continuing with some severity, had its effect on assisted immigration, which fell to 9 in 1891-92. The following table shows the total assisted immigrants from 1871 to 1892.

Table No. 46. —Table showing number of Immigrants from 1871 to 1892

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Year. Total for Year. Nominated. Cumulative Total. November, 1871, to June, 1873 7,503 1,166 July, 1873, to June, 1874 15,102 1,729 22,605 July, 1874, to June, 1875 31,785 3,451 54,390 July, 1875, to June, 1876 16,612 1,800 71,002 July, 1876, to June, 1877 7,473 1,083 78,475 July, 1877, to June, 1878 5,628 1,029 84,103 July, 1878, to June, 1879 8,747 2,353 92,850 July, to June, 1880 7,413 4,569 100,263 July, 1880, to June, 1881 833 702 101,096 July, 1881, to June, 1882 118 118 101,214 July, 1882, to June, 1883 3,205 3,205 104,419 July, 1883, to June, 1884 6,267 6,267 110,686 July, 1884, to June, 1885 1,262 1,262 111,948 July, 1885, to April, 1886 545 545 112,493 May, 1886, to April, 1887 1,054 1,054 113,547 May, 1887, to April, 1888 851 851 114,398 May, 1888, to April, 1889 250 250 114,648 May, 1889, to April, 1890 82 82 114,730 May, 1890, to June, 1891 168 168 114,898 July, 1891, to June, 1892 9 9 114,907 {Taken from appendices to Journals of the House of Representatives, which quote Agent' s-Qeneral returns.