250 Auckland Provincial Government Gazette.

capacity. I quite agree with Mr. Vogel on this point, and I respect. It was to this very point that I desired to direct my attention; and I take leave to say that I consider that the other Provinces would have a just cause of complaint, if the influence and the energies of the Premier of the Colony were to be employed in giving a special impetus to the Province of which he may represent a single constituency in the General Assembly.

2nd. Mr. Vogel is proceeding to London upon other weighty business, which will doubtless fully occupy his time, and prevent him from undertaking the work which this Province desires to be carried out. In fact, the work cannot be done in London. It would be necessary to visit those places in the three kingdoms, where the system which is sought to be inaugurated might be established successfully; and Mr. Vogel’s other engagements would preclude the possibility of his visiting those places, within the limited time at his disposal.

3rd. The Waste Lands Act (as above quoted) specially empowers the Superintendent to appoint Immigration Agents for the Province. If it had been intended that this duty should be entrusted to the Colonial Government, or to any member of that Government, I presume it would have been so expressed. But, as I have already pointed out, such a duty could not with propriety be undertaken by any Colonial Minister. It was properly left to the Superintendent of the Province to make such arrangements as he might consider necessary, in order to supplement and to derive the fullest possible amount of benefit from the Colonial Immigration system.

Your telegram proceeds to state that, in your opinion, "an independent, and possibly antagonistic action, such as" I "propose, could have no other effect than to embarrass the general operations of the Government, without procuring any special advantages for the Province of Auckland." I must at once unreservedly express my entire dissent from this statement, and from the inference which it seeks to draw. I fail to see why “independent action,” such as that which the Provinces of Otago and Canterbury have all along been permitted to use, should not be as useful and beneficial in the case of this Province, as it has proved to them. It appears to me that the action of the Colonial Government creates an invidious distinction, by refusing to Auckland opportunities and privileges which it has permitted the wealthy and powerful Provinces just named to enjoy without restraint or objection. I apprehend that it has not been found, in their case, that their exertions have been “antagonistic” or embarrassing to the “general operations” of the Colonial Government. On the contrary, it appears to me that the agencies have largely contributed to make the Immigration system of the Colonial Government a fair success, so far as Otago and Canterbury are concerned, and such would no doubt be the result of the action proposed to be taken by the Government of this Province. Mr. Vogel has shown, by his correspondence with the Agent General, laid before the Houses of Assembly, that he thoroughly understands what the weak points of the Colonial system are. The principal defect of that system is, that it fails to ensure a good selection of Immigrants of the classes suitable to the requirements of different Provinces. It may succeed as to numbers; but it fails as to quality. The local agencies of Otago and Canterbury have rendered assistance to the Immigration department in this respect.

It was to this very point that I desired to direct my attention; and I take leave to say that my action would not in any way have tended “to embarrass the general operations of the Government,” but that, on the contrary, it would have facilitated and promoted, in no small degree, the attainment of the one common object in view, besides procuring “special advantages for the Province of Auckland.” And, moreover, I feel assured, in fact I know, that I would have received the benefit of Mr. Vogel’s cordial assistance while at home.

I again express my regret that Ministers should have felt it their duty to advise the Governor for the express purpose of preventing the action which I contemplated. I was advised that my leaving the Colony would not be either illegal or unconstitutional. In fact, as you are aware, the Assembly has from time to time endorsed this view by passing laws to enable Superintendents to leave their Provinces for considerable periods. Neither was my request for the temporary transfer to my Deputy of the delegations now held by me an unusual one, or without precedents.

It is almost unnecessary for me to add that, in consequence of the attitude which the Colonial Government have thought proper to assume in this matter, I have decided to abandon, for the present, my intention of visiting Great Britain. I could not, in justice to the Province, enter upon a work to which the Colonial Government have shown themselves so unmistakably and extremely hostile. I have entered at this length in reply to your telegram, for the purpose of explaining and vindicating my conduct, which has been in some quarters so much misunderstood and misrepresented, and for the purpose also of placing on record my reasons for the action proposed by me. Having done this, I pursue the question no further. It would have been a source of the deepest satisfaction to me, if I had had the willing co-operation of the Colonial Government in carrying out a scheme which would have thrown open the Waste Lands of this Province, upon liberal conditions, for cultivation and settlement by our fellow countrymen of the United Kingdom, without distinction of race or political opinion, and would have given the inhabitants of this Province the opportunity of taking the fullest advantage of the Policy of Immigration and Public Works to which the Colony is now committed. Time alone will show, and that before long, whether or not my anticipations are correct of the mischiefs which I have enumerated as likely to arise out of the present system of Immigration, and which I had hoped to avert, in some degree, by the course proposed. If my fears prove groundless, I shall be only too glad to acknowledge my mistake; but if the contrary, then the responsibility for the trouble and hardships which will befall the Immigrants, and for the losses which will accrue to this Province, will rest upon those who placed obstacles in the way of measures being taken which, in my opinion, and in that of many others, were calculated to avert the evils I have pointed out.

I have, &c.,

J. WILLIAMSON,
Superintendent.

The Honourable, the Colonial Secretary,
Wellington.

Printed under the authority of the Provincial Government of the Province of Auckland, by William Crusham Wilson, Printer for the time being to the Provincial Government, at his Steam Printing Offices, 10, Wyndam Street, Auckland.