104 Auckland Provincial Government Gazette.

purpose ... 200 0 0
Parawai Road Board: to make road
over hill, if leave is given by
natives ... 100 0 0
Extension of Tairua road towards
machine sites, and extension of
Waitekauri road ... 1000 0 0

I have, &c.,
DANIEL POLLEN.

His Honor the Superintendent,
Auckland.

(51.) General Government Offices,
Auckland, March 11, 1876.

SIR,
Messrs. Oakes and McKirdy, contractors for public
works in the Province of Wellington, have reported
that one hundred and fifty men at the Thames have
applied to them for employment, which they are
ready to give if the cost of removing the applicants
—say about two pounds ten shillings for each—is
defrayed by the Government.

In your telegram of date February 18th ultimo,
your Honor appeared to deprecate the proposal to
remove the unemployed from the Thames as being
"hard" upon the men, although subsequently you
appeared to complain that the promise of the Premier
to remove them had not been fulfilled.

I enclose for your Honor's information a report
furnished to me by the Immigration Officer here,
Mr. Ellis, regarding the disposal of the immigrants
recently arrived by the 'Salisbury,' and also as to the
demand existing, within his official knowledge, for
labour in this Province.

As the question of removing a large number of
workmen from the Thames to Wellington has been
put by Messrs. Oakes and McKirdy into such a
practical form as can be dealt with safely as regards
the workmen, and with due care as regards the interest of the Province to which it is proposed to send
them, I have now to ask your Honor to be good
enough to say whether you desire or do not desire
that the men whom the agent of Messrs. Oakes and
McKirdy has selected or may select, to the number
of one hundred and fifty, at the Thames, shall be
removed at the public expense from this Province to
Wellington.

I have, &c.,
DANIEL POLLEN.

His Honor the Superintendent.

[ENCLOSURE.]
Auckland, 11th March, 1876.

SIR,
In reply to your enquiry on the subject of the
disposal of the lately-arrived immigrants ex
'Salisbury' from London, also on the subject of
the current demand for labour in the Province at
the present time, I have the honor to report that
the "Salisbury's" immigrants as a body met with
prompt engagements at full wages, and I may say the
demand for labour of all kinds appears to be unabated. This applies more especially to farm hands,
general labor, and female domestic servants.

I have been unable this week to satisfy all the
demands for the several classes of labor abovenamed,
and in several instances orders must remain unexecuted until after the arrival of the next batch of
immigrants. The extent of the orders actually unexecuted amounts to 41, chiefly from the Waikato,
but independent of these I have reason to believe
that not less than 50 additional hands for bush work
could have been absorbed last week in that district.
I may state here that I am credibly informed that in
one instance an employer of labor at Pukekohe wrote
or sent an agent to the Thames for the purpose of
securing 50 good hands for bush work in that locality
alone, but I have not heard of the success attending
his enterprise.

The complaint with the settlers is very general
that strong able-bodied men, suitable for clearing land,
fencing, ditching, and draining, willing to accept
moderate wages, are very difficult to procure. I am
told that men of this description are in many cases
earning from 50s. to 60s. per week. There is at
present a demand for labour which is still unmet at
various localities on the East Coast.

In conclusion, I may state that I do not anticipate
any difficulty in disposing of the immigrants to the
extent of 200 shortly expected by the "Brodick
Castle."

I have, &c.,
H. ELLIS,
Immigration Officer.

The Hon. Colonial Secretary,
Auckland.

(52.) Superintendent's Office,
Auckland, 13th March, 1876.

SIR,
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt this
day of your letter, dated the 11th instant, forwarding a report by the Immigration Officer, and intimating that Messrs. Oakes and McKirdy, contractors
in the Province of Wellington, have received applications from one hundred and fifty men at the
Thames, seeking employment. You ask me to say
whether or not I desire that the men shall be removed at the public expense from this Province to
Wellington.

I have to state that the correspondence connected
with the removal of people from the Thames, and the
proposals relating thereto, were conducted in the first
instance (contrary to the usual custom of the public
service) with a private person, without the Superintendent having been in any way consulted or referred
to by the Government on the subject. I therefore
ought not now to advise or interfere in the matter.

There are additional reasons for my acting thus,
because if the General Government and a contractor
conjointly make proposals to the men at the Thames
for their employment, I do not feel that I have any
right to interfere with the liberty of action of those
men who are the best judges of what they believe
will be to their interest and future welfare. As I
shall be in no way responsible for the public funds
which the General Government may spend in the
removal of the men and their families, I clearly
ought not to venture to advise those upon whom
that responsibility will fall.

My duty as Superintendent, however, requires me
to state my belief that if the Government had
adopted the course I requested them to pursue in
reference to the acquisition of Native Lands, large
numbers of families would have been now comfortably settled on valuable farms in the valley of
the Thames, and the whole district would have been
a wealthy and prosperous one. I further believe
that if the Government still follow the course they
are pursuing in regard to the purchase of Native
Lands, they will continue to drive out of that district
large numbers of industrious people, and ruin others
who are induced to linger on in the hope of obtaining lands which they never get.

To express a mere opinion, I should say had not
promises and arrangements been made, that it is far
better to lay out money in promoting the prosperity
of a new and fertile district, and the welfare of its