604

THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

the people to pay the increased cost of their passage;
and second, their unwillingness to go to a country
where they have no friends, and of which they know
nothing. These objections were started, not only in
Norway, but also in Sweden, Denmark, and North
Germany; the second being the one on which the
greatest stress was laid.

To the suggestion that the first difficulty might be
got over by the New Zealand Government paying the
difference between the cost of the passage to America
and that to New Zealand, it was replied that such
an inducement would entirely fail to meet the case,
inasmuch as the emigrants would still lose the assist-
ance of their friends; and further, that the Nor-
wegians, as a people, are exceedingly cautious,
difficult to move out of the ordinary track, and very
suspicious of mere Emigration Agents and their
reports. It was proposed that two or three agents
should be sent out to New Zealand, at the expense of
the New Zealand Government, to report upon the
Colony as a field for emigration; but it was evident
that these reports (even if they were of any value)
would not carry the same weight as those coming
from actual settlers, and would probably not circu-
late very widely; besides, a delay of at least a year
or eighteen months would take place, and the expense
of the passage of these agents out and back would be
considerable, and might prove so much money thrown
away.

The only feasible plan of ultimately securing a
stream of emigration seemed to be to select and send
out a few young married couples, the Government
defraying the whole cost of their passage: these
couples to be taken, not from one locality only,
but from different districts, so that their reports
would have an extended circulation throughout the
whole country. If they proved favourable, then the
inducement offered by the Government by reducing
the cost of the passage to New Zealand to the same
amount as to America would be amply sufficient, and
a stream of emigration would be created which would
probably require to be stemmed rather than to be
stimulated. Orders were accordingly given to
Messrs. Winge and Co., a mercantile firm of the
highest standing in Christiania, to send out at least
ten young married couples before the present emigra-
tion season closed. In addition to the usual reasons
for giving the preference to young married couples,
it may be mentioned, that while poverty prevents
early marriages, yet engagements are entered into at
a very early age, at an age when the parties are mere
boys and girls, and that these engagements are, as a
general rule, most faithfully kept, and that emigra-
tion, as affording a means of enabling them to fulfil
them, is eagerly seized at.

The remarks above made apply with equal force to
Sweden, Denmark, and the north of Germany; and a
similar arrangement for the same number and class
of emigrants, has been made with agents in Gotten-
burgh and Copenhagen.

The average number of emigrants from Sweden to
the United States is not less than 25,000 souls a
year, Gottenburgh being the chief port of embarka-
tion. A copy of the letter addressed to Messrs.
Henderson Brothers, of Gottenburgh, is annexed,
which is similar in its terms to those addressed to
the mercantile house at Christiania and Copenhagen.

At Copenhagen, Mr. Monrad (a son of Bishop
Monrad, and who has recently returned from New
Zealand) entered very warmly into the scheme, and
has kindly volunteered to select the Danish contin-
gent. It was impossible to obtain even an approxi-
mate estimate of the number annually emigrating
from Denmark and the North of Germany, but it is
very large. The emigrants embarking from Ham-
burgh consist, to a very large extent, of small farmers,

possessing means and all well trained, from the rural
districts of Mecklenburgh, Silesia, and Saxony; but
the firm through whose hands this emigration passes
has promised to furnish, at an early date, a detailed
report.

In entering into these engagements we are aware
that we have exceeded our instructions, which simply
authorized us to make inquiries; but had we not
done so, the journey to these countries would have
been fruitless; and should it ultimately be determined
to promote emigration from thence, the work would
have had to be done over again under probably less
favourable circumstances. Mr. Morrison, who accom-
panied us, will now have no difficulty in carrying out
these arrangements; and the experiment itself, for
after all it is only an experiment, will not entail any
serious expense, even if the whole number of
emigrants authorized be sent during the present
season.

Railways.—All our inquiries show that the narrow
gauge—that is, a gauge of 3 ft. 6 in. (the ordinary
gauge being 4 ft. 8½ in.)—is the one adapted for New
Zealand, and for all countries and districts where a
heavy traffic need not be provided for. The ad-
vantages of the narrow gauge may be briefly stated to
be lighter rails and locomotives, less expensive earth-
works, bridges, &c.; sharper curves can be used,
and traffic conducted at cheaper rates. In Norway,
a railway of 3 ft. 6 in. guage, from Drammen to
Christiania, is in course of construction, a distance of
70 miles. Of this 42 miles have already been com-
pleted, and the whole line is expected to be open in
the course of another year. Mr. Pili, the Chief En-
gineer, and the great advocate of the narrow gauge,
to whom we had letters of introduction, afforded us
the fullest possible information, and placed the
Managing Engineer at our disposal, who took us over
the 42 miles already open. Though the line does not
perhaps present any very great engineering difficulties,
still it traverses a hilly country, and passes over many
streams and rivers. The cost, including rolling-
stock, &c., has been £4,000 a mile; that of the broad
gauge (4 ft. 8½ in.) railways, both in Norway and
Sweden, from £10,000 to £12,000 a mile. The
ordinary speed is 17½ miles an hour; but this can be
increased, without increasing the expense, to 30 or 35
miles an hour. The steepest gradient on the line is
1 in 40, but Mr. Pili is of opinion that gradients of 1
in 25 might be used without any special mechanism, as
on the Mount Cenis line. It is necessary to state that
the navvies only earn from 1s. to 1s. 6d. a day, but of
course the stated difference of cost between the
narrow and the broad gauge holds good. In Sweden,
an English company recently offered to construct
90 miles of a narrow gauge railway (including
rolling stock) from Lake Wettern to Gottenburgh, an
exceedingly rough and broken country, for £3,500
per mile. The eminent engineers, Messrs. Fox, in-
form us that 120 miles of the narrow gauge is in
course of construction in Canada at a cost (also
including rolling stock) of only £2,900 a mile. But
we hope before we leave to send you reports of en-
gineers upon all these lines.

I. E. FEATHERSTON,
for F. D. BELL.
I. E. FEATHERSTON.

London, 9th September, 1870.

Gothenburgh, 23rd August, 1870.

SIR,—Referring to our conversation of yesterday, I
now, on behalf of the Government of New Zealand,
authorize you to select and send out to New Zealand
twenty adult emigrants, natives of Sweden. The
emigrants, if possible, to be young married couples,
with not more than two children to each couple; but