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9. Was there any difficulty in obtaining as many emigrants as were required?—
   None, that I am aware of.

10. Is the difficulty of collecting passage money the sole objection to the present system?—The difficulty of collecting and the evils arising from indebtedness, constitute the sole objection, and an insuperable one.

11. Do you think the proposed free grants of land would secure an equally good class of emigrants as heretofore?—Most certainly, and in some respects superior, though, perhaps it might be desirable to continue the present system, under most approved guarantee, to a very limited extent.

12. Do you look, as the results of the system of free grants, for the immediate settlement of the emigrants upon the land?—Yes, as a general rule; I consider it would lead to the immediate settlement upon the land of all those who brought money with them, as was the case in Auckland; while others would enter the labor market for a time, until they acquired means for cultivating their land.

13. Do you think there would be danger of the settlement upon the lands by that means of a class of smallholders of a very poor and undesirable character?—By no means. The system of Hundreds would afford them the same facilities for profitable occupation as their predecessors in other circumstances have succeeded under.

14. In your view then it would be desirable to substitute in the main the system of free grants of land for that of assisted passages, as the means of bringing population into the country?—Yes. This opinion is formed in a measure from the great difficulty experienced by the laboring classes in purchasing desirable allotments without the chance of serious competition.

15. From what source would you expect the labor market to be sufficiently supplied?—The laboring market would be principally supplied from the following sources: 1st. Land order holders going on their land at once—working their own land and occasionally going out to labor. 2nd. The same class who would not go on their land at once. 3rd. Guaranteed assisted immigrants to a limited extent. 4th. The result of the attractiveness of the Province. 5th. Miners who would take to the labor market.

16. Do you consider that the primary object of assisted emigration should be the supply of the labor market?—The chief object is to supply the labor market, and with the view of raising these classes to a position that they could never hope to attain to in the mother country.

17. Reference has been made to the Auckland free grants system; have you any information as to its working satisfactorily or otherwise?—Yes; Mr. Dillon Bell informed me that it was working well, but some other gentleman, whose name I cannot recollect, said the contrary was the case, owing to the indifferent quality of the land. There are gentlemen in the Province, both ministers, bankers, and others from Auckland, who could give valuable information. I would direct attention to the fact that the banking deposits were greatly increased after the arrival of every ship load of land order immigrants. Had not the war interrupted the current of such immigration the population of Auckland would have increased one half. Even as it is, with the sword half drawn from the scabbard, a large proportion of the “first” 1,000 of a non-conformist settlement is to start this month for a locality 70 miles north-west of the city of Auckland. Here is a fact, in the face of danger, endorsing the past success of the system of giving land for men; one such fact is worth a host of theories and speculative arguments.

18. Would you not deem that the habits of industry and experience likely to be acquired by an immigrant who had to let out his labor in the Province for a considerable period before he realised sufficient to purchase land whereon to settle, would, when settled, qualify him for succeeding better than he who had to undergo this preparation?—Yes, were both untried: but these classes come out as experienced laborers, and merely require a little colonial knowledge, easily obtained.

19. However great the advantages which you expect would accrue to the Province from the system of free grants of land, you admit that it should not be allowed to interfere with vested rights?—Of course not to interfere with vested rights; but the question is a very large one, and cannot be settled by a general reply.

20. Would you consider a compelled submission of Runholders to an arbitration of the value of their runs in order that they might revert to the Government and be subdivided into 500 or 5,000 acres and sold for pastoral purposes, an interference with their rights?—Most certainly. I desired to extinguish the title by negotiation, and if that failed, nothing more could be done.

21. Referring to Clause 9 in the printed memorandum of proposed alterations in the Land Regulations, which provides for the appointment of Emigration Agents in the United Kingdom, who shall be authorised to grant Land Orders to emigrants, is it proposed in any measure to relax the system of careful selection practised by the present principal Home Agents?—By no means: The land order should only be granted to those who are physically and morally eligible; demands for particular occupations might be met under the restricted guaranteed assisted system, even had we not passed the infancy of our colonial existence. The changes introduced into the country by immigrants from all parts of the United Kingdom, necessitate agencies over the same region; there is no reason to suppose that the extension of the area of selection would result in an inferior class of immigration, but in the nature of things, we might expect the contrary. Our late arrivals evidence no physical falling off at least.

22. What plan would you propose for the remuneration of the Home Agents?—It is a matter of detail. We are dealing with a principle; however, any plan would be preferable to an allowance per head.