I have every reason to hope that the class of persons introduced will prove advantageous to the colony, especially as I have been anxious in my selection to avoid all who bore any other than an excellent character.

Before adverting to those causes which have prevented my obtaining so large a supply of labour as the cost and trouble would have rendered desirable, I wish to call your attention to that clause in my instructions which directs me to avoid accepting applicants from Van Dieman’s Land.

There are a large number of this class in Melbourne, consisting both of those who came out freemen and of those who have obtained their freedom in the colony, but I have unhesitatingly refused to entertain applications from all such, and I should deem myself wanting in my duty to the Government, were I not strongly to urge upon you the propriety of permitting no deviation from this rule in any future arrangements that may be entered into.

I am urged at this moment to do so by reason of the increased facilities which have recently been afforded for the secret departure from Tasmania of those who have not yet arrived at their condition of freedom necessary to their doing so openly, by the relaxation of certain regulations heretofore in force for the clearance of passenger vessels from thence. The Melbourne press, while it rejoices in every step which tends to obliterate the stigma forced upon their Tasmanian neighbours, and looks forward to the day when the last remnant of prison discipline shall have been swept away, cannot avoid manifesting its anxiety at the probability of a continual, even if small, stream of runaways finding its entrance into Victoria; the chances of detection in this latter colony with its efficient staff of regular and special police, is so great as to render it far from improbable that many of them may deem it best to consult their own security by availing themselves of the facilities offered through the competition now going on between the Agents of the various Provinces of New Zealand and make their way down to, and find a comparatively secure refuge in, this colony.

I would now beg to call your attention to the three main obstacles which have militated against my obtaining the full complement of labor.

(1) The recent Earthquakes have, without doubt, very seriously affected the desire to emigrate to New Zealand.

I have no means of judging other than from my own observation, but I believe the population of Victoria, to be one amongst whom newspapers circulate very largely, and the reports of the Earthquakes first presented through the press, were of that grossly exaggerated character which those who had fled thither, principally from Nelson, felt compelled to advance to cover the necessity of their own flight. The enclosed letter, purporting to be from a resident in this city, the utter absurdity of which I need not waste a moment to point out, was unfortunately published in the Melbourne Argus, on the day of the Belle Creole’s arrival, and did not certainly tend to enhance the suitability of this Province as a field for permanent residence, and although the Argus within a few days afterwards acknowledged the exaggeration of its former accounts, and descriptions of a more truthful character appeared about the same time in other papers, the mischief was too effective to be remedied within the brief period of the Belle Creole’s stay in port. The impression that Wellington is the most subject to such shocks, appears to be generally entertained, and of course acted all the more prejudicially against the successful result of my mission.

Not coming properly within the scope of this report, I beg your indulgence for calling attention to the enclosed account of a shock of earthquake which was felt a few months ago in South Australia. I do so because a general impression having always prevailed amongst us that Melbourne experienced a slight shock at the same time as New Zealand suffered from them in 1848, reference may at any future time be had to that which has lately occurred in the neighbourhood of Adelaide.

2. The supply of labour in Melbourne is now far less than it was during my first visit; and the principle portion of those, who through necessity are desirous of leaving, were unable to raise the amount of £4 per head which was demanded by the owners of the Belle Creole from the passengers themselves. In my former report I anticipated that so soon as immigration from Great Britain ceased, and winter set in, a large amount of the then surplus labour would gradually filter to the diggings and elsewhere, leaving behind a class whose poverty if not their will would debar them from accepting the terms of passage proposed, unless some arrangement were made to meet