A SHIP-LOAD OF PASSENGERS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2294, 12 September 1908, Page 4

A SHIP-LOAD OF PASSENGERS.

THE -lONIC’S PASSENGERS

FROM THE SHIRES OF ENGLAND

(From the “Dominion.”)

Wo nro getting used to tho arrival of big ocean steamers at the Queen’s Wharf, looking like excursion vessels Tlie lonic, which arrived from London yesterday, might easily have been mistaken for a holiday excursion steamer under a liugo magnifying glass. As tlie great bulk of rivited steel drifted with tantalising deliberation into her berth tho bulwarks of tho upper and lower decks were hedged with passengers, in some parts two and three feet deep, straining their necks to discover possible friends or a remembered face in tho seething crowd on the wharf below. Tho scone repeats itself about once a month all the year round, but it is at this time of the year that the liners are best patronised by the immigrant class, who seek to triumph over nature by enjoying three summers without the discomfort of a winter in between.

“ASSISTED.” There were 667 passengers on tho lonic 'yesterday, of whom 307 were assisted (including 104 children). They were all from the Shires of England, with a sprinkling from the cities, and it is gratifying to note t’hat some sorting out is being done at Home, for amongst 203 adult “assisteds” there were 65 farmers, 14 farm laborers, two ploughmen, and one poultry fanner. Tlieso “assisteds” are far from being in needy circumstances, and their appearance was certainly no warrancy for such a guess. They were a laughing, bright-faced lot, in liighboliday humor, that lined the bulwarks of tho arriving lonic. Was there a preponderance of women,, or do they make more show than the men ?

“WHAT A LOT OF WOMEN !”

A remark heard among the waiting crowd was, “What a lot of women 1” “Yes, nice looking ones, too," replied a wharf-lumper. And they were—all were smartly togged out in their best, ready to create as favoidable an impression as possible in tho land of promise.

HARD TIMES AT HOAIE

Tho assisted passengers bring capital to tho extent of £7809, which works out at £3B per adult head. Work of all kinds was reported to be scarce at Home. Tho cotton and woollen manufacturing towns had had a bad time following oil tlie financial crisis, and, Ao quote a critic, were not out-of tho 'wood yet. The building trade, too, was-in a bad way all over England, whilst at the same time tho poverty in the shipbuilding ports was appalling. AVitli such conditions in the Old Country, New Zealand should have no difficulty in getting population of the right sort. A BLACK CROW.

“Whilst on the subject of' labor a gloomy note was struck by a wharflumper as tho ship was berthing yesterday. “A’am off t’ dinner!” shouted one of the passengers to bis friend in waiting on tlie wharf “Yes, got off to dinner,” said tho lumper, “you mightn’t got so many when you get ashore. ’Art of them’il be lookin’ for a job on tlio wharf in a week or two!”

“There’s no ’op-pickin’ for them here,” said another.

“Thoso are the chaps that arc goin’ to take the bread-and-butter out of y’r mouths I” “Oh, cheer up,” said a laconic laborer, and tho lugubrious one said no more.

AVHERE ARE THEY GOING?

Tho lonic’s passengers arc not going to take root on the wharf— they will be absorbed almost in proportion to the size of the towns they are booked to. Wellington 169; Auckland 179 ; Napier 30 ; Gisborne 17 ; Lyttelton 31; Timaru.4; Dunedin 36; Bluff, 10: Oamaru, 1; Westport 18; Greymouth, 2; Wanganui, 13; New Plymouth, 17; Port Chalmers, 3. Tlio passengers include a. few domestic servants, who are very sure of getting remunerative work without looking far for it.