B.—&

XXIX

any diminution in the amount of this vote. At the present time the commitments on this account (including, of course, the expenditure since 31st March) amount to very rittle short of £150,000. THE MAGISTEATEB. A Bill has been introduced this session fixing the salaries to be paid to Magistrates. Under this measure the three jurisdictions at present existing under the Magistrates' Courts Act will be abolished, and only one jurisdiction will be provided for, which will be exercised by all Magistrates, except in the case of the Chatham Islands, which is specially provided for. Magistrates are thus put on an equality as regards jurisdiction and status, but as it is recognized that the magisterial work in the four chief cities is heavier than in the other districts, a slightly larger salary is provided for the principal Magistrates in these centres. TOWN-PLANNING. The contrast between cities laid out with some regard to the future and those built up without forethought and intelligent design impressed itself upon me even more forcibly than on previous visits to Britain and Canada. Some time spent in the East End of London and East Ham, with their narrow streets and very few air-spaces and reserves, made apparent the urgent necessity for legislation to deal with the proper planning and laying-out of areas which may become in the future towns and cities. Ample provision for school-grounds and other necessary reserves, in the interests of public health and the development of the best type of citizen, is of great importance. The Government will, either this session or in the ensuing one, introduce a Bill to deal with the question. IMMIGRATION. Before the present Government assumed office it had become obvious that the methods adopted to procure immigrants to supply the demand for domestic servants in both town and country, and for farm labourers in the country districts, were inadequate, and that efforts must be made to direct the stream of those classes of immigrants to New Zealand in greater numbers. ' The control of immigration had for years past been with the Lands and Survey Department, most of the officers of which were occupied with other and more urgent work. The Government determined to establish a distinct Department of Immigration, whose officers should be employed only upon the special duties of that Department, and the change has resulted in a more systematic and regular administration. But the work of finding emigrants, and testing their capacity, health, and character, must necessarily be carried out by officers in England, and during the past year correspondence on the subject between the Government and the High Commissioner has resulted in modifications of the conditions which formerly obtained, the result of which, it is hoped, will be to provide a satisfactory increase in the flow of suitable immigrants. It is not possible within the compass of this Statement to explain fully the changes which have been made, or to do more than briefly refer to one or two of the more important modifications. The requirement for payment by each immigrant in cash of a certain proportion of his or her passage-money has been cancelled in the case of persons who are without the means necessary to provide the required sum. In such cases the Government advances the whole of the passage-money, but requires a contract from the immigrant to make the necessary refund, within a limited time after arrival in New Zealand, so as to place him on an equality with the immigrant who is able to provide the required cash. The requirement of one year's actual service as a domestic servant has been altered so that women who have had practical domestic experience in their own homes may he accepted, though their services have not been for wage. Efforts have been made to arrange for a supply of boys from country districts * in England, to be employed by farmers in New Zealand, upon terms to be approved by the Government on somewhat similar lines to those previously arranged with Mr. Sedgwick.