It is impossible to speak in terms of condemnation sufficiently strong of the muddle that has resulted in a debt to Government of over £50,000 by immi grants' promissory notes being unpaid. It is quite clear that the gravest mis management alone could have brought about such a state of things. It has often been said that there are among us not a few who have arrived at a posi tion of wealth (and, of course, conse quence), who came out years ago, pledged to pay a certain proportion of their passage money after they landed, who have never paid it, and who have a certain sympathy with those who are in the same plight, and who are not wil ling to deal hardly with such defaulters. Is it this same feeling that has kept Government from insisting upon pay ment of immigrante' promissory notes 1 At any rate, it Ls to be hoped that the matter will not be allowed to sink into oblivion. There are £50,000 owed to Government, and the greater part ought to be collected. We cannot won der that the question of the unemployed in Dunedin was treated with but four lines. Even this was three lines too much. We do not scruple to declare that the unemployed here consist for the most part—of course there are unfortunate exceptions—of men who are debarred from obtaining work by their greed or their habits. To say (hat the labour market is overstocked because a certain number of men are knocking about looking for work is to assert what recent events have shown to be untrue. We are so sensible that anything like an increase of workmen to the point when wages go down would be disastrous to all parties, that we should not hesitate to speak out if such a consequence seemed likely to ensue. So long as it is not the diligent, but the idle; not the sober, but the drunkards ; not the prudent, hut the thriftless—who for the most part represent the unemployed, no amount of meetings or outcries should lead us to cease pouring population into the country. Whether this is the case or not must, of course, be very difficult to ascertain with any precision. 