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            [name] => Immigration Department, Dunedin
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Dunedin. In his first report (17 November 1860), the Immigration Agent gave his official address as Immigration Department, Superintendent's Office, Dundein. (OPGG, 1860, p.117)



Relevant Legislation
Disestablishing

Immigration and Public Works Act Amendment Act 1871 (General Assembly)
- by inference, Provincial Government no longer responsible for immigration; was a general Government agency set up instead?  (See Administrative History)

Administering
Immigration Fund Ordinance 1858 (No.29)
- Provincial Treasurer to keep "a debtor and creditor account with the Immigration Department..." (s.2)
- Immigration Department credited with appropriations, and money from immigrants and others for passages etc
- Immigration Department debited with passage monies, salaries, contingencies and expenses of Department
Immigration Act 1868  (R 1878)
- Provincial Council (on Superintendent's recommendation) authorised to make permanent appropriations for promoting immigration
- Superintendent (with Executive Council) may make regulations for promotion and control of immigration
Immigration and Public Works Act 1870  (R 1878)
- Governor may (on Superintendent's request) contract for introduction of immigrants (selection, conveyance, settlement)
- Governor may (on Superintendent's request) make regulations re immigration
Immigration and Public Works Act Amendment Act 1871  (R  1878)
- in various activities, Governor may now act without request of Superintendent



Other Authorities

Regulations for the introduction of assisted immigrants into the Province of Otago; Regulations for the introduction of Immigrants into the Province of Otago on the nomination of persons resident therein (25 August 1871), in OPGG, 1871 pp. 378-379 and p.502
- applications to Provincial Treasurer, Receivers of Land/Gold Revenue, thence to Provincial Immigration Office, Dunedin



Responsible Minister

Provincial Superintendent 1860-1863
Provincial Treasurer 1863-1868?



Notes

Agency dates
Agency dates have been inferred partly from the appropriations and the returns of revenue and expenditure (in the official publications of the Otago Provincial Government), and partly from legislation and other references from the time. The evidence is somewhat contradictory: at one stage, the archivist thought the agency ceased to exist (at least as a Provincial agency) in 1868. (From 1869 to 1872, the Matron of the Immigration Barracks was paid as part of the "Miscellaneous" expenditure of the Treasury, after the Immigration Department itself ceased to appear in the Provincial appropriations.) However, that made it difficult to explain the references in the OPGG in 1871 and 1873 - particularly the reference to the "Provincial Immigration Office" (see Other Authorities). The most likely explanation is that the provincial Immigration Department continued to operate under the Immigration Act 1868 and the Immigration and Public Works Act 1870, though with a greater measure of general Government influence; and that the increased general Government weight in the Immigration and Public Works Act Amendment Act 1871 meant that the office ceased to operate as a provincial agency (though there may have been a general Government equivalent in its stead). The exact dates of all this are not known; to ascertain them would involve a detailed search of relevant correspondence etc in the archives of the Provincial Superintendent, etc. As no archives of the provincial Immigration Department itself are now know to be extant, and the question is therefore primarily of theoretical interest, no further time will be spent in trying to solve the problem.

Annual reports of the Immigration Agent appear in the OPGG 1860-62, and the Otago Votes and Proceedings 1862-68

Early appraisal of records
In 1897 a Board comprising J.P. Maitland (Commissioner of Crown Lands, Dunedin) and R.J. Collins (Accountant, Treasury, Wellington) was commissioned to examine the account books, letter books, papers etc of the Otago Provincial Government that were at the time stored in the cellar of the Government Buildings in Dunedin. On their recommendation, many records were destroyed  "as absolutely worthless for any purposes whatever" -  including the Immigration records mentioned in Record Series Controlled.  [Treasury file T1:1897/1619, held at Archives New Zealand, Wellington. Copy on job file 84P/1.]
                    [custom2] => Otago Provincial Government Gazette, 1853-1876

Otago Provincial Council. Ordinances, 1854-1876

Otago Provincial Council. Votes and Proceedings, 1862-1868 (Appendices, Departmental Reports)

New Zealand Statutes, 1854-1876
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            [agentMandateDisEstablishing] => Immigration and Public Works Act Amendment Act 1871
            [agentMandateEstablishing] => Immigration Fund Ordinance 1858 (Otago, No 29)
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                    [0] => Immigration Act 1868
                    [1] => Assisted immigrants (arrivals to 1871) to repay passage money to Immigration Agent (OPGG, 1873, p. 7)
                    [2] => Immigration and Public Works Act 1870
                    [3] => Regulations for the introduction of assisted immigrants into the Province of Otago; Regulations for the introduction of Immigrants into the Province of Otago on the nomination of persons resident therein (25 August 1871), in OPGG, 1871, pp 378-379, and p. 502
                    [4] => Notice: assisted passages to males, free passages to nominated females (3 July 1862), in OPGG, 1862, Vol. V, p.22
                    [5] => Notice: members of the Police are the only persons authorised to receive passage money, outside the Government Buildings, Dunedin - notice by Immigration Agent (12 April 1870), in OPGG, 1870, p. 174
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                            [name] => Immigration Agent's Account Books
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            [history] => James Adam was the first Immigration Agent for Otago Provincial Government. This position is not to be confused with the Otago Agents in Britain and Australia, working to promote emigration to Otago. Nor should the provincial Immigration Department/Office be confused with the general Government Immigration Department that succeeded it. (See Author Notes) 

The main role of the Immigration Department in Otago was to solicit desirable immigrants through the Agents in Britain, process applications for nominated immigrants, house newly-arrived immigrants and find them work, and attempt to recover passage monies from immigrants who came to Otago in previous years. Several immigration schemes were operated: guaranteed passages (for people nominated by friends already in Otago); farm servants etc selected by the British Agents (assisted to half the passage money); prepaid passages (replacing the guaranteed-passage scheme); and female domestic servants (half fare). 

Maintenance and provision of quarantine facilities was added to the Department's responsibilities in 1866, though the Immigration Agent was first involved in 1863.
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