CHAPTER XIX. Emigration...
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CHAPTER XIX.
Emigration--Advantages of Australasian Colonies over others, and their comparative Merits--Passage out--Who should and who should not Emigrate--Difficulties in way of Land Purchases, &c. --Happiness in View for Immigrants--Things to take out -- Emigration Returns and Commissioners' Regulations.
THE British Islands, with an area of 122,518 square miles, contain 27 1/2 million people. The poor-houses throughout the land tell us, in simple but forcible language, that these acres, together with the manufactures which are exchanged for food, wealth, and luxuries, do not produce enough, according to the present division of these things, to clothe, feed, and educate an immense proportion of the population.
The enormous numbers of annuitant, benevolent, and life insurance societies, speak to us of care taken to provide for those who, at our death, would otherwise starve.
Burial societies silently and miserably whisper to us that there are some among us who have to prepare the means of burying ourselves, and of leaving those left destitute by us some small sum to keep up life while our bodies are among them unburied.
Much of the charity of the upper and more wealthy classes, given to help on life at home, only adds to the increasing misery.
We have among us enough of vice already, without
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TENDENCY TO EMIGRATE.
bringing forward the practice of Malthus's theory-- decreasing marriages. Our law reports show (I say it confident of its correctness) more prostitution and drunkenness, without this grand and unchristian addition, than any place in the world.
The present tendency to emigrate is a great blessing; but we cannot increase it too much till we have no poor. Every man who leaves the country gives place to one out of work, and will consume our manufactures, and produce more for us in the under-populated country he goes to, besides (for let us not be utterly selfish) being welcomed as an increase to the means of happiness.
To look to our own interest again, the territorial funds of the colonies pay great proportions of the expenses of the passage of our emigrants: the small sums required for the remainder are less than the average life expense of a pauper; and it is a mistake to fear too great immigration. All our colonies use our manufactures; many send home their own produce and have it returned manufactured: thus adding to the capital of their adopted country, increasing our shipping, and employing our labourers; and, it must be recollected, that our colonists consume more of everything than they would were they at home--they dress better, feed better, and even spend more money in getting education for their children, as they get on in. the world themselves.
The crime of child-murder (we must not shirk the question) is of fearfully-often occurrence. Poverty causes many to forget in their misery the commandment, "Thou shalt do no murder;" and a mother commits it on her own offspring. Thousands have never heard of the commandment, and think it not an
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POVERTY AND CRIME.
unkind or cruel act to keep their little ones from the miseries experienced by themselves.
Up to the last few years, we have sent to our colonies those guilty of these and all other crimes, instead of preventing their falling, by peopling our magnificent possessions with the hard-working but not criminal poor, and thus checking the incentive to crime, instead of adding a premium on it. Our record of vice would have shown a far different page if we had done this: every man leaving would have taken away a proportionate inducement to vice from the country. One who has lately written oh the subject says truly, "Our criminals are our most favoured children; we punish them with education, and sacrifice the best interests of commerce and industry in order to devote all our extensions of empire to the exigencies of crime. To be well instructed, an English child had better get into gaol; if his father seeks to emigrate, he can only get a free passage as a transported convict."--Adderley.
For my own part, I have such a confidence in the influence of good example and happiness, morally speaking, on many of those who have unfortunately broken human laws, that the emptying of an English gaol of its inmates and throwing them among a virtuous large community of well-to-do people, in a new and thriving country, and dispersing them there, would do no harm, but, on the contrary, good; they would be influenced by the moral aspect around them, and the comparative easy means of living respected in the world, and would work, and, in time, show a good example to others. This idea cannot be construed into a tacit approval of the expediency of sending our criminals to our colonies. They (the colonies), when
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UTILITY OF EMIGRATION.
arrived at maturity, are to be considered in the question, and do not want our criminals; they already have enough; and in Victoria and New South Wales the elements of good are not in so large a proportion as to be enabled to cope with so great an increased amount of evil.
I am so impressed with a sense of the deep value of emigration, from one over-peopled part of the empire to another almost uninhabited--from home, with its hard-working, anxious, and, in many cases, poorly-fed-and-clothed millions, to Australasia, where here is everything awaiting them--that I think all charities of every kind would do well to make it the ultimate point of all their acts as far as possible: it would be a double blessing, to the recipient and giver.
Which is best? as regards the pauper, out-of-employ artizan with his family begging in the street, or to the charitable person wishing to assist them? to give a shilling from the pocket, or to name them to some charity and subscribe with friends to send them where they may without breach of charity be left to starve if they will not take employ with good wages, or for the official system, the poorhouse union, to act in a similar way? to feed them idle, or to send them to produce something in return for the money spent on them?
We have witnessed in America, and particularly in all the Australasian colonies, not one but numbers of cases of men from home, with originally nothing, becoming rich and bringing up families, better than many of the poorer of the middling classes at home, whose life is a makeshift, spent in dread of their children being left unprovided for.
There is then an outlet for our over-population. The Australian colonies contain--
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AREA OF AUSTRALIAN COLONIES.
New South Wales 24,000,000 acres settled, and altogether about... 900,000,000 acres.
Victoria...... 63,000,000 [acres]
South Australia.... 200,000,000 [acres]
Western Australia.... 800,000,000 [acres]
New Zealand (three islands).. 49,000,000 [acres]
Van Diemen's Land... 14,000,000 [acres]
Here are upwards of 2,000,000,000 acres, all a part of the empire of Great Britain, and all those parts in 26° S., offering the advantages of a magnificent climate, fine coasts, and countrymen to be met with everywhere: The centre of Australia, in the twenty-sixth line, is not yet known; but it is not wanted. There is a coast line all round of from one hundred to four hundred miles inland, offering every inducement and facility to settlers of all descriptions, from the princely capitalist to the labourer.
New Zealand and Van Diemen's Land agree most in climate with Great Britain, and the continental settlements are very like the climates of the north coast of the Mediterranean.
We carry with us all our home privileges and liberties; for the small nominee sediment in the different assemblies merely keeps at present a check on the too-natural tendency of a powerful colony to throw off the connexion with the parent country; and when these countries may become sufficiently able to take care of themselves, there can be no reasonable doubt but that it will take place quietly, and our colonies will become powerful and friendly allies. At present the element of the change can be hardly allowed to exist at all. In no society have we heard a hint of such a thing. A general feeling of anxiety to keep up the connexion with the ennobling history of the parent country pervades all ranks, mixed, of
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POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.
course, with an active feeling of determination that the interests of the colonies should be looked after in all their points fully and satisfactorily; and the Home Government, indeed, show every wish to do this now, In New Zealand, particularly, freedom may be said now to exist more than hi any country in the world, without that very bad tyrant--fear of the people overruling everything, as it does in the North American States.
The press is free everywhere, and papers are published, giving vent to public feeling and wishes. The postage system is in each colony carried out pretty well; but between New Zealand and the others there is at present very little regularity: and the English steamers touch at King George's Sound, in Western Australia; Adelaide, in South Australia; Melbourne, Victoria, and Sydney, in New South Wales: colonial steamers running to many intermediate ports and to Tasmania, but not yet to New Zealand.
All churches are assisted by Government in proportion to their numbers, the Churches of England and Rome having their bishops in all the separate colonies, West Australia excepted. Convictism is done away with in all, with the same exception.
The duties on all articles introduced are very small, spirits and tobacco excepted; and the continental colonies produce both. There are no rates, income or other taxes.
Food of all kinds, as good as at home, is plentiful; and, notwithstanding the change brought about in prices by the large quantities of gold found, is still cheap. Beer, an article that has almost become a necessary with the lower classes, is dear; but in time
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STATE OF EDUCATION.
the colonial beers (now not very good) will improve, and they (the colonial beers) are cheap now.
Clothes are a little dearer than in England; but the climate in general does not require so much clothing.
The means of education exist, from the university to the orphan and native schools; and it would be almost impossible for a man, long resident anywhere at home, to go to any part of the colonies, and not find some old friend, some townsman he has well known, or some labourer he has worked with, to welcome him and give him a helping hand.
Every comfort is provided in the vessels of the Colonial Land and Emigration Society for their passengers; and the best regulations are in force to stop all improprieties on the passage. A few years ago this was not the case, and evidence of this is witnessed now in the chief cities of the antipodes; but in the society's vessels precautions are taken to prevent the possibility of such occurrences. At Plymouth, generally the last port of departure, there is an establishment with a salaried chaplain of the society; and, till the ships are ready, emigrants waiting are housed, fed, and looked after at the Emigrants' Home.
Libraries exist here and in the ships; and ladies collect, at Plymouth and elsewhere, clothing and materials, the former for patterns, and the latter to be made up during the passage to employ the minds of the adventurers; and a surgeon, a schoolmaster or mistress, a matron, and a religious instructor (generally a clergyman), are in all the ships, and should be in all the private ships.
From the list annexed it will be seen what classes
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HINTS TO EMIGRANTS.
are most required. The less the sum necessary to defray the part expense, the more is the class wanted both as to age and as to their divisions.
It is an odd thing, but nevertheless true, that the wish to emigrate exists strongest in the very class least of all wanted.
Clerks and counter-assistants, and generally young men of the middle classes, well educated but unable to work with regular labourers, get disgusted with the monotony of life at a desk or behind a counter; and hearing of the wonders of the colonies, with visions of green fields and love in a cottage in the Australian bush, get what money they can together and emigrate; and females of the same class, young ladies accomplished and educated, left, unable to exist on their means, and with perhaps no friends to assist them to become governesses at home, or, if able, unwilling to be all their lives single, think they must be married directly they arrive in the colonies--they save and emigrate.
And the colonial papers show that they have arrived, by advertisements of "Educated young men of experience as clerks, &c, would be happy to meet with employment." Or, "A young lady, with the highest testimonials, wishes for an engagement as governess in a family, where great care in the education," &c, &c.
Or, perhaps, the former, the clerk, goes to the diggings, and makes money; but he cannot always remain at that work. The desk is better--he tries again for employment.
And both have difficulties in getting that employment almost as great as in England.
Let them not try it, unless they make up their
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WANTS OF THE COLONIES.
minds to labour; and no young lady, unless she has strong recommendations to relations or exceedingly well-known and tried friends, and capital enough to live respectably for a year or more without salary.
The wealthy man is wanted in the colonies, and his own interests would lead him there, for capital as well as labour makes capital there. Sheep-farming is making interest on interest, and doubling capital very quickly.
And laying out large amounts in goods, with due care and attention to the markets, returns more money in Australia than anywhere; besides that more interest is given for money and in safe securities there than in any other part of the world perhaps at present.
It is a difficult matter to form a correct opinion as to the good or not of emigration of people of the middle classes, with limited but certain incomes arising from--- not capital that can be touched or sold, but--annuities or half-pay, &c. If the income is so small as not to leave anything at the end of the year, or not to allow something to be employed during the year, but merely to keep the person or family from hand to mouth, we would say, Stop at home. Provisions at present are not much dearer at home; and of luxuries, more, perhaps, can be got for a small income here than abroad; but let one young son go out, if you have friends to put him in the way to look out for sheep, cattle, &c., and he will get on and pioneer the way for his brothers and sisters. To people with more than this, by all means go, invest your little, but keep your annuities to fall back on--your children will be lords of the soil.
But it is to the workman and workwoman for daily
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HINTS TO EMIGRANTS.
wages that the colony says, Come to us, and we will pay you more than you dream of, and you will find comforts and even luxuries ready. Your clergyman will meet you, your townsmen expect you, and work is ready for you; and you will find another England here at the Antipodes, with sons as free as yourselves:; and with your own institutions, and no chance of poverty.
You will have no need of strikes for higher wages, no jostling with fellow-labourers. There is work for thousands on thousands of you, and you can get it certainly, and do much as you like--you, your wives, and your children; the more children you have, the richer you will be. No doctors' bills for your families, for the country is healthier than your own. No tax-gatherer coming to bother you, pen and paper in hand. Only keep from drink, and you must be successful. There are schools of every denomination, partially assisted by the colonial governments, for your children. If you were this moment transplanted from your town at home into the streets of one of the towns of the Australasian colonies, out of sight of the plants, trees, and shrubs, the only way you would know you were not merely in another town of your own country would be by the beard and moustache of the many people around you, and this we hear is coming into vogue in England--a great pity, for it is a dirty habit where constant washing is a difficulty.
Many of the richest men in the colonies have risen from shepherds and tradesmen of small beginnings; and what do you fear? what recollections do you fear to break by leaving home? If you stay, your brothers and sons go, your sisters and daughters marry and leave you; and you will have your dear ones as near
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THE PASSAGE OUT.
when you emigrate as now, for generally in the colonies you see various members of a family follow their leader, and collect not far apart. The voyage is nothing, and gives you time to think of your plans, and to inform your mind, besides, perhaps, working at your employment. The passage out averages about eighty-eight days; by steam it is less. It is a delightful voyage. From England to the tropic is only twenty-eight degrees, and then there is lovely weather through the tropics of forty-seven degrees, or 2,820 miles; from this to the Cape of Good Hope is not far; and westerly winds generally prevail from the Cape to the colonies. The passage from England has been made in fifty-six days to Melbourne.
New South Wales and Victoria offer the greatest inducement to the shepherd, miner, blacksmith, bricklayer, carpenter, mason, sawyer, wheelwright, and the capitalist.
New Zealand to the gentleman with small means, wishing for quiet life, and to improve his position and settle his children; the half-pay officer, the farmer, gardener, &c.; but all artificers in all the colonies are sure of good work and good pay.
There is not so much busy speculation and activity of commercial pursuits in New Zealand as in Tasmania and the continental colonies. Life there is more quiet. Farms pay well. Sheep-grazing in the middle island is becoming a grand feature, and herdsmen and shepherds do well there, either at Nelson or Canterbury; and land is cheaper now in New Zealand than elsewhere, excepting the Canterbury settlement
There is very little or no good land for sale in Tasmania, which is a pity, for very little of what is sold is being cultivated, nor is it all stocked; but it is a de-
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PREFERENCE OF THE
lightful colony for people of moderate capital, the climate being very superior to that of the continent.
The land about the Derwent, and Esk, and Tasman would tempt any one to remain; and settlers to the other colonies, calling in for repairs or for water, have been sorry when their vessels left for their destinations, wishing to remain at Hobarton. Convictism was the great drawback to this colony: it is so no more, and the great tide of emigration from Tasmania to the diggings of Victoria has left room for a large supply of labourers there; and all the different artizans mentioned as required in the other colonies are equally welcomed here, and meet with instant work and excellent wages. I have seen a convict ship arrive at Hobarton, and, after being surveyed, the prisoners have come ashore, all engaged, and on the mails and other coaches they have at once started as free labourers and servants, with high wages and the best and most solid food, such as many never heard of before they were transported. They looked as if they could not believe the fact. The crowd round the coach, the prisoners all at once, as it were, free, and travelling in a fine country, with everything they could want, except leave to go out of the colony, which it would be odd if they wanted. Now this is happily stopped, and free immigrants are much required, and will meet with instant employ.
The Australasian are preferable to the other colonies open to emigration for the following reasons:-- British America, including the Canadas, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Cape Breton, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland, and the Cape of Good Hope, are the only colonies we call open to emigration besides the Australias: for the work in India and the tropical
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AUSTRALIAN COLONIES.
islands in the West Indies is done by blacks, and no one goes to these determined to remain there with his children; whereas in the others mentioned, people go with the intention of, perhaps, revisiting the land of their birth, but having fully made up their minds to look upon that of their adoption as their future home.
The whole of the American colonies are better peopled than the Australasian; emigrants are not wanted so much; the revenues are not so great; wages are less; the consumption of home-manufactured articles is not near so large; and the climate in winter is more severe.
The Cape colony has a troublesome collection of native and hybrid neighbours constantly giving trouble. It has very few good ports, and has no great mineral wealth, besides being on a continent that never appears to prosper.
The Australians have land, harbours, minerals, food, climate, wealth, and everything in their favour, and in all human probability will become a mighty wealthy southern empire, and the emigrant to them may look forward to his posterity being leading men there.
The prices of everything will be kept at the lowest market level, from the quick conveyance of intelligence and traffic; for steam has now made a suspension bridge between Great Britain and her antipodean colonies, the piers of which are the cylinders of the marine steam-engine.
To the poor working emigrant coming out, I would recommend to bring with him merely clothes enough for the passage of four months, of all weathers, but chiefly hot weather. Serge is worn universally in the colonies; a bale of blue serge takes up no room, and would be a most useful article, and could be made up
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OUTFIT FOR EMIGRANTS.
on the way. It is generally worn as a kind of Guernsey frock, with rockets, over the trousers, with a waistbelt outside the frock instead of braces. This is the colonial dress of farmers, storekeepers, diggers, and, in fact, everyone out of the towns. Thick boots and shoes, with nails, might also be taken out to advantage till labour becomes cheaper in the colonies. We could never get shoes like those made at home, and the ready-made ones sent out never turn out well.
The best tools of the trade should be taken out, those sold in the colony being of a very second-rate quality, made for exportation. All other articles can be purchased there at a small advance on English prices, and more suitable to the country and climate than chance purchases in England; sometimes a glut in the markets of particular things causes their sales at even reduced English prices. Guns and ammunition of all sorts are to be got very cheap in the towns at auctions. Books are always expensive. Take out all; they are useful on the voyage, and if in the way on arrival at the port can be sold by auction.
And let every passenger, rich and poor, about to embark for the colonies, recollect that but a small allowance of water is necessarily issued; consequently duck or serge trousers, and articles of that kind, that can be washed in salt water, are the cleanliest and best articles. The seamen of our ships-of-war scrub their clothes regularly in salt water, and do not suffer from the dampness. Those who can afford it, of course, will take out a sufficient supply of clean linen; but let the poor emigrant recollect that the passage in some parts is very hot, and he cannot wear the same articles without washing constantly, unless with great danger to his health. Gentlemen coming out will do well to
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OUTFIT FOR EMIGRANTS.
encumber themselves with as little luggage as possible. Everything can be got in the colonies; and, except in Sydney and the large cities, Bond-street-cut clothes are rather out of place, and give the wearer the certain look of a new chum.
In the cities out of New Zealand (for we must call Auckland one), people dress pretty much the same as in England; but in the bush and at the diggings the beard and moustache are permitted to adorn the man (perhaps with the present English-becoming-notion of the health being the better for it), and thick half-boots, well laced and nailed. Serge frock, corduroy trousers, and a straw hat are the thing. The very ardent sportsman may take out a Westley and Richards' gun and English ammunition if he likes; but very good shooting-irons can be got there by the man who is not intent upon knocking down small birds a great part of his time. Let no one be green enough, however, to take out fishing gear. There is no fishing except bottom fishing in the sea harbours; and flies attract as many fish angling from the rods of shops in Oxford Street as they would in the colonial rivers. A small carpenter's chest of tools, with magnet turnscrews, is useful to put traps to rights in the bush; but it should be very small, and contain only the most often-wanted articles: saws, gimlets, axes, iron hammers, bradawls, pickaxe, measure, files, and chisels.
Let the married man not wait to see if he succeeds to send home for his wife, nor the unmarried wait to get married till he goes out. Let them take their wives out, and they will succeed; and the wives will be the great inducement to keep them from the chief bane of the colonies, drink, with its train of concomitant vices. It is too truly a fact that the southern
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ADVICE TO WORKMEN.
colonists drink hard. Everywhere you meet with drunkenness. People who would be horrified at the bare idea of taking too much drink at home give way to it in these colonies.
The working man should work for wages for a year to see about him. By the end of that time he will know the colonial climate, customs, prices, &c, and will be ready for the first opening. Indeed, the man of property should not be in a desperate hurry; he can get good interest for his money while looking about him, say six per cent, certain, while he can be learning more about land and labour, sheep and cattle, &c, and he will be then better able to purchase or take a lease of the land; but neither should waste time in the extravagant towns: and it is a great pity the governments of the colonies do not make the purchasing of land a more easily and quickly-settled affair; the delays of auctions and getting legal possession are very expensive and very sickening to the anxious new-comer.
The digger has, of course, to walk up to the diggings at once and set to work. Let him go to the commissioner at once, get his licence, and pitch on a spot for the time, not buying a claim, but working quietly till he becomes used to the work, and contenting himself with a moderate washing at first, till he becomes used to the work, sees the nature of the ground, and understands the probable appearances of a good gold locality; and when he is well up to all the doings of the diggers, bullion-brokers, and people about, as to peppering claims, and many other dodges, as well as to the manner of living, let him, with good fellow-workmen, find and get a good claim, work it well, and not spend his hard earned gold in the potshop. He will then be
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RATE OF WAGES.
sure to do well, and save so as, when tired of the work (which sooner or later he is certain to be), to be able to turn his money to other account, and work in a more natural and, perhaps, respectable way, and leave to others to go through the ordeal, till digging merges into regular mining, and is no longer an indiscriminate rush of all sorts to hard work, diet, hardship, disgust, and gold.
In Australia generally, except near the large towns (where they are rented), there are no small farms; all are large sheep-runs, or vast tracts of land. In New Zealand small farms can be got; and there the climate, the mode of settlers' living, and everything are more like home than in the other colonies. Some of the farms in New Zealand are very like those of England and Ireland; and about Nelson and Otago they are Scotch in appearance. The ruddy faces of the chubby children, the rose-trellised and thatched cottages, with plots in front and orchard and kitchen gardens behind, are very home-like.
There is vast wealth latent in New Zealand for settlers to count on. Minerals of all kinds, with coals and wood and water carriage, everywhere exist. The constant rain, though exceedingly unpleasant, draws up luxuriant crops, which are easily carried to town, to be conveyed to the continental cities, where they fetch large remunerative prices. All classes find an opening, from the man of capital to the mechanic. The Maories make excellent coast sailors, and carry the settlers' produce about in small schooners of from ten to forty tons. At present wages are not so high in New Zealand, and the other colonies offer more money for labour and capital; but this may not last long, and things are cheaper in New Zealand; besides, the way
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RATIO OF EMIGRATION.
of living there is more similar to that at home, and the climate, though not so pleasing, is more healthy and bracing than the continental colonies.
The emigration from the United Kingdom in 1853 amounted to 329,937; of whom 62,915 were English, 22,605 were Scotch, 192,609 were Irish, and 31,459 were foreigners; the remainder, 20,349, being unclassed.
230,885 of the above number of emigrants have gone to the United States, and but 61,401 to the Australian colonies.
What a pity that the large proportion who have added to the wealth of the United States have not gone to our own colonies, to consume our own manufactures and produce for us!
During the quarter ending 31st March 1854, 48,565 persons have emigrated from the United Kingdom; of whom, 36,067 went to the United States, 825 to British America, 11,024 to the Australian colonies, and 649 to other places.
The present regulations of the Emigration Commissioners (April 1854) are as follows:--
(i.) GENERALLY FOR ALL THE AUSTRALASIAN COLONIES---
1. The emigrants must be of those callings which from time to time are most in demand in the colonies, and which at present in all are agricultural labourers, shepherds, herdsmen, miners, blacksmiths, bricklayers, carpenters, masons, sawyers, wheelwrights, and gardeners (and, let us add, shoemakers). They must be sober, industrious, of general good character, and have been in the habit of working for wages; of all of which decisive certificates will be required. They must also be in good health, free from all bodily or mental detects; and the adults must, in all respects, be capable of labour, and going out to work for wages at the occupation specified on their application forms. The candidates who will receive a preference are respectable young women trained to domestic or farm service, and families in which there is a preponderance of females. (This latter condition does not apply to Western Australia. )
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REGULATIONS FOR EMIGRANTS.
2. The separation of husbands and wives, and of parents from children under eighteen, will in no case be allowed.
3. Single women under eighteen cannot be taken out without their parents, unless they go under the immediate care of some near relatives. Single women over thirty-five years of age are ineligible. Single women with illegitimate children can in no case be taken.
4. Single men cannot be taken unless accompanying their parents and at least a corresponding number of sisters. (This rule is not applicable to New South Wales.)
5. Families in which there are more than two children under seven or less than three under ten years of age, or in which the sons outnumber the daughters (inapplicable to New South Wales); widowers and widows with young children; persons who intend to resort to the gold-fields, to buy land, or to invest capital in trade; or who are in the habitual receipt of parish relief; or who have not been vaccinated or not had the smallpox; or the wives and children of persons who have emigrated and. left their families behind; --cannot be accepted.
APPLICATION AND APPROVAL.
Application must be made to the Commissioners in the form annexed. The filling up the form is merely to bring the applicant's case fully before the Board. It confers no claim to a passage, and implies no pledge that the candidate (though within the Regulations) will be accepted; for as the applications are usually more numerous than the funds, only the most desirable of even eligible candidates can be chosen. Applicants may have to wait some time before their applications can be considered.
If approved of, the applicants will receive a printed "Approval Circular," calling tor the payment required, and pointing out how the money is to be paid. After it is paid, they will, as soon as the Commissioners' arrangements will permit, receive an embarkation order (not transferable), naming the ship in which they are to embark, and the time and place of joining her. Applicants must not leave their homes before the receipt of this order.
CAUTION TO APPLICANTS.
No preparation must, on any account, be made by the applicant, either by withdrawing from employment or otherwise, until they receive the "Approval Circular." Applicants who fail to attend to this warning will do so at their own risk, and will have no claim whatever on the Commissioners.
The selecting agents of the Board have no authority to bind the Commissioners, nor to promise passages in any case, nor to receive money. If, therefore, applicants wish to make their
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REGULATIONS FOR EMIGRANTS.
payments through the agents, instead of in the manner pointed out in the "Approval Circular" they must understand that they do so at their own risk, and that the Commissioners will in no way be responsible.
Should any signatures attached to an applicant's paper prove not genuine, or any personation be attempted, or any false representation be made in the papers, not only will the application be rejected, and the contributions forfeited, but the offenders will be liable, under the Passengers' Act, to a penalty not exceeding 50l.
Should any applicant be found, on personal examination at the depot, or on board, to have made any misstatement in their papers, or to have omitted to state any material fact, or to have any infectious disorders, or otherwise not to be in a fit state of health for the voyage, or to have any mental or bodily defect likely to impair their usefulness as labourers, or to have left any of their young children behind, or to have brought with them more children than were mentioned in their application form, or expressly sanctioned by the Commissioners, or to have attempted any deception whatever, or evasion of these rules, they will be refused admission on board the ship, or, if embarked, will be landed, without having any claim on the Commissioners. If after embarkation emigrants are guilty of insubordination or misconduct, they will be re-landed, and forfeit their payments.
If applicants fail to attend at the appointed time and place for embarkation, without having previously given to the Commissioners timely notice and a satisfactory reason, or if they fail to proceed in the ship, or are rejected for any of the reasons specified in the preceding article, they will forfeit their contributions, and will have no claim to a passage at any future time.
OUTFIT, &C.
The Commissioners supply, free of charge, provisions, medical attendance, and cooking utensils at their depot and on board the ship. Also new mattresses, bolsters, blankets, and counterpanes, canvas bags to contain linen, &c, knives and forks, spoons, metal plates, and drinking mugs, which articles will be given after arrival in the colony to the emigrants who have behaved well on the voyage.
The emigrants must find their own clothing, which will be inspected at the port by an officer of the Commissioners; and they will not be allowed to embark unless they have a sufficient stock for the voyage, nor less, for each person, than--
For Males.
Six shirts, six pairs stockings, two warm flannel or Guernsey shirts, two pairs new shoes, and two complete suits of strong exterior clothing.
[Image of page 293]
REGULATIONS FOR EMIGRANTS.
For Females.
Six shifts, two warm and strong flannel petticoats, six pairs stockings, two pairs strong shoes, and two strong gowns, one of which must he warm.
But for each child, nine shirts or shifts, four warm flannel waistcoats, and one warm cloak or outside coat, six pairs of stockings, two pairs of strong shoes, and two complete suits of exterior clothing are required. There must also be at least three sheets for each berth, and four towels and two pounds of marine soap for each person. The necessary brushes and combs, and clothes-brushes for cleanliness, must be provided by the emigrants. Emigrants must not have less than the above outfit; but the larger the stock of clothing the better for health and comfort during the voyage, which usually lasts about four months; and as the emigrants have always to pass through very hot and very cold weather, they should be prepared for both; two or three coloured serge shirts for men, and an extra supply of flannel for women and children, are strongly recommended.
With a view to the promotion of cleanliness and health during the voyage, the hair of all children under twelve years of age must be cut close before embarkation, and kept short during the voyage. If this has not been done before arrival at the depot, it will be cut there. Parents should provide a proper comb for the purpose.
The emigrants should take out with them the necessary tools of their trade that are not bulky. But the whole quantity of baggage for each adult must not measure more than twenty cubic or solid feet, nor exceed half a ton in weight. It must be closely packed in one or more strong boxes or cases; but no box must exceed in size fifteen cubic feet. Large packages and extra baggage, if it can be taken at all, must be paid for. Mattresses and feather beds will in no case be taken.
All applications should be addressed, post-paid, to S. WALCOTT, Esq., No. 8, Park Street, Westminster.
SHIPPING ARRANGEMENTS.
The Commissioners engage none but first-class vessels, which are despatched from London, Plymouth, and Liverpool; but other ports may be added by-and-by. At these ports the Commissioners have depots fitted expressly for the reception of emigrants who are assembled there previous to embarkation, and are lodged and fed free of charge from the day named in their embarkation order. In the ships the preservation of good order, as well as the comfort of the people, is held in view. Married couples and their young children occupy separate berths in the middle of the vessel, families being kept together; while the
[Image of page 294]
REGULATIONS FOR EMIGRANTS.
single men and single women are placed in distinct compartments at opposite ends of the ship.
The Commissioners supply provisions. Medical comforts, consisting of arrowroot, sago, preserved meats, potatoes, and milk, stout, wine, &c, to be used as dieted by the surgeon.
A surgeon-superintendent has medical charge. A matron is placed over the single women; and, when practicable, a schoolmaster is appointed for the benefit of adults as well as children.
The emigrants are victualled in messes of six or eight by the following scale:--
DIET SCALE FOR THE VOYAGE.
WEEKLY: --
Mixed Pickles .... One gill.
Mustard..... Half an ounce.
Salt...... Two ounces.
Pepper..... Half an ounce.
[Image of page 295]
REGULATIONS FOR EMIGRANTS.
Children between one and fourteen receiving half rations.
While in port, and for one or two days afterwards if practicable, two-thirds of a pound of fresh meat, one pound and a-half of bread, one pound of potatoes, per adult, are issued, with a suitable supply of vegetables, in lieu of the salt and preserved meat, and of the flour, suet, raisins, rice, and peas.
At the termination of the voyage, the emigrants may remain on board and receive rations free of expense for fourteen days, in order to afford them time to make arrangements for settling themselves in the country.
On reaching the colony the emigrants are received by a Government emigration officer, who will give every information and advice in his power as to wages, places where employment may be most readily obtained, &c.: and they are at perfect liberty, as far as the Emigration Commissioners are concerned, to engage themselves to any one willing to employ them, and to make their own bargain for wages.
The contributions required are, for New South Wales:--
PAYMENTS AND CONDITIONS.
Male and unmarried female emigrants of or above fourteen years of age will no longer receive free passages, but must repay, either in this country or in the colony, the greater part of the cost of their passage, according to the following scale. For the present this cost is fixed at 13l. for emigrants of the first class, and at 15l. for emigrants of the second class. No payments will be required for wives or for children under fourteen years of age accompanying their husbands and parents. See p. 296.
Every male or unmarried female emigrant of or above fourteen years of age, who does not pay to the Commissioners the full sum of 13l. or 15l., as the case may be, must, before embarkation, sign an indenture or undertaking, in the form marked (A), either to repay within fourteen days after arrival in the colony the balance of their passage-money mentioned in the second column of the above scale; or to take service, under an agreement according to the form marked (B), to serve for two years an employer who will repay to the Colonial Government such balance, and deduct it by eight quarterly instalments out of the emigrant's wages.
Form of Indenture or Undertaking to be signed before embarkation by every male or unmarried female, of or above fourteen years of age, to repay the balance of their passage-money, or to serve some employer in the colony who will repay it for them.
(A.)
We whose names are severally hereunder written, in consideration of a passage being provided for us and (as the case may
[Image of page 296]
REGULATIONS FOR EMIGRANTS.
SCALE OF PAYMENT.
be) our respective wives and families by Her Majesty's Emigration Commissioners, at the expense of the colony of New South Wales, severally bind ourselves either to repay to the immigration-agent of that colony for the time being the sums set against our respective names, in sterling British money, within fourteen days after our arrival in the said colony, or to take service with any employer in the said colony, with whom we may agree during that period, and who shall be approved of by the said immigration-agent, and shall forthwith pay to him one-half of the sums set against our names respectively, and shall bind himself to pay the residue thereof to the immigration-agent for the time being in twelve calendar months, or within any shorter period of the date of such employment. And in default of our
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REGULATIONS FOR EMIGRANTS.
making any such agreement with the consent of the said immigration-agent, and in the form prescribed by law or the regulations of the Government, we hereby agree and bind ourselves to take such other employment and to accept such wages as the said immigration-agent may procure for us respectively; and we hereby, respectively, give him full power and authority, with or without our future consent, to sign on our behalf a contract of service with any employer whom he may select on our behalf, for the term of two years, to be computed from the date of such contract, it being always understood that any such employer shall be at liberty to deduct from any wages that may accrue or become due to us respectively during the said term, at the rate of one-eighth of the sums so set against our respective names in each three calendar months of such service; and, further, that at any time after the expiration of the first year thereof, we shall be respectively at liberty, on giving our respective employers three calendar months' previous notice, to put an end to such contract and service by paying up the balance of the said sums then due by us for our passage. Witness,
FORM OF AGREEMENT to be signed by Emigrants after arrival in the colony, to serve for two years the employer who may undertake to repay the Colonial Government the balance of their passage-money.
(B.)
Memorandum of Agreement made this day between A. B., Esq., the immigration-agent of this colony for the time being of the first part, C. D., a free immigrant, per ship ----- of the second part, and E. F., of ----- of the third part. The said C. D. engages to serve the said E. F. as a -----, and otherwise to make ------ generally useful for the term of two years, to be computed from the date hereof; and also to obey all the said E. F. 's or his (or her) overseer's [bailiffs] or authorised agent's lawful and reasonable commands during that period, in consideration of which services the said E. F. doth hereby agree to pay the said C. D. wages, at the rate of --- pounds --- shillings (£ -----) per annum, payable quarterly, to provide him (or her) with the understated rations weekly, and to defray the expense of his for her) conveyance to the place at which he (or she) is to be employed, it being always understood that the said E. F. is to be at liberty to deduct from any wages that may accrue or become due to the said C. D., by eight equal quarterly deductions, the sum of -----, being the full sum due by the said C. D. to the Government of this colony for his (or her) passage thereto.
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REGULATIONS FOR EMIGRANTS.
WEEKLY RATION.
Beef or Mutton. 10 lbs.
Flour.... 10 lbs.
Sugar.... 2 lbs.
Tea..... 1/4 lb.
And the said E. F. hereby agrees to pay to the said immigration-agent immediately upon the execution of this memorandum the sum of £ -----, being one-half of the amount of the passage-money due by the said C. D. to the said Government, and to pay the residue thereof to the said A. B., or to such other person as may then be the immigration-agent for the time being, at the end of one year from the date hereof.
Signatures of
A. B., Immigration-Agent. C. D, (the Emigrant), or
A. B. (on behalf of C. D. ) E. F. (the Employer. )
Witness,
N. B. --It is to be understood that this agreement (B) is to be cancelled as regards any young woman who may marry before its expiration, on payment to her employer of the balance of passage-money then remaining due.
For Southern and Western Australia and Victoria, the following payments towards passages are required:--
|
|
Age.
|
|
|
|
|
Under 50.
|
50 and under 60.
|
60 and upwards.
|
|
|
£.
|
£.
|
£.
|
| I. Married agricultural labourers, shepherds, herdsmen, and female domestic, and farm-servants; married journeyman mechanics and artizans, such as masons, bricklayers, blacksmiths, wheelwrights, sawyers, carpenters, etc., and their wives, per head
|
1
5
|
17
|
| II. Single men, if accompanying their parents, and at least an equal number of sisters
|
2
|
..
|
..
|
| III. Children under 14 years, per head.
|
10s.
|
..
|
..
|
Passages from Dublin and Cork to Plymouth and Liverpool, and from Glasgow to Liverpool, are provided by the Commissioners. All other travelling expenses must be borne by the emigrants.
[Image of page 299]
REGULATIONS FOR EMIGRANTS.
THIS FORM OF APPLICATION IS FOR ALL THE AUSTRALASIAN COLONIES.
This Form, when filled up, is to be separated from the other page, and returned as a letter, pre-paid, directed to "S. Walcott, Esq., Park Street, Westminster" or to the Commissioners' Agent, from whom it was received.
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REGULATIONS FOR EMIGRANTS.
I do hereby declare, that all the above statements are true; that I have carefully read or have heard read the Commissioners' Regulations contained in the Paper attached to this Form, and that in applying for a Passage to the Colony, I am truly acting in accordance with the spirit of those Regulations, which I understand to be this:-- That the privilege of a Passage, if granted, will be allowed me on the faith that I really belong to the working class, as above described, that I am of good character, that I go to the Colony intending to work there for wages in the calling above-mentioned. And I hereby engage to sign an undertaking before embarkation, according to the form at the back hereof; and to conform to the directions of the Commissioners and their Officers, and to such Regulations as may be established for the good government and welfare of all in the Depot and during the Voyage; and I further pledge myself not to leave the Ship until she reaches her destination. And I further declare, that I have neither paid, nor agreed to pay, for the purpose of obtaining a passage, any fee or gratuity whatever, to or for the use of, the party through whom this application is made, or any one else.
Signature of Applicant,
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REGULATIONS FOR EMIGRANTS.
It is particularly requested that no one will sign these Certificates unless convinced of the truth of their statements.
CERTIFICATE TO BE SIGNED BY TWO RESPECTABLE HOUSEHOLDERS.
N. B. This is not to be signed by Publicans, or Dealers in Beer or Spirits.
We certify that the above Form of Application was duly filled up before our Signatures were attached. That we have perused the statements therein contained, and believe them to be strictly true. That we are well acquainted with ----- -----, know ------ to be of the calling above stated, and believe ----- to be honest, sober, industrious, and of general good character; and that none of the persons named above are deformed, deaf, blind, lame, or idiotic, or likely to become a burthen to the Colony.
Signature. ----- Residence. ----- Post Town. -----
Signature. ----- Residence. ----- Post Town. -----
CERTIFICATE OF A PHYSICIAN OR SURGEON.
I certify that I have examined the above-named Applicant, and his Wife and Children, and that none of them are seriously mutilated nor deformed in Person, nor, in my opinion, afflicted with any disease calculated to shorten life, or to impair physical or mental energy, and that each person appears to be of the age set against his or her name in the column above. I certify also that they have all had the small pox, or have been vaccinated, and are entirely free from every disease usually considered infectious or contagious; and that all the male adults are capable of labour in their callings.
Signature. ----- Residence. -----
CERTIFICATE OF THE MAGISTRATE OR CLERGYMAN OF THE PARISH IN WHICH THE APPLICANT RESIDES.
I certify that I have examined the foregoing statements, and have no reason to doubt their truth. I further certify, to the best of my belief, that the above Certificates are authentic, and that the Persons whose Signatures are affixed to them, are worthy of credit.
Signature of the Magistrate. ----- Residence. -----
Signature of the Clergyman. ----- Residence. -----
Signature of the Roman Catholic Priest. ----- Residence. -----
DECLARATION OF COMMISSIONERS' SELECTING AGENT, WHERE ONE IS EMPLOYED.
I do hereby declare that I have carefully inquired as to the validity of the above Statements, and that I am perfectly satisfied of their correctness; also that I have made all other inquiries and examinations named in my Instructions, and that I believe the above parties to be in all respects desirable Emigrants. And I further declare, that I have neither received, nor agreed to receive, from or in respect of the Emigrants above described, any fee or gratuity whatever, on account of their obtaining a Passage through my Agency.
Agent for
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REGULATIONS FOR EMIGRANTS.
The following are the AVERAGE RATES for PASSAGES by PRIVATE SHIPS to the AUSTRALIAN COLONIES.
* These are the prices when the passengers are victualled according to the ordinary Diet Scale of the Ship.
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REGULATIONS FOR EMIGRANTS.
Acres of PUBLIC LAND GRANTED and at DISPOSAL of the CROWN up to date of last Returns.
| LAND.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ---
|
Amount Alienated.
|
Estimated Amount remaining for Alienation.
|
Estimated Amount available for Settlement.
|
Surveyed, and open for Settlement.
|
Date of Return.
|
| AUSTRALIAN COLONIES.
|
Acres.
|
Acres.
|
Acres.
|
Acres.
|
|
| New South Wales,
|
5,572,474
|
300,000,000
|
See remarks a
|
See remarks b
|
1851
|
| Victoria (late Port Phillip)
|
417,141
|
950,000
|
1,500,000
|
Not stated.
|
1850
|
| Van Diemen's Land
|
2,728,787
|
11,754,105
|
Not known.
|
About 90,000 c
|
1851
|
| Western Australia.
|
1,330,143
|
19,200,500 d
|
1,920,000
|
21,600
|
1851
|
| South Australia
|
735,593
|
199,244,184 e
|
Not known.
|
251,524
|
Sept. 1852
|
| New Zealand
|
309,000
|
241,000 f
|
Not stated.
|
20,000
|
1845
|
a There are millions of acres of the richest lands available for every description of cultivation within the range of the Temperate Zone.
b Under the Waste Lands Act the whole of the Colony is open to settlement. The grazing leases extend over two-thirds of the Colony, but it is only partially surveyed. There are numerous portions of land which have been surveyed and not sold, available for immediate purchase.
c Nearly all of this is now under rental.
d Within the limits of the Colony, open to selection.
e Including roads, &c.
f These are Crown lands. Government continues to make extensive purchases from the natives as required.
ABSTRACT of ORDER IN COUNCIL for promoting ORDER and HEALTH in PASSENGER SHIPS to any of Her Majesty's Possessions abroad.
1. Every passenger to rise at 7 A.M., unless otherwise permitted by the surgeon; or, if no surgeon, by the master.
2. Breakfast from 8 to 9 A.M., dinner at 1 P.M., supper at 6 P.M.
3. The passengers to be in their beds at 10 P.M., except under permission of the surgeon; or, if no surgeon, of the master.
4. Fires to be lighted by the passengers' cook at 7 A.M., and kept alight by him till 7 P.M.; then to be extinguished, unless otherwise directed by the master, or required for the use of the sick.
5. The master to determine the order in which each passenger or family of passengers shall be entitled to the use of the fires for cooking. The cook to take care that this order is preserved.
6. Three safety-lamps to be lit at dusk; one to be kept burning all night in the main hatchway, the two others may be extinguished at 10 P.M.
7. No naked light to be allowed at any time, or on any account.
[Image of page 304]
REGULATIONS FOR EMIGRANTS.
8. The passengers, when dressed, to roll up their beds, to sweep the decks (including the space under the bottom of the berths), and to throw the dirt overboard.
9. Breakfast not to commence till this is done.
10. The sweepers for the day to be taken in rotation from the males above 14, in the proportion of 5 for every 100 passengers.
11. Duties of the sweepers to be to clean the ladders, hospitals, and round-houses, to sweep the decks after every meal, and to dry holy-stone and scrape them after breakfast.
12. But the occupant of each berth to see that his own berth is well brushed out; and single women are to keep their own compartment clean in ships where a separate compartment is allotted to them.
13. The beds to be well shaken and aired on deck, and the bottom boards, if not fixtures, to be removed and dry-scrubbed and taken on deck, at least twice a-week.
14. Two days in the week to be appointed by the master as washing days, but no clothes on any account to be washed or dried between decks.
15. The coppers and cooking vessels to be cleaned every day.
16. The scuttles and stern-ports, if any, to be kept open (weather permitting) from 7 A.M. to 10 P.M., and the hatches at all hours.
17 On Sunday the passengers to be mustered at 10 A.M., when they will be expected to appear in clean and decent apparel. The day to be observed as religiously as circumstances will admit.
18. No spirits or gunpowder to be taken on board by any passenger. Any that may be discovered to be taken into the custody of the master till the expiration of the voyage.
19. No loose hay or straw to be allowed below.
20. No smoking to be allowed between decks.
21. All gambling, fighting, riotous or quarrelsome behaviour, swearing, and violent language, to be at once put a stop to. Firearms, swords, and other offensive weapons, as soon as the passengers embark, to be placed in the custody of the master.
22. No sailors to remain on the passenger deck among the passengers except on duty.
23. No passenger to go to the ship's cookhouse without special permission from the master, nor to remain in the forecastle among the sailors on any account.
LONDON: W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.
