Emigration to New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land

The following document has just been issued from the Colonial Office:–

Downing street, April 6, 1834. Numerous applicants have been received from persons desirous of emigrating to New South Wales or Van Dieman's Land, who, after stating their inability to defray the whole charge of their conveyance, solicit aid for that purpose, on condition of repaying the same out of their earnings in the colony where they propose to settle. His Majesty's government has sanctioned the appropriate of a limited sum out of the colonial revenues of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, to assist the private funds of such emigrants as may appear likely to earn the means of repayig that aid, and to become useful settlers. The following are the regulations under which this induglence will be dispensed:–

No advance will be made except to young and married agricultural labourers, who intend taking their wives and families with them : and a strict inquiry will be instituted into their character and habits of industry, before the assistance they solicit will be granted to them.

No one family will be allowed an advance exceeding t20; and it will be useful therefore for parties, who may not possess the remainder of the sum requisite for defraying the expense of their passage, to apply for assistance.

Every person desirous of receiving the proposed advance must fill up, and send back to the Under Secretary of State for the Colonial Department, the return hereto annexed. If the information contained in this return, and the answers to the inquiries which may be addressed to the parties who certify the correctness of the return, shall be considered satisfactory, the applicant will receive notice to that effect. He may then proceed to make his agreement with the owners or masters of ships proceeding to New South Wales or Van Diemen's land, and as soon as any ship-owner or master shall notify (in a form which will be provided for that purpose) that the emigrant has taken the other necessary steps for engaging his passage, and order will be granted for the payment in the colony, of t20 to the agent or master of the vessel in which this emigrant may arrive. The emigrant will of course be able to[?] ob-[?] tain a corresponding deduction from the amount[?] [?] paid by himself in this country.

The order for payment will be entrusted [?] ter of the vessel in which the emigrants to pro[?] and will consist of a sealed dispatch to the governor, containing the name and description of the party on whose account the money is to be paid, and encolosing a promissory note, which he will be required to sign in acknowledgement of his debt ; which note must be witnessed by the captain and chief mate of the vessel. But arrangements will be made, by which the payment of this order will not take place in the colony until the captain shall have produced the parties, on whose account it is to be made, before the officer appointed for that purpose, and they shall have entered into a fresh obligation for the repayment of the advance made to them. For it is the intention of his Majesty's Government, and cannot be too clearly understoof by all persons who may accept this loan, that repayments of the debt (in such proportions and at such intervals as may not be unsuitable to the circumstances of each emigrant) shall be strictly enforced, by means of the ample powers which the laws of the colony render available for that purpose.

Government agents for emigration have been appointed at Liverpool, Bristol, Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Belfast, and Greenock, who have been instructed to afford gratuitous information to all persons applying to them as to the best means of carrying their schemes of emigration into effect. Parties, therefore, who may reside in the neighbourhood of these agents are requested to apply to them either personally (or if by letter post paid) for information on this subject.

All application for the assistance of government must be made by letter only, addressed to R. W. Hay, Esq. Under Secretary of State, London ; and should the number of applications be greater than the funds at their disposal will enable them to comply with, priority of date will form the rule of selection among applications in which there shall appear no other groun of distinction. W. R. Hay.

                      
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The ship, Numa, Captain Day, sailed from Leith road, yesterday forenoon with a full cargo of goods, and 37 passengers, for Van Diemen's Land and New South Wales.

                      
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We understand, from good authority, that Government has decided upon sanctioning the foundation of a new colony on the coast of South Australia. The plan on which this undertaking is to be conducted is explained in a work entitled "England and America." This first act of Mr Stanley's successor is an earnest of his becoming a most valuable Minister for the colonies of this country.

                      
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A highly respectable and very numerous meeting is holding this Exeter-hall, on the subject of the new Colony in Australia, the establishment of which has recently received the sanction of the Government.

                      
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*Australian Emigration Bill.* –Mr W. Whitmore brough in a bill for establishing a colony in Southern Australia. The bill was read a first time, and ordered to be read a second time on Wednesday next.

                      
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South Australian Emigration Association.

A meeting of the members of the South Australian Association was held on Monday, at Exeter Hall, "for the purpose of explaining the principles, objects, plan, and prospects of a new colony," proposed to be founded in South Australia. Mr W. Whitmore in the chair.

Upon taking the chair, Mr Whitmore stated, that the first question which the meeting would have to consider would be this–whether there existed or not at present any necessity for a more extended system of colonization. It appeared to him that there was a great defect in our present system of colonication, and that it would be greatly to our advantage if we established it upon a new principle, well and seriously considered. That which struck him as the greatest defect was, that we did not provided that colonization which included within it members of all classes of society. Large numbers of emigrants went out with capital, but not carrying with them that number of the lower class which was necessary to employ their capital to advantage. In other cases, perhaps almost as numerous, the labourer went out without capital which was necessry to enable him to employ his labour to advantage. This was a striking defect. Now the question which they were then called upon to consider, regarded the best means of remedying that defect. Those means, it appeared to him, were quite practicable, and might be accomplished in this manner, vz. by establishing as a system that all the waste lands which they were about to colonize should be sold at a given price, such as the market would command, and that the proceeds of such sales should be employed in sending out to the colonies a sufficient number of labourers to cultivate the lands so sold. If this system could be carried into effect, he apprehended that all the evils of our present system of colonization would be removed, and that we should be enabled to transplant a portion of the community of the mother country with all its various grades into the new country which they now proposed to coloniz. He believed that if we proceeded upon this principle, we should lay the foundation of the greatest colony which England had ever settled.

Mr Grote, M.P., moved the first resolution,–"That the wealth and prosperity of this country have been greatly promoted by the establishment of British colonies in various parts of the world, and that colonization, when conducted systematically and upon sound principles, offers the means of extending indefinitely the commercial empire of the united kingdom, and the field of employment for British capital and labour." He would not enter into the recommendations which this undertaking offered to all classes of the community ; but he would venture to state, that to any gentleman who considered the prospectus which had been put out by the association, and who recollected that it was a matter of certainty that the land in the colony was to be used as the means of raising a fund to carry over thither the labour, which was superabundant here, it must be evident that from this important innovation on our colonial system great benefit must be derived[?] both to the new colony and to the mother country.

Mr Clay, M.P., in seocnding the resolution, entered at great length into the difficulty of finding employment, which now prevails in all parts of the community, and then, after condemning the corn laws, continued thus–Colonization, if carried on to a considerable extent, would as effectually add millions of fertile acres to our shores as if the Irish sea were filled up with fertile land. If that miracle took place is it not clear that all distress would immediately cease, and that the emplyment which the addition of so many fertile acres would afford must give a new stimulus to the prosperity of the country ? Is it not clear that the miserable compotation[?] for potato-gardens in Ireland would cease, and that the difficulties flowing from an unemployed population would cease ? Does any man doubt that it would be well worth the while of our capitalists to take such land at from 10s to 20s an acre. (Hear.) Yet this plan is in effect the same as if the land were added to our own island, because, if this plan of colonization be adopted, a transplantation of a sufficiency of labourers, now wanting employment, from this country, for its culture, will take place, which is equivalent to the transportation of the land to the labourer. In point of fact, the ocean joins these distant lands, instead of separating them. (Hear.)– There can be no doubt but that a wider comercial code, and the removal of restrictions on labour, would greatly facilitate, extend, and increase the commercial intercourse between the old nation of the world ; but in no case would the increase be in proportion to that which might be calculated on, as the consequence of a connection with newly-formed countries in other climates. As regards the establishment of colonies, it is virtually an extension of the mother country.

Colonel Torrens, M.P., proposed the second resolution– "That in establishing colonies, great care ought to be taken to combine labour and capital with land, in such proportions as are best calculated to insure the prosperity of all classes of society, and that, in establishing modern colonies, this important consideration has been so generally overlooked." It was, he said, almost unnecessary for him to state that in all systems of colonization, land, labour, and capital, ought to be combinedin just proportions ; and yet this simple principle had been hitherto greatly neglected by those who had led new colonies from the mother country. In the first place, the whole of the land of this colony was to be public land. No individual was to obtain a single acre by gift. There was to be no patronage, no job–all were to be on a footing of equality, and nobody was to have a single inch of land for nothing. There would also be another advantage in this system, which would arise in the following :–In other colonies, the labourer who had gone out and found that he could get land for nothing, had often fallen into the mistake that land was wealth, instead of it being merely the means of producing wealth. That fatal mistake had often led him to refuse the work of the master with whom he had gone out, and set up for himself as an independent landowner. He had in consequence set up, where he was far away from the market of the colony, where he had no roads over which to convey his produce, and where he had perished miserably. But in this colony the labourers would be compelled for some time to work for hire.

Mr Guest, M.P. seconded the resolution.

Mr Hutt, M.P. moved the third resolution to the following effect:–"That in order to promote the greatest prosperity of a new colony, it is expedient that all waste land, without any exception, shall be declared public land, and be disposed of to individuals by sale only, and according to an uniform, impartial, and permanent system."

Captain Gowan seconded the resolution, and spoke in the highest terms of the salubrity of the climate of Australia. Many of his fellow soldiers in India had gone there for the recovery of their health, and had found something so temperate and soothing in the country, that they had retired there altogeher, preferring its mild and gentle breeze to the chills of their native country, England.

Mr P. Scrope, M.P. moved "That it is also desirable that the whole of the purchase money of public land, without any deduction, should be employed in providing a free passage from the mother country to the colony, of young adult persons of the labouring class, who may be willing to emigrate, and in equal proportion of both sexes." As the want of labour was the great difficulty in all infant colonies, the more labour they imported, the greater labour did they give their land ; the more they got for the sale of it, the greater was their power of importing fresh labour. This resolution, therefore, acted in a reciprocal manner upon itself, and when it was once fairly put into operation they would proceed onwards on the road to prosperity with accelerated velocity, meeting with no other obstacle than the unwillingness of England to part with her inhabitants.

Mr Wilks, M.P. seconded the resolution.

Mr Handson moved –"That amongst the unoccupied portions of the earth which form part of the British dominions, the south coast of Australia appears to be a sport peculiarly suitable for founding a colony upon the principles embodied in the preceding resolutions." The place where this colony was to be founded was one distinguished from every other part of Australia, from its possessing a facility of internal communications prior even to the formation of roads, and the soil would amply repay the labour expended on its cultivation.

Mr Robert Owen (not of Lanark) said that the coasts of this colony abounded with whales, and that its whale fisheries might become valuable.

Mr M. D. Hill rose to propose the resolution embodying the mode of carrying the principles of this association into effect. No colony could go on without some law. He did not care how little they had of it, provided they made up in quality what was deficient in quantity. The hon. member entered into an elaborate description of the laws intended to be enacted for the colony, and concluded by moving–"That the provisions for the peace, order, and good government of the British Province of South Australia, as contained in the bill now before Parliament, are highly satisfactory."

Mr D. Wakefield seconded the resolution.

Sir W. Molesworth, M.P. proposed, and Mr Childers, M.P., seconded the following resolution :–"That it is the opinion of this meeting that the thanks of the country are due to Mr Spring Rice for his prompt and enlightened conduct in promoting the beneficial public object of the South Australian Association."

The resolutions were carried unanimously. Thanks were given to the Chairman, and the meeting, at which many ladies were present, broke up. The proceedings lasted from twelve o'clock to a quarter before five.

                      
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House of Commons.–July 28 *(Continued from our last.)*

A message from the Lords announced that their Lordships had agreed to the Amendments to the Ministers Appointment (Scotland) bill ; to the Newspaper Postage bill ; and to the Orkney Statute Labour bill.

Affairs of Oude

On the order of the day for the third reading of the Universities' Admission bill being moved–

Mr Herriks[?]  took the occasion of calling on Government to explain the circumstances which had occurred in certain transactions between the Board of Controul and the East India directors. These transactions, the hon. gentleman stated, to be the repeated peremptory commands of the Board of Controul to the Directors of the East India Company to prepare a despatch for the purpose of directing the Indian Government to compel the King of Oude, to pay certain claims made on him on behalf of Calcutta bankers, which commands the Court of Directors refused to obey, on the ground that the interference which the Board of Controul required them to exercise with the King of Oude, was inconsistent with the relations subsisting between the British Government and the King of Oude, and would be most mischievous in effect. On the 31st of January the right jon. gentleman had appliedfor, and obtained a rule to show cause why, under the act of Parliament, a *mandamus*  should not issue to compel the Court of Directors to comply with the desire ofthe Board of Controul. On the 31st of January, 1834, the Court of King's bench was prepared to give its decision upon the application for the *mandamus*, when, without any reason being assigned, the right hon. President of the Board of Controul withdrew his application.

Mr C. Grant  said that in the regret which had been expressed respecting the possible collision between the two authorities, he fully concurred; bu, entertaining such a sentiment, he confessed it surprised him not a little to find his Right Hon. Friend endeavouring to open a dispute already composed. The right honourable gentleman then proceeded to give a brief outline of the case, and referred to the various high authorities connected with India, who had declared in favour of the demand. With regard to his having withdrawn the application for the *mandamus*  without explanation, he had to say that he fully explain his opinions to the Directors, he had re-stated them verbally to the chairman, and he did not think himself required, under the circumstances, to reenter into a long discussion upon the point. The effect of the recommendation to the King of Oude was merely to urge the claim upon his attention.

Sir R. Peel  said it was a perfectly novel doctrine, and in the present state of the world most inconvenient, that the nonpayment of debts due to his subjects should give the King of England a right forcibly to intervene with foreign states, except where sanctioned by positive treaty.

Mr Hume  contended, that on the whole, the debt was a just one, and ought to be paid.

The subject here dropped.

Admission of Dissenters to the Universities.

On the question that this bill be read a third time,

Mr T. Gladstone  rose to oppose it. It would, he said, be useless to pass the bill, for it would of necessity be inoperative. If he were asked why he opposed a bill which, if passed, would be inoperative, his answer was that he objected to its principle, the admission of which was equally destructive, whether it effected the object of its promoters or not. Further, they were bound to respect corporate rights as long as the intentions of their founders were fulfilled ; and no one could deny that the Universities did fulfilthe intentions of their founders." (Hear, hear.)

Mr V. Smith  supported the bill, as one calculated to take away a reproach from the Establishment, and be felt as a compliment by the Dissenters, whose only desire was to exercise their vigorous intellects in the promotion of science and literature.

Mr Baines  said, that the original statutes showed that there were then no tests, nor did any exist at Oxford, in either the time of the Lollards or of Wickliff. The term University had in it an argument for thegeneral use of these seats of learning, which were meant to be universal, both as to the subjects taught, and the persons to whom they were communicated. In this sense, the term was understood and applied in other countries, and it was an extraordinary fact, deserving of attention, that the Universities of Oxford and of Cambridge were the only universities that were closed to a large proportion of the upper classes of the people in any country in Europe. This the Dissenters of England felt as a grievous indignity, and they thought it unjust that Englishmen should attempt to degrade Englishmen by excluding them from the best seats of literature and science.

Mr H. Hughes  could not accede to the measure, and therefore moved that it be read that day six months.

Mr Goulburn  contended that the introduction of the Dissenters, as proposed under the present bill, would be nothing short of the destruction of the present system of education at the Universities. It was indisputable that at a University, religion could only be taught according to some set form : abandon that mode of tuition, and you abandon the religion itself. (Cries of "No, no.") If they let in Dissenters, it was perfectly obvious the intentions of the founders of those establishments would be completely defeated : he therefore deprecated the measures as injurious to religon and opposed to the best interest of the country.

Lord Palmerstone, Sir R. Inglis, and Mr G. Wood  then addressed the house, but amidst such discordant noises as prevented what they said being heard. The laughing, jeering, shouting, were such as has seldom been heard. In particular two hon. members who entered from the smoking room into the opposite gallery during the address of Mr Wood, and who stretched themselves at full length on the seats secure from the observation of the Speaker, kept up a row of the most discreditable character. The Speaker, with much indignation in his tone and manner, called the parties to order.

The motion for the third reading was carried, on a division, by 164 to 25. The Trading Companies Bill, the Arms Importation (Ireland) Bill, and the Court of Chancery (Ireland) Bill, went through committees.

The Four Courts (Dublin) Bill, the Weights and Measures Bill, and the Turnpike Acts Amendment Bill, were read a third time and passed.

The Almanack Stamps Repeal Bill, the Assessed Taxes Repeal Bill, and the Militia Ballot Suspension Bill, were brought in, and read a first time.

The house was counted out at three o'clock in the morning.

*Tuesday, July 29.*

Sir John Cam Hobhouse  and General Sir Edward Barnes, took the oaths and their seats ; the former for Nottingham, in the room of Lord Duncannon, raised to the Peerage ; the latter for Sudbury, in the room of M. A. Taylor, Esq. deceased.

On the motion of Mr Alderman Thompson  the Durham and Sunderland Railway bill was read a third time and passed.

Southern Australia

Mr S. Rice  moved the order of the day for the house to resolve into Committee upon the Bill for the Colonization of Southern Australia,

Mr A. Baring  rose and stated various objections to the project. The hon. member contended that at this period of the year there was not time to deliberate upon such an important subject, and, independent of this preliminary objection, he said he did not conceive that government ought to sanction any such experiment without a full conviction that there was a reasonable probability of its success. In his opinion the experiment was founded upon bases more mistaken than any similar one which had ever been tried. In fact, according to the plan which had been laid down, the colony would be tied up by mortgages in such a way, that it would not again revert to the Crown, so that the territory would be lost. The result would be, that if the gentlemen who set the project on foot were mistaken–as he was sure they had been–we would be prevented from touching this large portion of Australia, unless we could pay off the debt which had been contracted. While he stated these objections to the plan, he was anxious not to be understood to be inimical to colonization, for he was very favourable to it. Every new opening to colonization he was convinced was a substantial benefit to the poorer classes, (Hear, hear, hear.) It was not, therefore, to the principle of colonization that he was opposed, but he objected to this bill becaue the plan was a most mistaken one, and would eventually shut up this large portion of the world. One of his main objections was to the extent to which it was proposed to carry the experiment. Let the gentlemen take, if they like, 100 square miles, but let them not risk the whole of a great continent. People, like fuel, he said, could not well be carried too far ; they might get a few thousands to go out, but they would never get the tens of thousands to go which were required for the success of the project. The hon. member then objected to two of the principles which were laid down by the projectors, that land should not be sold lower than 12s. per acre, and that no credit should be given. He was convinced that any man acquainted with the practical workings of the system in other colonies, would blow up the whole plan in a moment. No man who went out to Australia would think of taking less than two hundred acres. Now that would cost him t120; it would cost him t120 more to get himself and his family over; which, with stock and other expenses, would amount to t500 or t600. He would, therefore, ask any gentlemen in that house, whether they thought any man who had t500 or t600 in this country, would go out and set himself down on two hundred acres in Australia. (Hear, hear.) He therefore suggested to his right hon. friend to consent that the committee be postponed until another session, and then have it referred to a select committee. He concluded by moving, as an amendment, that the bill be committed on that day six months.

Mr W. Whitmore  was thakful for the very candid manner in which the hon. member had stated his objections to the bill. With respect to the large extent of territory, he (Mr W.) thought that was necessary, as it was intended to introduce a completely new system of colonization–one very different from any thing ever before attempted. The extent of land it was intended to take under this act was from 500,000 to 600,000 square miles, and it was the leading principle of the bill that all the money arising from the sale of lands should be applied to the purpose of sending out labourers free of expense.– (Hear, hear, hear.) If this plan succeeded, there would be a constant stream of emigrants going out. The land sold by the Canada Company had been at a higher price. He had sanguine hopes that all the money it would be necessary to borrow would be easily repaid. He most conscientously considered that this bill would prove a very great benefit to the country. It would tend exceedingly towards facilitating and amending the conditions of the people of England and Ireland, and therefore he hoped it would pass.

Mr O'Dwyer  contended that, before the house thought of agreeing to such a bill as this, they ought to do something towards the ameloriation of the condition of the people of Ireland. The various reports which committees of that house had made, showed that one-fourth of the land of that country was untilled, but was at the same time what was called reclaimable land, and well calculated for the cultivation and produce of grain. Let this country advance some of the surplus capital talked of by the hon. member towards the cultivation of this bog land, and discontent would flee[?] from Ireland entirely. The Irish people wanted employment, give them that and the house would hear no more about murders, fires, and other outrages.

Mr S. Rice  in reference to the allusion made by the hon. and learned member, begged to say that, although much of the bog land in question belonged to private individuals, yet a portion of it was the property of the Government, who had been, and still were, making experiments, with a view to ascertain if the views of the Commissioners could be carried into effect. With respect to the manner in which the hon. member for Essex had opened this question, he must confess that he had brought with him much of usefulness and of experience, and of such a character, too, as could not fail to carry weight. The right hon. gentleman then proceeded to speak in favour of the proposed colonization of South Australia

After some farther discussion, strangers were ordered to withdraw, and the house divided, when there appeared–For going into committee, 72; against it 7–Majority, 65.

The bill went through the committee. The report was received, and ordered to be taken into further consideration on Thursday next.

Several petitions were presented, and, at three o'clock, the Speaker left the chair.

                      
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The *St Nicholas*, Morgan, which has arrived off Aberdeen from Bathurst, New South Wales, reports that timber was very scarce ; that the woods between that town and Miramichi were on fire ; that 250 tons of cut timber had been burnt, and the people in the woods had been obliged to abandon their camps and fly to save their lives. The thermometer at Bathurst was from 85 to 90.

                      
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Colonel C. J. Napier has been appointed Governor of the embryo colony in South Australia, and we believe that a fitter appointment could not have been made. We only regret that Colonel Napier has not been sent to superintend a colony founded on something like sane principles. But if this Australian project end, as we have little doubt it will do, in the ruin of those who are weak and silly enough to embark in it, no one will ascribe any part of the failure to the incapacity or unfitness of the Governor. The whole blame will fall on the contrivers of the scheme.

                      
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*Emigration.* –According to a general return of emigrants who have left Liverpool for the British colonies and the United States of America, it appears that from the 7th of May 1833, to the 30th September 1834, 3,121 persons left there for the colonies, and 27,486 for the United States, making a grand total of 30,607 persons. The ships employed were 455 ; the tonnage 196,058, and the crews, 8,9956. The chief of the emigrants to the United States, disembarked at New York, 24,311 having landed there. Of the emigrants to the colonies, 1,289 went to Australia, and 1,227 to Quebec. The emigration to the West Indies during the above period, only amounted to 12 to the smaller islands, 3 to Antigua, 32 to Jamaica, and 26 to Demerara. The emigrants to Van Diemen's Land were 135.

                      
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