2
Australia by this Board during the
years 1848 and
1849, have been, to
New (Sydney
13,478
South
Wales Port Philip..
12,343
South Australia
25,821
11,097
36,918
From each of these colonies a quarterly return
is received, which states among other things the suffi- ciency of the rate of immigration with reference to the demand for labour. In the returns from New South Wales for the last quarter of 1848, it is stated that any increase of the existing rate of immigration
to Sydney or Port Philip, which to the former some- what exceeded three ships, and to the latter some- what exceeded two ships per month, would not be advisable. And in the return for the first quarter of 1849, the latest which has been received, the demand
for immigration is again fixed for Sydney at three ships per month, and for Port Philip at two ships. In the return also from South Australia for the two first quarters of 1849, it is stated that the present rate of immigration is somewhat beyond the demand, al though a railroad which is in contemplation, and the formation of smelting establishments, will afford increased means of employment. These returns are no doubt opposed both to the popular belief in this country that the Australian colonies offer an inex. haustible field for the employment of labourers, and
to the vehemence with which in the colonies an increase of immigration has been constantly de- manded. They are, however, the returns of the local authorities, whose peculiar business it is to collect information on these points, and who if they have any bias at all must be biassed in favour rather of a large
than a small immigration. And when it is consi- dered that the population of New South Wales and South Australia on the 1st of January, 1848, was
only
New
Sydney District
169,043
South
Wales
Port Philip District
35,960
South Australia
38,666
243,675
aud that to these there has been added in two
years