CO885-(1-2) — Page 619

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference -

LC.O.885

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

2

Australia by this Board during the years 1848 and

1849, have been, to

New (Sydney

South

Wales Port Philip

South Australia

13,478

12,343

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 colouies offer au 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 hias 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

Santh

f Sydney District

169,043

Wales

Port Philip District

35,966

South Australia

38,606

243.675

and that to these there has been added in two

years

New Sydney District South Wales (Port Philip District South Australia..

..

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13,478 or upwards of 7 per cent.

12,348 or upwards of 34 per cent.

11,097 or upwards of 28 per cent.

such a result is not to be wondered at. The loan which has been recently negotiated in Sydney for immigration purposes is not for fresh immigration, but to repay a portion of the large advances already made for this colony out of Imperial funds.

Nor is it possible to expect that British North America will for several years be capable of taking off any very large number of the labouring classes of this country. In their general reports on emigration at the Parliamentary Paper, February, end of 1848, both Mr. Buchanan, the emigration 1549, p. 31, 32.

agent at Quebec, and Mr. Hawke, the emigration agent. at Kingston, stated that for unskilled labour there was little or no demand, and that even for artisans and mechanics the prospects were not encouraging. Nothing has since occurred to render this report inapplicable to the present time; and although it may fairly be expected that the development of the great natural resources of Canada will gradually offer employment to a much larger annual immigra tion, no such result can be expected immediately *.

• It is also stated in the annual report of the Emigration Agent in New Brunswick, which has reached

It is then in the United States that a home must

us within the last few days, "that be found for the great bulk of the emigrants who there is not the least prospect of a demand either for ordinary or annually leave Great Britain, and if measures were skilled labour, the resident popu- thought necessary to increase that annual emigration, lation being quite sufficient to meet present requirements."

1847

1848 1849

258,270 248,084 290,000

3) 796,354

Average...

265,451

it would be to the United States that the increase must be directed. That such an increased emigra- tion would find employment in the United States there seems no reason whatever to doubt. The only questions are, first, whether the circumstances of Great Britain are such as to require au increased emigration; and, secondly, whether a grant of money for that purpose, out of the Imperial funds, would produce a commensurate effect.

On the first point we have no information in this office which would entitle us to express a positive opinion. We may, however, observe, that the emigra- tion of the three last years has amounted to 796,354 persons, giving an average of 265,451 persons per This amount is nearly equal to the whole annual increase of the United Kingdom. But look- ing at the question as connected with Ireland only, the result is much more striking. Assuming nine- tenths of the emigration from Liverpool to be Irish

aunum.