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Title Entry-Books of Correspondence: Letters from the Emigration Commission, 1842
Date Jan-Mar 1842
Document Type Correspondence
Reference CO 386/29
Library / Archive The National Archives
Collection Name Colonial Office: Land and Emigration Commission, etc.
Description Letters refer to the organisation and eligibility of land agents, and to the price and sale of lands in the Australian colonies. The cost of passage on board emigrant ships, as well as information regarding the duration of their journeys, and notes referring to ships being full to capacity. There is an index at the back of this document listing dates, recipients and a brief summary of each letter's subject.
Series Description This series contains original correspondence, entry books and registers of the Agent General for Emigration, the South Australian Commissioners and the Land and Emigration Commission. Amongst the miscellaneous contents are registers of births and deaths of emigrants at sea 1854-1869, lists of ships chartered 1847-1875, registers of surgeons appointed 1854-1894, and volumes of The Colonial Gazette 1838-1842.
Biographical Note / History A Colonial Land and Emigration Commission was created in 1840 to undertake the duties of two earlier and overlapping authorities which were both under the supervision of the Secretary of State. These were the Colonisation Commissioners for South Australia, established under an Act of 1834, and the Agent General for Emigration, appointed in 1837. The new commission dealt with grants of land, the outward movement of settlers, the administration of the Passengers' Acts of 1855 and 1863 and, from 1846 to 1859, the scrutiny of colonial legislation. In 1855 it became the Emigration Commission. In 1873 the administration of the Passengers' Acts was transferred to the Board of Trade. The commission's powers were gradually given up to the larger colonies as they obtained self-government, and after 1873 its only duties were the control of the importation of Indian indentured labour into sugar-producing colonies and it was abolished in 1878.
Theme(s) Politics, Legislation and Governance
Country (from) Great Britain
Country (to) Australia; Canada
Places Devizes, London, Falmouth, England; South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, Australia; Newfoundland, Canada; Cape of Good Hope, South Africa; Falkland Islands
Ports Port Phillip, Victoria, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; Dublin, Ireland
Nationality English; European; Scottish; African
Ships Oleana; Glen Huntley; Orestes
People Walcott, Stephen; Elliot, Sir Thomas Frederick; Buckham, A B; Nicholls, George; Patten, John; Reynolds, C B; Duckham, A B
Keywords government, emigration, agent, administration, surgeon, shipping, employment, agent, government, finance, poor laws, land, land sale, crown lands, eligibility, free passage, Liberated Africans, land price, legislation, Passengers' Act, navigation, passage money, trade, free passage, land grant, travel, victualling, surveying, quota, emigrant selection, regulations, census, water, children, fare, wages, colony, colonisation
Language English
Copyright Crown Copyright documents © are reproduced by permission of The National Archives London, UK