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Title Entry-Books of Correspondence: Letters to the Colonial Office. Australia, 1850-1851
Author Wood, C Alexander; Rogers, Frederic; Murdoch, Thomas William Clinton
Date 7 May 1850 - 7 Apr 1851
Document Type Correspondence
Reference CO 386/68
Library / Archive The National Archives
Collection Name Colonial Office: Land and Emigration Commission, etc.
Description Copies of out-letters, mostly addressed to Herman Merivale, some for the attention of Lord Grey, the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies. The correspondence is largely concerned with legislation, the health, behaviour, eligibility, and suitability of migrants, the conduct of surgeons and other officials on board migrant ships, the purchase of land, Crown grants, the funding of assisted migration, railway construction, and various claims for payment. An index is included at the end of the volume.
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; Motives for Emigration; Journey Conditions
Country (from) Ireland; Great Britain
Country (to) Australia; New Zealand
Places Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania, Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Australia; London, England
Ports Wellington, New Zealand; Adelaide, South Australia, Sydney, New South Wales, Port Phillip, Victoria, Australia; Plymouth, Deptford, England; Cork, Dublin, Ireland
Nationality English; European; Irish; Scottish
Ships Tasman; Indian; Reliance; Maitland; Oriental; Ramilies; Constance; Himalaya; Ascendant; Diana; Victoria; Bengal
People Merivale, Herman; Lord Howick (Grey, Henry); Grey, Sir George; Fitzroy, Governor Charles Augustus; Denison, Sir William
Keywords morality, army veteran, agent, orphan, female emigration, child migration, land price, land sale, servant, finance, money, morality, surgeon, regulations, legislation, claims, railway, eligibility, convict, alcohol, administration, regulations, orphan, agent, shipping, New Zealand Company, eligibility, assisted emigration, flogging, servant, administration, emigration, land grant
Language English
Copyright Crown Copyright documents © are reproduced by permission of The National Archives London, UK