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Title Entry-Books of Correspondence: Letters to the Colonial Office. Mauritius, 1864-1876
Author Murdoch, Thomas William Clinton; Walcott, Stephen
Date 5 Jan 1864 - 19 Oct 1876
Document Type Correspondence; Report
Reference CO 386/115
Library / Archive The National Archives
Collection Name Colonial Office: Land and Emigration Commission, etc.
Description Copies of out-letters, mostly addressed to Sir Frederic Rogers, concerning migration to Mauritius and the Seychelles. The correspondence is largely devoted to the 'protection' of indentured labourers both in the colony and en route, along with the demand for labour, the arrival of 'liberated Africans', the numbers of female indentured labourers, and the availability of land. 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; Departures: Port Conditions and Organisation; Journey Conditions; Arrivals: Ports and Early Experiences; Remigration
Country (from) India; Singapore; Africa
Country (to) Mauritius; Seychelles; Madagascar; Reunion
Ports Madras, Calcutta, Bombay, India; Port Louis, Mauritius
Nationality Indian; Chinese; Asian; African
Ships Egmont; Earl of Clare; Rajasthan; Evelyn; Shah Ishan
People Rogers, Frederic; Duke of Buckingham and Chandos (Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, Richard); Lord Kimberley (Wodehouse, John); Lord Carnarvon (Herbert, Henry Howard Molyneux)
Keywords land sale, land price, land grant, land, finance, money, emigration, legislation, coolie, indentured labour, labourer, labour, journey conditions, regulations, agent, administration, health and sickness, sanitation, surgeon, food, victualling, surveying, death, disease, quarantine, shipping, legislature, sugar, farming, agriculture, statistics, medical examination, child migration, female emigration, Liberated Africans, quarantine, dysentery
Language English
Copyright Crown Copyright documents © are reproduced by permission of The National Archives London, UK