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Title Entry-Books of Correspondence: Letters from the Emigration Commission, 1846
Author Walcott, Stephen; Walpole, John
Date 9 Apr-26 Jul 1846
Document Type Correspondence; Legal Papers; Financial Papers
Reference CO 386/40
Library / Archive The National Archives
Collection Name Colonial Office: Land and Emigration Commission, etc.
Description Copies of out-letters addressed to a variety of individual enquirers. The correspondence mostly covers eligibility for free passages or bounties, the availability of land, the demand for labour (including artisans and professionals), shipping, mining ventures, and the cost of passages. 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; Ships and Shipping Lines; Motives for Emigration
Country (from) Great Britain; Ireland
Country (to) Canada; Australia; South Africa; Falkland Islands; Sri Lanka
Places Tasmania, New South Wales, South Australia, Australia
Ports Port Phillip, Victoria, Australia; London, Gravesend, Plymouth, England; Donegal, Ireland
Nationality English; Scottish; Irish; European
Ships Canton; Britannia; Cataraqui; Primrose; Pallas; Kate; Duke of Richmond; Cumberland
People Gladstone, William Ewart; Chadwick, Edwin
Keywords clergy, surgeon, eligibility, female emigration, child migration, emigration, artisan, bounty emigration, assisted emigration, land, legislation, land sale, land grant, crown lands, land claim, money, finance, labour, labourer, shipping, mining, administration, steerage, employment, regulations, agent, newspaper, advertisement, servant, workhouse, poverty, tax, statistics, customs, coolie, indentured labour
Language English
Copyright Crown Copyright documents © are reproduced by permission of The National Archives London, UK