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Title Entry-Books of Correspondence: Letters to the Colonial Office. Australia, 1845-1846
Author Elliot, Sir Thomas Frederick; Lefevre, Sir J G S; Wood, C Alexander; Rogers, Frederick
Date 4 Aug 1845 - 1 Dec 1846
Document Type Correspondence
Reference CO 386/63
Library / Archive The National Archives
Collection Name Colonial Office: Land and Emigration Commission, etc.
Description Copies of out-letters, the vast majority to Sir James Stephen, some for the attention of the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies. The correspondence largely relates to the sale and/or development of waste land, Crown Lands and land beyond colonial boundaries, and claims upon the government by colonial landowners and colonial governments. Mining, the development of towns, the demand for further colonists, surveying, quarantine and the status of squatters are also covered. 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; Permanent Settlement and Successive Generations
Country (from) Great Britain
Country (to) Australia; New Zealand
Places Canada; London, England; Otago, New Zealand; Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Australia
Ports New Plymouth, Auckland, New Zealand; Gravesend, England
Nationality English; European
Ships Canton; Cumberland; Lord Hobart; Cataraqui
People Gladstone, William Ewart; Gipps, George; Stephen, Sir James; Lord Howick (Grey, Henry); Earl of Derby (Smith-Stanley, Sir Edward); Fitzroy, Governor Charles Augustus
Keywords emigration, agriculture, labour, land sale, land price, money, agent, eligibility, surveying, mining, allotments, quarantine, religion, morality, South Australia company, New Zealand Company, squatting, administration, claims, land grant
Language English
Copyright Crown Copyright documents © are reproduced by permission of The National Archives London, UK