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Title Colonial Land and Emigration Board. Original Correspondence: Miscellaneous, Commissions of Appointment
Date 1840-1878
Document Type Correspondence
Reference CO 386/2
Library / Archive The National Archives
Collection Name Colonial Office: Land and Emigration Commission, etc.
Description Miscellaneous correspondence of the Colonial Land and Emigration Board relating to shipping companies making arrangements and bonds with the Crown to better meet the criteria of the Passengers' Act, such as the Atlantic Royal Mail Steam Navigation Company Ltd. There are also letters referring to the sale of waste lands in Australia, Chinese labourers being selected and encouraged to emigrate to the Australian colonies and other papers documenting the applications of families of transported convicts for free passage. The affairs of various emigration companies are also documented, with the British Guiana and Calcutta emigration agencies featuring most frequently. Copies of printed embarkation orders are also included.
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
Country (from) Great Britain; China
Country (to) Australia
Places London, England; Jamaica; British Guiana; Calcutta, India
Ports Fremantle, Western Australia, Hobart Town, Tasmania, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Nationality English; European; Chinese
Ships Lady Louisa; Samuel Plimsoll
People Boate, Arthur; Lascaride, George Peter; Hodge, John; Cooper, R B; Irving, William A S; Balfour, James; Walcott, Stephen; Elliott, Thomas Frederick; Torrens, Robert; Villiers, Edward Ernest
Keywords government, administration, colony, colonisation, emigration, immigration, commissionaires, emigration scheme, land, steamboat, finance, legislation, Passengers' Act, social class, steerage, passenger, provisions, medicine, disease, journey conditions condition, labourer, indentured labour, accommodation, hospital, passenger list, convict, transportation, free passage, family, shipping, Board of Trade, finance, expenses, banking, immigration agent, compensation, land sale, land
Language English
Copyright Crown Copyright documents © are reproduced by permission of The National Archives London, UK