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Title Entry-Books of Correspondence: Letters from the Emigration Commission, 1842
Date Jul-Nov 1842
Document Type Correspondence
Reference CO 386/31
Library / Archive The National Archives
Collection Name Colonial Office: Land and Emigration Commission, etc.
Description Letters refer to the suspension of bounty emigration, the lack of funds for assisting emigration, and land claims. Applications for passage broker licences are also a common theme. One printed copy of appointments and "Principles of Colonisation" relative to the Province of South Australia. Colonization Commissioners for South Australia is included. There is an index at the back of this document listing dates, recipients and a brief summary of each letter's subject.
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
Country (from) Great Britain
Country (to) Australia; New Zealand; Canada
Places Suffolk, England; New South Wales, Western Australia, Tasmania, Australia; Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Canada; Falkland Islands
Ports Plymouth, England
Nationality English; European
Ships Royal Sovereign; Sir Charles Napier; Sarah; Hebe; Success; Westminster; Prince George
People Walcott, Stephen; Walpole, John; Ward, John; Elliot, Sir Thomas Frederick; Johnson, J F; Reynolds, Thomas; Mills, Samuel; Mackinnon, William Alex; Barnard, Edward; Hutt, William; Barnes, George; Montefiore, Jacob; Palmer, George; Pennington, James; Roberts, Josiah; Giddon, John; Smith, C H; Bell, Robert; Napier, Robert; Reid, John; Graham, Reverend John; Forrest, David
Keywords government, emigration, agent, administration, surgeon, shipping, employment, agent, government, finance, regulations, legislation, parliament, land sale, industry, commissionaires, land, population, colony, expansion, surveying, crown lands, bounty emigration, Passengers' Act, passage broker, emigration scheme, application, indigenous people
Language English
Copyright Crown Copyright documents © are reproduced by permission of The National Archives London, UK