We have received a copy of a Series of Resolutions passed, on the 23d of October 1840, by the Legislative Council of New South Wales, on the subject of immigration into colony. The object of these resolutions is to encourage emigration from the mother country, by showing the demand for labour in New South Wales, and the advantages offered to the immigrant. We have only room for a few of the more important resolutions :

Resolved. That there exists throughout the colony an urgent and increasing want of working hands, in every branch of industry ; that there is ample employment for emigrants, at highly renumerating wages without the interruption, in this mild climate, experienced in colder countries during the winter months ; and that, even during the worst period of the past severe drought, no persons able and willing to work found any difficult in procuring advantageous employment.

Resolved. That, in the opinion of this Council, there can be no more advantageous field for the employment of industry than is presented in New South Wales– experience proving, that able-bodied, sober, industrious and careful emigrants may, within a few years after their arrival, rise form the condition of labourers to be themselves employers of labour; by which process, and by the progressive increase of the flocks and herds of the colony, a constant demand for additional labourers is created, sufficient to remove all apprehension of a dearth of employment for as many as may arise.

Resolved. That this Council would particularly instance the large and increasing sums at the credit of the working classes in the Savings Bank of New South Wales, as affording gratifying evidence of their prosperous condition, the deposits having increased from t24,469, the amount on 31st December 1835, to t127,000 on 31st August 1840.

Resolved. That great additional advantage must accrue to the mother country from the large consumption in this colony of British produce and manufactures, the declared value of which, from 1826 to 1839, according to the official returns for that period, amounted to more than eight millions sterling, having progressively increased from t280,000, the amount in 1826, to t1,251,969 in 1839 ; whilst the exports from the colony, including the produce of the fisheries, increased from t106,600 in the former year, to t948,776 in the latter–the total amount being t6,187,530 for the whole period.

Resolved. That the trade between the mother country and this colony, together with the whale fisheries in the adjourning seas, also affords a valuable nursery for seamen, important in this respect, in proportion to the distance from Great Britain, and calculated to strengthen and secure her maritime power ; and that this field for the employment of British shipping must increase with the growing prosperity of the colony– considerations which appear to this Council to constitute a strong additional claim, on the part of the colony, to the fostering care of the British Government.


Citation: Scotsman (Edinburgh, United Kingdom), 14 April 1841, available at the Scissors and Paste Database, http://www.scissorsandpaste.net/299.