EMIGRATION DURING THE LAST SEVENTEEN YEARS.--From a return furnished by
the Emigration Board, it appears that the number of emigrants from
England and Wales, in the seven years from 1825 to 1831, were 103,218,
or an average of 14,745 yearly; in the ten years from 1832 to 1841,
429,775, or 42,977 per annum. Total number in the last seventeen years,
532,993; or an average for that period of 31,352. But the rate of
emigration has greatly increased of late years, as is shown by the fact,
that while the emigration of the seven years ending 1831 averaged only
14,745 per annum, that of the last ten years (ending 1841) averaged
nearly 43,000 per annum.
NEW SOUTH WALES.--The monetary and commercial disasters which have
afflicted this important colony are most serious, and they are thus
alluded to by the colonial press:--"Our next mail to England will carry
home the tidings of fresh disasters to this once flourishing colony. The
fast growing embarrassments of 1841, and the 600 insolvencies of 1842,
have been crowned in the first third of the year 1843, by the explosion
of the Bank of Australia, then by the minor explosion of the Sydney
Bank, and, last of all, by the run on the Savings Bank. These three
latter calamities have come in such rapid succession, that before men's
minds recovered from the stunning effect of one shock, they were
astounded by the sudden burst of another; and we are convinced that at
the present moment there is a deeper despondency and a more harrowing
anticipation of ruin to the colony than ever existed before since the
landing of Governor Philip, in 1788."--The run upon the Savings Bank at
Sydney originated, it is said, from malice against Mr George Miller, the
accountant, whose exertions had been very useful in exposing the
mismanagement of the Bank of Australasia. Reports were circulated that
the Governor had gone suddenly down to the Savings Bank and demanded a
sight of all the bills under discount and mortgages, and that his
Excellency declared that he would not give three straws for all the
securities put together; but this statement regarding his Excellency is
flatly contradicted. Many of the largest holders of land and stock in
the colony are said to be so irretrievably embarrassed, by reason
chiefly of the high prices at which their investments were made, that
their property must go to the hammer without reserve. The present time
is, therefore, held out as a favourable opportunity for emigrants, with
moderate capital, to make their purchases. It is broadly declared that
500_l._ would go as far now in New South Wales, in the purchase of land
and live stock, as would 5,000_l._ four or five years ago.
Australia has been, in some respects, unlucky in its colonization. New
South Wales has hitherto flourished from its abundant supply of convict
labour, at the expense of those higher interests which constitute the
true strength and security of a state. Western Australia was planted
with a sound of trumpets and drums, as if another _El Dorado_ were
expected. But the sudden disaster and discredit into which it fell,
linked the name of Swan River with associations as obnoxious as those
which were once inspired by the South Sea or Missisippi. South
Australia, again, planned on principles which are universally recognised
as containing the elements of sound and successful colonization, has
also proved a failure. One of the newest and most enterprising of our
Australian settlements, that of Port Philip has been sharing with Sydney
in the recent commercial distress and calamity; and though it is already
getting over its troubles, it must undergo a painful process before it
can lay an unquestioned claim to its title--Australia Felix. Land
jobbing; banking facilities at one time freely afforded, and at another
suddenly withdrawn; ventures beyond the means of those engaged in them;
imprudent speculations, in which useful capital was either rashly risked
or hopelessly sunk--these unquestionably have been amongst the causes
which have brought on the commercial disasters of New South Wales. It is
seldom advantageous for an emigrant, newly arrived, to become a
proprietor of land in any part of Australia, unless his capital be
considerable; but the eager desire to become possessed of the soil
overcame all prudential considerations; land at Port Philip was eagerly
bought, at prices varying from 12_s._ to 500_l._ In 1840 the influx of
moneyed immigrants from England and Van Diemen's Land, to a
newly-discovered and extensive territory, produced a land fund exceeding
the sum of 300,000_l._, and engagements were entered into by the
colonial Government, on the faith that the land fund would produce
annually a large amount, but in 1841 it fell down to 81,000_l._; and
though in 1842 as much as 343_l._ 10_s._ per acre was given for building
ground in the town of Brisbane, district of Moreton Bay, it was
impossible for this to continue; and even for valuable lands in the
neighbourhood of Sydney, in the very same year, wholly inadequate prices
were obtained. The colonial Government became embarrassed by the
expenditure exceeding the revenue; and in 1842, Sir George Gipps, in an
official despatch, says, "Pecuniary distress, I regret to state, still
exists to a very great, and even perhaps an increased, degree in the
colony, though it at present shows itself more among the settlers
(agriculturists or graziers) than the merchants of Sydney. When,
however, I consider the vast extent to which persons of the former class
are paying interest, at the rate of from 10 to 15 per cent., on borrowed
money, I can neither wonder at their embarrassments, nor hope to see an
end to them, except by the transfer of a large portion of the property
in the colony from the present nominal holders of it to other hands,
that is to say, into the hands of their mortgagees or creditors, who, in
great part, are resident in England." This official prophecy is now in
the act of fulfilment; and when the storm has spent itself, the colony
may be prosperous again.
CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.--The want of Government protection which is felt by
the British resident at the Cape of Good Hope is well illustrated by the
following extract from a letter addressed by the writer to his family at
home:--"I am sure I shall be able to get on well in this country if the
Caffres are only prevented from doing mischief, but if they go on in the
present way, I shall not be able to keep a horse or an ox, both of which
are indispensable to a farmer. Now I can never assure myself that when I
let my horses go I shall see them again. It is a disgrace to our
Government that we are not protected. As it is, all our profits may be
swept away in one night by the marauders."
NEW ZEALAND.--We understand a box of specie was placed on board the
_Thomas Sparkes_, in charge of the captain, for Mr Chetham. On the owner
opening the box, he discovered to his great surprise that, by some
unaccountable process on the voyage, the money--gold, had been turned
into one of the baser metals--iron. It is stated that the steward left
at Plymouth, and the first and second mates whilst the vessel was
detained at the Cape, but whether they had any agency in the
transmogrification of gold into iron remains to be proved.--_New Zealand
Gazette_, Feb. 4, 1843.