The Press.
London, England, 1853-07-30 00:00:00

JUDY 30, 1853.

The increase of Australian emigration is, of
course, due to the gold diggings ; whose influ-
ence operated inure strongly during the first
three months of 1832 than at any former or
subsequent period. Among the self-support-
ing or unassisted class of emigrants the die
roportion between the sexes is remarkable.
During the entire year nearly 45,000 persons
went out in this way ; 32.000 being males, and
less than 13,000 females. In consequence of
this disparity, " single men, not being mem
bers of a family, or families in which the
" sons outnumber the daughters," are no
longer assistod by the Board ta go out. On
the other hand, the emigration of single women
is encouraged to the utmost.
One curious result has been produced by
the gold mania. In ordinary times, of two
colonists anxious for a free passage, the
stouter and hardier is us a matter of course
preferred ; but not so now. The best qualifi-
cation for a servant or labourer is his unfit-
ness to work at the diggings. It is safer,
argues the colonial employer, to hire workmen
who can do only half a day's work than work-
men who will not even do that. The first
question asked in respect of a hired hand is,
not " How can he work ? " but " How long will
he stay ? "
Accordingly, to provide against this tem-
porary and anomalous state of things, a con-
siderable number of persons were helped out
of a class who at other periods would have
been deemed unfit for Australian life—weavers,
.flaxdressers, and the like. It seems, however,
that the experiment of transforming English
operatives into antipodean shepherds has
not answered ; for this exceptional emigration
is discontinued, after a trial of only a few
months.
During the height of the now subsiding gold
mania, the pressure on the Emigration-office is
described as extraordinary. At one time
18,000 applications for passages to Australia
demanded replies. The average of letters re-
ceived exceeded 700 for every working day in
the week. And, in proportion as these requests
multiplied, the difficulty of granting them in-
creased. Freights rose from 1.0/. to 23/. ; and,
though in some degree diminished, they are
still enormously high.
Of the Australian emigration, Victoria has
absorbed by far the greater part. The popula-
tion of that colony in March, 1831, was
77,345; to which 57,000 and upward have been
added in the single year 1832. Yet wages
have not fallen, though a considerable propor-
tion of the new-comers are physically unfit for
that most laborious and unhealthy of all occu
pations—gold-digging.
As regards the condition of the labourer in
this country, it is noticeable that the commis-
sioners expressly deny that in their belief any
material increase of wages has been produced
by emigration. The absence of Irish innni-
gration, the existence of general prosperity.
improved methods of fimuing, and cheapness
of food, are represented us the primary causes.
But we must observe that this absence of
Irish immigration is itself a result of the
exodus, which has thus indirectly, if not
directly, affected the condition of both
countries.
Space forbids us to enter on the West Indian
question ; but from the report it seems clear
that coolie anti Chinese immigration. espe-
cially the former, are producing results which,
though slow in their operation, will ulti
mately relieve much of the now existing dis-
tress. Great credit is due to Sir J. Pakington
for his services in this particular.

The Life and Death of Silo* Barnetarke. A
Story of the Seventeenth Century. By Talbot
Gwynne. London: Smith, Elder, and Co.
THE theme whereon this book is written is
one to which there is neither beginning nor
end. The contrast between avarice and cha-
rity—the antagonisms that grow up, unsus-
pected and spontaneously, between the selfish
money-grubber and the pious philanthropist—
have formed a subject for the romaneist from all
times past, and will form it for all times to
come. On such text the earliests moralists
discoursed ; the primeval bards improvised ;
the first novelists expended their eloquence