The Express.
London, England, 1847-11-26 00:00:00

COLONIAL

AUSTRALIA. EMIGBATION.—A correspondent
of the Liverpool Journal, who signs himself " An Australian
Squatter," maki s the following suggestions:—" The in-
creasing cry of want of work in the manufacturing districts
—the wailing. of the houselees poor of England, and of tho
ejected tenants of Ireland, have struck my ear. as such a
strange echo to the loud outcry for labourers that they used
to tingle with in New South Wales—for I am an Australian
squatter—that I have been induced to muster up courage
and address this letter to you, equally in hopes of benefiting
my satire and my adopted country. Now, Mr. Editor, I
am only a plain old bushman, and it appears to me that, as
I want a few shepherds, and my neighbours a good many,
and the whole Australian colonies some twenty or thirty
thousand—and you want to find employment for at least
that number of men, we might '• make a deal," as Jona-
than says. We will take them off your hand., give them
good dry and airy dwellings, forests for fuel, 12 lbs. of beef,
1011 s. of flour, llb., in some instances lb. of tea, and 211 e.
sugar a week, and 161. a year wages, per head. Now, as our
men do not want above a fourth of the clothing they require
with you, it follows that they can save at least one-half of
their wages. You will be benefited by gettiag rid of your
poor, we shall be benefited by receiving them, and they will
be benefited by coming, thus beating even that twice-
bless.il prerogative of mercy which blesses him that gives
and bias that takes. The only difficulty is, who is to pay the
passage money ? I answer all three. Let tho government
advance the money by a four years' loan, besting interest at
b per cent. Let the employer pay the interest. Every
sheep farmer or employer in Australia who is in want of
shepherd., and all are and must continue so, would willingly
pay his 1/. per head for four years. The reason is obvious:
the influx of labour would decrease wages to at least double
that amount. Let the emigrant, in the same number of years,
repay the principal. There can be no hardship in this ; he
is taken from " poverty, hunger, and dirt," to comparative
affluence, at least to a most luxurious abundance; he is
taken from hard toil, in many cases in an unhealthy occupa-
tion, in all cases from a miserable dwelling, to the lightest of
all labours, the healthiest of all pursuits, the finest of all
climates; he is taken from the sharp fangs of cold, second
only to those of hunger, to a land of perpetual summer ; his
old scanty meals of vegetable diet are changed to a couple of
pounds of beef, as much bread, and tea arid sugar enough
for half a dozen old women. In return, he is only expected
to repay, by instalments of a fourth of his wages for four
years, the actual advance that his country, like a generous
friend, had made him. Sydney, Port Phillip, and Adelaide,
collectively, would take annually twenty thousand emigrants,
who would of themselves form no small addition to the
market for your goods. There is no rival country to reach
by crossing the border, as in Canada; there are no mouths in
the year in which passages could not be effected; there are
no short dap, there are no gloomy months, there is no frost
and snow: June and December there are not more different
than Jane and August here. The empl syment is that of the
patriarchs of old, and with care and no drunkenness, who
knows that the life might not last almost as long ? A poor
man's ',ruing. are not there to be reckoned in an inverse
ratio to the number of his family. There is no need of seven
years' drudgery to learn a trade which may, in after life, just
keep body and soul together for a few 3 ears, and, at the se-
paration, leave the latter to the parish for sepulture. The
meanest capacity can soon learn the duties of a shepherd,
and a steady end saving man may, in less time than be could
in England imagine possible, acquire a flock of sheep. Some
'stringent law, to enforce the repayment from the emigrant,
might ho necessary, but if certificates of good character were
in every cue demanded, and the strictest inquiry gone into,
the black sheep would be few. Emigrants should be made
to consider it what it really is, a great boon—no less then a
friendly loan, without interest, to set up a poor man for life.
There is no danger of lowering wages below a reasonable
standard ; they are, whilst I am writing, as high as 261., and
in some places 291. a year, with the usual rations. Sheep in-
crease nearly 90 per cent. ; and, as long se you can take oar
wool and our tallow, there is no fear of too many shep-
herds. There was a time when a sheep, like a Bond-street
dandy, was worth nothing but the coat on his back; but
boiling down was tried, and a good sheep was found to
be worth 4s. 6d. without his cost, and a good bullock 31.
The time may tome when by some cheap process, not
more wonderful than the making gun cotton, we may be
able to send them fresh beef and mutton to Newgate and
Leadenhall markets. The probabilities, twenty years ego,
were no greater of sending live cattle in one night from the
pastures of Lincolnshire and Cheshire to the stalls of Smith-
field. Then let all your lovers of beef and mutton bestir
themselves and learn to take a more lively interest in what is
the nucleus of a great empire in the Pacific, and which can
maintain more cattle than all you John Bulls would tat in
a month of Sundays. We want your poor ; you want to get
rid of them—pass them over to us ; we will be every man's