The Sun.
London, England, 1866-06-08 00:00:00

Female Enigration:

Last night a private meeting of ladies and gentle-
men interested in the subject of female emigration
was held at the office of the National'Association
for the Promotion of Social Science, for the purpose
of giving a reception to Miss Maria Rye, a lady well
known in connection with the Female Emigration
Society, and who has just returned to England from
a visit to the Australian colonies, whither she pro-
ceeded three years ago with a batch of 100 female
emigrants sent out by that society.
The company assembled shortly after 8 o'clock,
and after partaking of tea and coffee adjourned.to
the library, where Col. Sykes took the chair. Among
those present were Mr. P. Urquhart, M.P., Mr. G.
More, Mchne. Bodiham and party, Mrs. and Miss
Corfielol, Mr. T. Hare, Mr. C. R. Ford, Mrs. and
Miss Morel, Mr. Biackbourne and party, Mr. 11.
Roberts, Mr. J. Winstone, Mr. Scott and party,
Mr. J. 11. and Mrs. Beggs, Miss Parkes, Mr. H.
Jordan, Mr. hill and party, Miss Lewin, Mr. and
Mrs. Knox, Mr. Westlake, jun., Mr. A. O. Charles,
Rev. Mr. Clay, Miss Webber,
A letter was read from the Earl of Shaftesbury,
expressing his regret that he was unable to be pre-
sent in consequence of attending the Field-lane
Ragged School meeting.
The CfrAunritic having opened the proceedings in
a few appropriate words,
Miss RYE came forward and read a very interest-
ing account of her visit to the antipodes. She was
received with great cordiality, and her statement,
which was remarkable for the eloquence of the lan-
guage and its glowing description of the scenery of
New Zealand and Australia, was listened to with
much attention, aud was greatly applauded. She de-
scribed the colonies as being excellent;
not only for
their climate, but for the abundance of their products
and the certainty there was of obtaining all the ne-
cessaries, and most of the comforts, of life by all who
chose to work. She first visited New Zealand, de-
scribing Otago as an' excellent place for settlement.
She left the 100 young women she took out to that
district there, and she had since received informa-
tion that all of them, except some three or four who
came to her with false characters, had done well.
She afterwards visited Canterbury and Nelson.
After leaving Nelson, she visited Marlborough, Pic-
ton, and 'Wellington, describing the country with
considerable minuteness, and mentioning its capa-
bilities for the support of multitudes of the human
kind. She described the land in the neighbourhood
of Auckland as igneous in its origin for at least 15
miles round, and mentioned the fact that from a hill
in the middle of the town at least 25 extinct volca-
noes could be counted, and stated that the land was
in many parts covered with large masses of scoriae.
The town itself was of a purely commercial charac-
ter. She then went on to describe her visit toAus-
tralia, and gave a very glowing description of the
vegetation, the flowers, and fruits of Sydney and its
neighbourhood. Here she was much pleased with
the arrangements for the reception of female emi-
grants. She afterwards went to Queensland, and
described the vegetable productions of Brisbane and
its neighbourhood as something wonderful. Rows
of pine-apple trees growing like cabbages, while the
tea and coffee trees, the sugar-cane, arrowroot tree,
cinnamon and bamboo were all growing one along
side of the other. Honey could be obtained from
the bush trees by buckets full, and the coast was
covered with oysters. There were very good ar-
rangements for the reception of emigrants at Bris-
bane, but she informed the company that nothing
could be more discreditable than the manner
in which they arrived at the port—crowded toge-
ther in the vessels, squalid and dirty, while in some
instances the death rate on the voyage had been from
30 to 70, or, in other words, from 9 to 20 per cent.
She next went to Victoria. The town of Melbourne
was, she said, one of the finest she had seen, both as

regarded the public and private buildings. Ar-
rangements were entered into by the Government to
grant 150 free passages for female emigrants per
month, but the Colonial Government refused any
grant for the immigration of educated women, on
the ground that the Colonial Legislature only con-
templated granting funds for the assistance of the
labouring emigrants. She was, however, of opinion
that there was a great demand both in New Zealand
and Australia for governesses, and she considered
that if any mistake had been made by the society it
was in sending out young women who were not
sufficiently accomplished. Indeed, persons possessed
of the highest accomplishments were always in re-
quest, and invariably did best, though all did well.
A general conversation on the subject of female
emigration followed, and in answer to questions Miss
Rye stated that the mode of proceeding in respect to
educated young women going out was for the society
to advance them a loan, and that since 1861 the
number of educated women sent out was 182, and
that altogether £665 had been lent, a considerable
portion of_ which had been repaid. At Sydney, Mel-
bourne, Brisbane and other places, there were two
descriptions of homes—one for servants and that
class of emigrants, and another for educated women,
who paid 12s. a-week for their accommodation. Both
descriptions of houses were excellent. She endea-
voured to persuade the Government of Victoria to
allow her to send out educated women with freepas-
sages at the rate of 4 per cent. ; but they declined to
do so on the grounds stated. As a whole servants had
to work a good deal harder, but received much
higher wages than in this country, together with a
certainty of employment. The general impression
she derived from her prolonged visit was cer-
tainly most favourable to female emigration,
and she mentioned that she had received directions
from the other colonial governments to send emi-
grants, so that the great difficulty she would now
have would be to find suitableyoung women to go out.
In the course of this conversation, Mr. Jordan,
the agent-general for Queensland, took occasion to
correct the statement with respect to the death-rate
in the ships sent to that colony, referring to the
tables, and stating that for the last year they had
been only 2.70 per cent., and for the two previous
years 1.3 per cent., or less than the death-rate on
land. The death-rate referred to must have been
among the German emigrants, which emigration
had been put a stop to, or, at all events, the cases
quoted were very exceptional. Miss Rye referred to
the Sultana, the Royal Dane, and the Peter Godfrey

The CHAIRMAN stated that no doubt the cases
were exceptional, but it was quite right that atten-
tion should be called to the subject.
A desire having been expressed that the very in-
teresting paper of Miss Rye should be published,
The CHAIRMAN moved a cordial vote of thanks to
that lady, which was carried by acclamation, and
the proceedings terminated.

Select Committee on Theatrical Licences
and Regulations.

_~`

The committee appointed by the !Luse of Commons to
inquire into the system of licensing music halls and
theatres met this morning in room 19.
Viscount Sydney, G.C.8., the Lord Chamberlain,
attended this morning, and, in answer to the chairman,
said he thought music halls and theatres should be under
one jurisdiction— either the Lord Chamberlain or the Home-
office. The Lord Chamberlain's-office was quite able to
deal with the matter, all that would be required would bebe
an additional staff. The license; he thought, ought
divided into two distinct branches, one fur thetheatotriees
and the other for music halls. That plan was adopted_but be did
Paris, with the addition of police supervisioni.itter part, be-
not think it would be judicious to adopt the
cause he did not think it was consistentthe
of persons in this country to have the
Was very un-
about. The present system of
findli
out pretty nearly
satisfactory. A manager coulddilding
a theatre, he would
epwoiltihee twheate habitshina
whether, in the event a his building
d imply in the Arst instance to
obtain a license, as he wet. to get permission for the
the Lord Cliamberlain'stloe :oelity
intended. There was
theatre
erection of a theatre in I
that, providing the building was
no risk of a license after
government,
ought to be left to
of stage plays, his lordship
tioTnhsefinoralliatsgegr:vf ea
erected in a substanmetlkienarnegunerla.
authors knew pretty .
well what would and what
magisterial
isthzdasihipsysstaeimd
said
the examiner of playe. Revert-
ingnot pass
Speaking of the supervisionwould
he was of opinion ofthaliteentshineg,
could be very much improved by making it proceed from
to the matter of
a -
permanent instead of a fluctuating body. He objected
to give licenses for occasional performances in halls and
other place; solely because proper precautions were not
taken to prevent fire. It was the danger that prevented
the licenses being given, not the competition.
By Mr. Locke—The Lord Chamberlain's-office would be
able to perform the duty of licensing all places of amuse-
ment, theatres, as well as music-halls, merely by an in-
crease of the staff. Of course, there-would have to be a
local staff to see that country theatres were properly con-
ducted.