Colonization from Ireland: report of the Select Committee, minutes of evidence, appendix and index

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ON COLONIZATION PROM IRELAND. 
4s78 of great Injustice inflicted when People who have bought at a high Price see A. 
Cuninghame, others coming afterwards buying at a low. 
Therefore I think that when once •*&?• 
the Prices are settled they should not be lowered without very strong Necessity ; 16th Ju] 184,^ that Necessity, in my Opinion, exists at present. 
But if a just Price were 

„ fixed at first the natural Progress of the Colony would cause them to rise, and probably every few Years it would be found necessary somewhat to raise those Prices. 
4445. 
Have any Lands been sold in the remoter Districts at 1/. 
an Acre? 
No, none. 
4446. 
None, except in the District immediately surrounding Melbourne? 
I only know of Two Sales of Land Twenty-five Miles round Melbourne. 
Those were Two special Surveys, one a very splendid Tract of Country, nearly Forty Miles from Melbourne, and the other, also a fine Piece of Country, upon the Sea Coast. 
A few Sections of Land have also been sold in a rich Tract of Country near Lob Colac. 
But with these Exceptions I know of no Land beyond Twenty-five Miles from Melbourne, or of some other Town or Port, which has been sold. 
4447. 
Supposing that the Plan which you have suggested were adopted, do you conceive that any Loss which the Colony might sustain, if such Loss should accrue, would be compensated, first by the earlier Advance of the Purchase Money, and secondly, by the increased Productiveness of the Labour? 
I think much more than recompensed. 
I know of no future Advantages to the Colony which can compensate for the continued Check to its early Progress which is inflicted by an insufficient Supply of Labour; such a Check as has at present been inflicted. 
4448. 
Would it be possible to procure for Australia, by any Modifications of the present System, a larger Supply of free Emigrants in proportion to the Colonial Funds expended than at present ? 
I believe it to be quite possible to procure for Australia a much greater Number of free Emigrants in proportion to the Colonial Funds expended than she has ever yet received, and that those Emigrants might be of a Class and Character at least as good as, if not better than, the Average of those hitherto sent out. 
This may be accomplished by means of Assistance derived from various Sources. 
First, there are the Parishes and Unions of England and Ireland. 
In many of these Unions there are large Families, who are a dead Weight to the Union, hut who would be most valuable in the Colony. 
Suppose a Man and his Wife with Six Children, the Man Forty-five Years of Age, the Woman Forty, and their Children from Fifteen down to Four. 
The eldest of these Children may possibly be worth his Food and Clothes in this Country, but certainly not more; the older Children are a mere Burden; the Wife will be fully employed in making and mending Clothes, and cooking for the Family, and in keeping the youngest out of Mischief; and thus the Labour of the Husband must keep himself, his Wife, and Five Children, or they must go into the Workhouse. 
It would obviously be well worth the while of the Union to pay 61. 
each towards the Passage of the Man and Wife, and 31. 
each for the Two older Children, and the whole Passage Money of the Three youngest; for the Family would cost them that Sum in Jess than a Year. 
But in the Colony a Boy of Eleven is worth his Clothes and Food, the elder ones would get Wages besides \ and the Man his Wife, he as Shep¬ herd and she to shift Hurdles (One and a Half Hours Work daily), would get from 201. 
to 351. 
a Year, and Rations sufficient for themselves and Children, with a free Cottage and Firewood. 
Similar Arrangements might be made with the Unions for sending out Orphan Boys and Girls from Twelve Years old to Sixteen, the Unions paying about Half the Passage Money. 
There are also many Orphan Hospitals for Children of both Sexes in this Country, in which great Difficulty is experienced in getting the Orphans off Hand at Thirteen or Fourteen Years old by binding them Apprentices to various Trades and paying a Premium for them. 
It is much to be feared also that in the great Struggle for Employment in this Country many of these poor Girls are discharged whenever their Apprenticeship is over, in order to make Room for fresh (£00.16.) 
3 O Apprentices