It will be seen by an announcement in our advertising
columns, that the South Australian Commissioners are, in addition to their former arrangements, taking measures to forward to the new colony other six hundred persons of the labouring class, free of expense, and under an obligation to maintain them in the colony until they obtain suf- ficient wages. The emigrant must not exceed twenty-six years of age, must be married, and with no children over two years old. They must have certificates of good character. Each married couple will have a separate berth, and the provisions and other arrangements will be on the best scale ever adopted for labouring emigt ants. It is proposed that the first ship shall sail with one hundred couples on the 10th of next month.
This is a splendid outfit : never before was such considerate care bestowed upon the subjects of emigration. The funds at the disposal of the Commissioners arise from the sale of lands in a colony, where at the present time, there is probably not a human being. The whole amount does not exceed 35,0001.; yet see what these enlightened and energetic Commissioners are effecting with their moderate but well-husbanded means ! Does not this furnish an example and afford encouragement to our rulers to act on a larger scale ? They have al- most unlimited land in the Colonies at their disposal ; the overflowing capital of the Mother Country is clamorous for investment ; and there are hundreds of thousands of famishing peasants in Ireland eager for emigration. The United States derives a revenue of three or four millions sterling a year from the sale of waste lands in America : what a magnificent Emigration Fund has not the British Government within its reach !
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