MR. MILESasked the Under Secretary for the Colonies, whether, in pursuance of a despatch (No. 169) from Sir C. A. Fitzroy, dated Sydney, October 19,1852, upon the subject of immigration, any Act had been passed by the Colonial Legislature of New South Wales to regulate the Indenting of assisted immigrants, and their employment for a certain time after their arrival in the colony.
§ MR. FREDERICK PEELstated, in reply, that, in a recent Session of the Legislative Council of New South Wales, an Act was passed for the purpose of establishing a self-supporting system of immigration, the principle of which was, that emigrants from the mother country were to repay a portion of the cost of their passage, but that in the event of their hot being able to do so they were to enter into the service of employers in the colony, who should pay to Government the expense of their passage, indemnifying themselves by deducting the amount So paid from the wages of the immigrants. That Act, however, had 567 not yet arrived at the Colonial Office, and he consequently could not go into the details of the measure, or state whether it contained a clause for enabling the commissioners to assist the guardians of poor-law unions, or the managers of orphan institutions, in sending children to the colony, on condition that they came under indenture to the immigration agent, to serve an apprenticeship of four years, at certain specified rates of wages.