Page:The A. B. C. of Colonization.djvu/27

22 that wounds the feelings of womanhood. Shiploads of single females from parishes thrown on the shores of Australia! It is far from being complimentary to the feelings or character of the Australians, and knowing the settlers and the manner of living in that colony so well as I do, I cannot but feel apprehensive that a greater evil may arise from such a system than even the present partial disparity of the sexes in the Colonies.

A system, however, of family colonization does not seem to me to carry the same objectionable character with it. The vast proportion of the single females that would emigrate upon this plan would be the relatives or intimate friends of those families or the relations of those already in the Colonies. It was upon this principle, and actuated by such feelings, that I carried out my matrimonial excursions in the Australian Bush. I at times took a number of single young females with me, in company with emigrant families, but then I allowed no matrimonial engagements to be made on the way, at the same time I took care to place the young women in situations from which they might, with that consideration due to the feeling of woman, enter with propriety and respectability into the matrimonial state. A Port Phillip paper, the Melbourne Daily News of October last, says, "The class of labourers most in request in Australia, are agriculturists, shepherds, miners, blacksmiths, and mechanics of various kinds. We would also observe, that emigration in Australia opens an avenue for the relief of the toiling classes of women. Domestic servants, housekeepers, governesses, dressmakers, shopkeepers, and (let us whisper it) wives are wanted alike in New South Wales, Port Phillip, and South Australia. We know there is a delicacy which hinders female emigration." With respect then to