Page:The three colonies of Australia.djvu/158

 committee; his character is known in the district. I see no other plan by which you can get a fair supply of servants: if you go on in the old way, you must take what the people of Sydney refuse. Wealthy men can afford to spend their time in Sydney; and before you can hear, in the country, of a ship's arrival in Sydney, the single men, the shepherds you want, will be on their way to J. B.'s or members of council."

The appendix contains answers to a circular from ten magistrates and clergymen, stating that "not one of the girls sent through Mrs. Chisholm's name had lost character as regarded honesty and morality;" and a letter to the "Sydney Immigration Board," with hints not without value, even in 1853.

"The present mode of selecting emigrants must be faulty, as it allows so many bad bargains to creep in. I have heard that this evil is to be remedied by getting the parochial clergy of England to select emigrants for you. The idea amuses me, that you should suppose you can get people to do for you what you ought to do for yourselves." "There are poor rates in the mother country, and to suppose that the clergy and magistrates will send you their best, and keep their worst, is to give them credit for an extraordinary share of kindness." And again, after some comic pictures of pauper hard-bargains, who were "too sick to work, but not sick enough for the hospital," she says—referring to the fall in wages that took place betweeen [sic] the time when the crimps published their glowing placards, and the arrival of the ship in the colony:—

"From the opening of the office I had the confidence of the emigrants. In a short time they requested me to fix the wages they should accept. Disappointed, as many of them were, in their expectaations [sic], they never doubted my endeavours to serve them.

"Feeling the responsibility and confidence, I exerted myself to obtain, as far as was possible, an accurate knowledge of what rate of wages the flockmasters could pay their shepherds.

"I first inquired of the wealthy men whose flocks cover the mountains, and whose cattle crowd the valleys. They agreed on £15 and £16 per annum as the most that could be paid. These gentlemen said they acted on principle, and did not care for the money.

"I then inquired of those respectable, but less wealthy settlers who have one sheep and one cattle station, and live retired at a convenient distance from both. They thought from £18 to £20 a year; the latter doubtful. I went lastly to the third class, who, having two stations,