Page:The three colonies of Australia.djvu/167

 emigration, which will secure the young women the protection which they so essentially require on the passage and on their arrival. If protection is extended to the helpless if Britain's moral banner is to be unfurled in the far interior civilisation and religion will advance until the spires of the churches guide the traveller from hamlet to hamlet, and shepherds' huts become the homes of happy, virtuous men and women.*******

"I feel that a judicious circulation of these statements will promote the best interests in the colony. Personal interest in the labour market I have none. I hope to enjoy the proud satisfaction of laying before the British public several thousand proofs of the good character and persevering energy of her Majesty's subjects in New South Wales."

In the following year, 1846, Mrs. Chisholm left the colony with her family for England, charged with the following missions from the humbler classes:—

Firstly, From a number of freed prisoners, who had been promised by the government that if well conducted their wives and children should be sent to join them. This promise had been forgotten. A return made to the Legislative Council showed that these claimants numbered several hundreds.

Secondly, From successful emigrants, who desired to pay the passages of their wives, parents, and other near relatives.

Thirdly, From parents who, to comply with the regulations of the emigration commissioners, had left young children beyond the standard number to the care of poor relatives or the parish.

In the first and last cases, armed with the facts and proofs necessary, without which she never makes a claim, Mrs. Chisholm succeeded. The other formed the foundation of the Family Colonisation Loan Society.

Before Mrs. Chisholm sailed for England a committee, which included eight members of the Legislative Council, magistrates, landholders, and others of all shades of opinion, raised a subscription for a testimonial to that lady, and presented an address, in which they said:—

"We beg to offer you, on the occasion of your departure from this colony, the expression of our thanks for your active and zealous exertions on behalf of the emigrant population during the last seven years. In establishing emigrants' homes, in establishing great numbers of the emigrant population in the interior as servants and occupiers of small farms, your exertions have proved of signal advantage to the community. In the large collection of &apos;statistical facts' and 'voluntary information,' derived from the labouring classes, you have accumulated