Page:Victoria, with a description of its principal cities, Melbourne and Geelong.djvu/226

 WASTE LAND AND IMMIGRATION.

PROSPECTUS OF A COMPANY TO BE CALLED THE SYDNEY LAND AND IMMIGRATION COMPANY.

can be no doubt that in order to obtain a constant influx of population, and particularly of labouring immigrants, a passage to this colony must be found for them. There can be no doubt that the waste lands of the colony (some 760 millions of acres) should be made to furnish the means of paying for the passage of immigrants. All the laws relative to the waste lands being now abrogated, and the disposal of these lands being now entirely in the hands of the Colonial Government, there can be no difficulty in making with the Government such arrangements as are contemplated by the proposed Company. It is considered that the deportation of labourers and others could be much more economically and satisfactorily managed, and carried out to a far greater extent, by private enterprise than by the Government. It is, therefore, proposed to offer to the Government, that for so many acres of land per head, as may be agreed on, say twenty or twenty-five acres, the intended Company would land any number of immigrants, not more than ten or twenty thousand per annum, as might be agreed upon. That, on the part of the Government, no restraint shall be exercised in the selection of emigrants either as to age, sex, or calling, but that there may be an inspection previous to shipment, by an agent of the colony, who in each case shall grant to the Company a separate certificate as to the health and character of each individual. That the Company are not to be paid for the emigrants who may die on the passage, nor yet for any one who cannot be personally presented to the authorities in the colony as having been passed by the colonial agents in Great Britain.