Summary

Booklet entitled 'Emigration, its Necessity and Advantages', printed in England by W.C. Featherstone, 1840, and sold by booksellers in Exeter and London. It was priced at one penny. It is likely the booklet was produced by the shipping company Australian Packet Ships, as it promotes New South Wales, including Port Phillip, as the only 'decent' colony for emigration.

The booklet outlines the privations of the working poor of England and states that the solution lies in the emigration of suitable people 'to the healthy and eminently thriving colonies of this great Colonial Empire' which 'possess a genial climate, where labour is in great demand, and where every honest and well-conducted man can not only support his family but greatly improve his and their position'. It extols the virtues of Melbourne 'its site was only marked out three years ago, and already it is a handsome town, numbering more than 3000 inhabitants'. There are 'millions of acres of beautiful undulating thinly timbered land'; and the usual rate of wages for agricultural labourers and farm servants is from 40 to 60 pounds a year, besides a house and rations - ten pounds of beef or mutton, ten pounds of meal, tea, sugar, tobacco and the milk of a cow and other privileges.

The booklet concludes by outlining the prices to be paid for emigration and setting out statistics for sheep farming 'after getting over the initiatory difficulties, the proprietor has little else to do than pocket the profits of his speculation'. The booklet also urges the Poor Law Guardians to consider raising funds to send poor families to the colony.

Physical Description

Small printed booklet of 16 pages, with extensive black text. The front page has an image of Britannia with an anchor of hope. The booklet informs prospective emigrants of weather, occupations and costs of travel to Australia.

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