increase of emigration from this country, as the numbers
who went out to New South Wales in the year
ending April 30, 1849, exceeded the numbers of the
year to April 30, 1852, by 5101 to 4583; and in South
Australia, during the same relative terms, by 6363 to
3822; while the amount of emigration to Victoria (7634)
is greater in the year just past than in any former year,
the nearest approach to it being in 1849, when the
number of emigrants was 6049.

These facts show that the gold is the great attraction,
for, while it is not difficult to obtain ordinary labour in
New South Wales or South Australia, it is not obtainable
in Victoria. It appears by a communication made
to Sir J. Pakington of the date of April 24, 1852, that
there were 30,000 men engaged at the gold diggings in
Victoria alone, 15,000 of that number having been
diverted from their previous occupations in that
province, and probably 5000 from the adjoining colony of
South Australia. The remaining 10,000 is to be
accounted for principally by the emigration from this
country. There are at present, according to the official
returns, no fewer than 117 ships and vessels in the
United Kingdom entered outwards for ports in the
Australian colonies nearest the gold-diggings. Of these
forty-four are loading at the out-ports, and seventy-
three in the port of London. In the latter number
there are for Port Philip, Melbourne, and Geelong
fifty-five, and for Sidney eighteen. These vessels
vary in tonnage from 300 to 1000 tons, and two
or three of a larger amount; all are fitted up for
the conveyance of passengers, and are to sail for
their respective destinations during the present month.
Admitting that on an average each vessel will carry
sixty emigrant adults and children, the total number
would be 7020, or nearly one-third of the emigration to
the Australian colonies, including New Zealand and
Van Diemen's Land, that took place from the United
Kingdom during 1851, the number as stated by her
Majesty's Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners
being 21,532.

The Times gives extracts of a letter from a young
man now at Adelaide to his parents in this country,
which contains some points of information that may be
useful to persons intending to emigrate. The letter is
dated March 1st, and begins by stating that "trade in
Adelaide is at an end, and the town deserted," there
not being more than 100 men at that date in the colony.
Last December the writer joined a party who travelled
on foot overland 500 miles to Mount Alexander to work
at the diggings, but, not liking his companions, he
returned to Adelaide by sea, and was about to start
afresh with more congenial associates. He thus describes
the labours and sufferings he underwent in his gold-
digging excursions:—"I have been ten weeks sleeping
on the ground, without a bed, and for weeks not
undressed. I have gone through swamps up to the middle
in water, traversed burning-hot sands, deserts thirty
miles across—travelled under a scorching sun, nearly
dead with thirst, and for days not able to wash myself,
from want of water. One of our party was killed on
the road, and we had to bury him 200 miles from home."
Again:—"The gold is not to be obtained without hard
work, such as labouring men can hardly endure. Advise
every one who is getting a good living in England to
remain." Thousands, he anticipates, will be
disappointed; and he observes that none are fit for the
diggings who cannot sleep under a tree in the open air,
drink water of all colours, go for a week unwashed and
unshaved, and submit to be overrun with vermin.
"The Californians are coming over. There are about
30,000 diggers at present, all well armed. Hitherto
they have successfully resisted the attempts of government
to overtax them. They have commenced Lynch-
law, and the sooner it gets general the better, to get rid
of the hordes of ruffians who are prowling about. Lynch-
law has no terrors for an honest man." Provisions are
very high: the 4lb. loaf, 1s. 9d.; butter and cheese, 5s.
a pound; and everything else in proportion. The writer,
who hopes to make his fortune at the diggings, expresses
his intention of returning to South Australia to spend
the remainder of his days in that colony, which he has
no doubt will in a year or two become exceedingly
prosperous.

Mrs. Chisholm addressed a large public meeting in
the Parochial School-room, Clapham Common, on the
evening of the 23rd, on the subject of Family Colonization.
The Rev. S. Bower, the Rector, presided.
Before she began her address, it was stated that just
before the opening of the meeting, the chairman had
received a letter warning him from taking the chair,
because Mrs. Chisholm was a Roman Catholic. When
she came forward, she was loudly cheered. She said
this was the first time she had appeared on a public
platform, and she felt diffident in addressing them. It
was a great trial for her to do so, but in great trials they
met with great support, and it was a comfort to her to
feel that if the day of persecution had not gone by,
there were some minds filled with that charity which
God gave to bless. She believed that if she honestly
did what was right the clergy of the Church of England
would help her. She had had sixty families at one time
under her care at Sydney, and anxious that they should
get a fair day's wage for a fair day's work, she had
entreated them not to accept government work at a
lower rate, which would have pauperised them, and she
had gone with them into the interior, and though there
was only one complete set of agricultural implements for
30 families, yet some of these parties were now remitting
£60 each to aid the emigration of their friends, and
there was not one of them that was not now in good
circumstances, and able to give his £5 subscription for
any public object. In commencing her work with
single female emigrants she commenced with two, one a
Roman Catholic and the other a Protestant, and she
kept them till she found them situations, and hundreds
and thousands had been thus provided for. Her being
a Catholic was the one thing brought against her. But
the Bishop of the Church of England in that colony was
a noble-minded man; he did not privately slander, but
his chaplain was directed to write to her, and to put a
few plain questions. These questions were as plainly
answered, and to this day there was a good feeling
between them. After her return to this country, on
examining into the accommodation in emigrant ships, she
found that aged men, and women, and children under
14, all slept in one compartment. She determined upon
arranging what were called enclosed cabins, which
provided for the separation of females. A benevolent
nobleman, hearing of her efforts, said he would raise
a few hundreds to help, but the shipowners, who were
afraid she was going to ruin their trade, called upon him,
and dropped the venom in. They said, "Mrs. Chisholm
is a good kind woman, but people cannot trust her;
she is an agent of the Propaganda." The nobleman
was afraid, and the subscriptions did not come in. She
persevered, however, with regard to the enclosed
cabins. She had sent off ten ships with these arrangements,
and now there was scarcely an emigrant who
did not inquire if there were enclosed cabins. She had
lately had a communication from a large shipowner in
London, who said he would cut out her plan and give
more space. She told him in reply that she would help
him to carry his plan out. There was nothing now
wanting in emigration but that the people should have
confidence in ships, and in the provisions, and that the
clergy of all denominations should come forward and do
their duty to meet the depravity that now prevailed, in
order that emigration might be moralised. Her husband
and herself had been separated now about a year, and
she intended to return to the colony in the spring, and
to devote herself specially to the care of the single
female emigrants. Meanwhile the work was proceeding.
They had received £2000 from her husband; and in a
letter he stated that there were several servants paying
3s. and 4s. a week to maintain their parents with
greater comfort in England. Upwards of 70 aged
parents had been sent for, and a number of wives.
Many young men, also, were sending for the girls they
had left behind them—and when they arrived her
husband always looked up the clergyman and had them
married at once. She had no doubt that this system of
remittances would be effected by bankers, shortly, but
at present, except through this society, there were no
means of remitting small sums with the certainty of
their being applied to the purposes intended. Mrs.
Chisholm then spoke of the hospitality of the country,