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"A. Dard gone to Burra Burra Mines with J. Grady. "W. H. Shuter had a place at Adelaide, but by negligence and misbehaviour lost it, and has become a shepherd."

THE EMIGRANTS' STATEMENTS OF THEMSELVES.

We give the following extracts from Emigrants' letters without any effort at selection from the pile that lies before us. We could add many others, but our space will not admit more on the present occasion:

"I am engaged as a shepherd, or to be generally useful. I am to receive £12 per year, and my rations and washing. I am very happy at present, thank God. "WILLIAM SWAIN."

"I am in a good place, have a good master and mistress. My wages is £6 per year, and my washing, and my clothing, and my board. In a little while I will be able to send you home a little to help you. I am well and healthy myself.

66 'JOHN WORMALD."

“I am happy to say that I have got a good place, for my mistress is more like a mother to me than a mistress; there are five children, master and mistress to do for. "MARY ANN HOGAN."

"On the 20th I went to Ipswich, where I have a good situation as gentleman's servant; I have £20 a-year, board, lodging, plenty to eat and drink. Walker has gone up the country as a shepherd, he being one hundred miles from where I am at present. "JOHN RAVENSCROFT."

I am with a very good master. I am now getting my food and. £12 per year. It is a most delightful country, plenty of work, and plenty of everything. I am getting on first-rate. Tell my schoolfellows the best thing they can do is to come here.

"W. CHESTER."

"I write to let you know how I got on at my new home. I am keeping sheep at one of the out-stations for £12 per year, but expect soon to get £15. It is a very nice country for those who like to make their minds happy and comfortable, as very few do except us Bushmen. When I go out with the sheep, I go at sunrise; take a good lump of damper and beef, my jew's harp, pipe, and tinder-box; and go and sit in some mimi, and let my sheep feed out a-head, and there I am as happy as a woodcock. "ALFRED BICKERTON."

wages

"I engaged with a master who cannot read or write to keep his accounts, for at the rate of £24 per year, with board, washing, and lodging. M. Eagan is carrying the hod for 4s. a day. M. Keefe has gone up the Bush as shepherd. T. Dillan is having 30s. per week: and G. Newman is apprenticed to a turner for £10 per year, with board and lodging. Dear father, I have been seven weeks at my place, and like it very well. I cannot send you any money with this letter, but when I do it shall be £5 or £10. "JOHN CONNELL."

"I am hired for a year for £16 and food. I am a shepherd, and have got 2,580 sheep on the plains. We go out at sunrise, and come home at sunset.

"JOSEPH EVANS."

"I am in work at the town of Geelong, that is fifty miles from Melbourne. The country is a fine one. I am very comfortable, and am getting 12s. a week, with board and lodging. I took the first offer that came to me.

"THOMAS SULLIVAN."

"The next morning we entered the Bay of Port Philip, and stood there till the Monday following, when the settlers came on board to hire us. I got myself hired the first day at £5 per year and my victuals. "WILLIAM WIGGETTS."

***

"I am very happy to let you know that I am very comfortable in my situation. I have a very kind mistress and master; they are loved and respected by all their neighbours, and they are very kind to me. Ann Knight has got a very good situation as nurse in Albert Town, and is very comfortable. You would not know her if you were to see her, she has improved so much. "CAROLINE WALKER."

"I should like to see a lot of those young men here that go to your school; they would get work directly they got here. They could go hut-keeping, and get 10s. a week and board and lodging; sheep-herding, 12s., and the same to go into the Bush or labour work. I have got a situation as hut-keeper; I have been in it two months, and like it very well; there are six men with me beside the master; he has got 4,000 sheep and lambs; he has got 400 cattle. I am engaged for six months. "T. FRENCH." "I have got a situation with W. Salter and J. Barnett in the Bush, about one hundred miles up the Campaspie river. We have £16 per year, with all our food, and a hut to live in. "J. M. MARTIN."

"Shortly after our arrival here, a man came on board to see if he could get a person to drive bullocks in dray, the same as they do horses in England. He asked me whether I would come, and I consented, although I knew no more about bullockdriving than what you do, sir, and I dare say that is not a great deal. He said he would give me 88. per week, board, lodging, and washing. Since then I have got 10s. per week. I am as comfortable as any person could wish to be. This is a fine country take it in what sense you please. I would not advise any of the boys coming out here unless they have made up their minds to work, for here there is no bread for idlers. "D. KAIL."

"Me and Charles Phillips hired with Mrs. Scott and son for six months, at the rate of £17. I can't say anything about the other lads, no more than that some of them hired the same time as I did, but for twelve months. I like the country very well, and I have no notion of coming home. I have got a good master, and little more to do than to shepherd a flock of sheep. I mean to stop at this place as long as possible. When the six months were done with they asked me whether I meant to stop; I told them yes, but I should want more wages; so I agreed for three months at the rate of £20 a year. So when that was done I thought I might as well settle myself for a year, as they did not wish to part with me. I get £21 for the year. I am as happy as the days are long. "THOMAS MATTHEWS."

"We went on board of a canal boat to the town of Syracuse; were fortunate enough to fall in with work, the three of us. Freeland is learning the harness-making, as he did not much care about learning the shoemaking over again, as me and Church have to do. We close sixteen or eighteen pairs a day, and six or eight pairs of what we call Wellingtons; so you will see by this that it is of no use coming over here unless you mean to work in downright earnest. Up at half-past four in the morning, begin work at five, and keep on till seven in the evening. Each of us has the same wages, half a dollar a week, our bed, board, and washing, which is a pretty good wage for boys learning a trade. "JOHN SMITH, FRANCIS FREELAND, and W. F. CHURCH."

"I am an in-door apprentice to the carpentering and cabinet-making business, for 5s. the first year, 7s. a week the second week, 10s. a week the third year, and 12s. a week the fourth year, and I get so much an hour after six o'clock in the evening. I am very comfortable in my situation. Thomas Whipham has got a place at a flour mill; he is in town, and I very often see him. David Norton has got a place on a farm. "G. MOXON."

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"I hope you will inform the scholars that I have been bullock-driving since I first landed, and that I soon got into the way of the thing; and that if they intend to come here, they must not frighten themselves with the apprehension of difficulties they may never encounter. Daniel Kail is engaged the same way in another part of the country, and I believe he is doing very well. "GEORGE COLEMAN."

"P.S. It may be satisfactory to ladies and gentlemen to whom this is addressed, to know that the youth, George Coleman, has been in my employ from the time he first landed, and that hitherto he has given satisfaction, and so far as I am able to form an opinion, he appears to be sober, honest, and industrious; and I beg to assure you that I feel proud to be able to give you this satisfactory account of one of your pupils, as I feel a warm interest in the objects of your Society.

"River Torrens."

"PETTY J. MATTHEWS."

Under date July 13th, 1852, the superintendent of one of our principal Refuge Schools says, in reply to a question of ours, that 59 of his boys were sent to Australia, 3 to the United States, 4 to Canada,

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12 placed in the merchant service, making a total of 78, of whom only 11 have not been heard of. Of the remaining 67 only 2 are not doing well, and these are struck off the good list solely because they are occasional drunkards. He then gives us the following extracts from a few of the many letters he has received:

66 Adelaide, May 11th, 1850. "All the young men that came out from the school are learning trades. I am now learning to be a plasterer. The four boys that were sent out with me are all at work minding cattle, getting 4s. and 6s. per week, board and lodging.

"L. B."

"Gawler River, August 1st, 1850. "I found a master, who took me twenty miles into the Bush, where I am happy and doing well. I am very thankful, etc. etc.

"I have plenty of work and am very happy. came out with me were engaged from the ship to

r

"R. C."

Australia, September 30th, 1850. All the boys from the school that go to the Bush, shepherding.

"D. B."

January 13th, 1851.

"Sir, I do not think that there is a boy in Port Philip more happy than I am. Give my humble thanks to the ladies and gentlemen of the Committee, and tell them that I am doing very well. Another thing I have to say; if the lads at home knew how the lads are getting on out here they would not hang about the courts as they do. "C. P." Adelaide, July 7th, 1851. "You will be glad to hear that (eight boys named) are all doing well. I like the colony very well. It has just passed a happy period of its history, the electing its first members of its Legislative Council. May their efforts for good be crowned with success! "W."

ર

' Adelaide, July 7th, 1851.

"I am engaged at a shoemaker's, where I am as comfortable as I can be. I have found out my brother M., he is also doing well, at 6s. per week and board.

"J. W."

"October 7th, 1851.

"I was never more happy than I am now, for by the time you get this I shall have money enough to pay my passage home again, but believe me I shall do no such thing. "C. P."

"February 2nd, 1852.

"I have left the shoemaking and gone to the butchering. I kill the sheep, and make candles, and do gardening, and am as comfortable as can be. And now I must tell you that I hunt the hills night and morning, and fetch the cows, and milk them before breakfast. I am up from sunrise to sunset, and have 5s. per week, board and lodgings. "J. W."

SHALL THE NEEDY AND HELPLESS BE EMIGRANTS OR CONVICTS?

We trust sufficient evidence has been furnished upon the success attending our emigration movement to give satisfaction to our friends who have kindly afforded the means to award the emigration prizes, and to encourage them and others in assisting us to meet the present urgent claims in a similar way.

From July, 1848, to April, 1852, no less than 365 emigrants have been sent from our Schools, and who, by such instrumentality, have been rescued from a life of pauperism and crime. The cost of their education,

board, lodging, and emigration, on an average, did not, we think, exceed £25 each. So that the total cost amounted to £9,125. But what would have been the cost had they been sent out as convicts? In the Fourteenth Report of the Inspector of Prisons for the Northern District, we read that the cost of only building the prisons was from £100 to £150 each prisoner, and in one case £1,200. The Athenæum gives a paper, showing that Pentonville Prison cost £100,000, or at the rate of £500 for each of its prisoners; and that each convict costs, for support, etc., £50 per annum. The superintendent of the Dumfriesshire Police reckons the cost of prosecuting 10 of his prisoners, under 15 years of age, to be £1,000, or £100 each. The late Edward Rushton, Esq., of Liverpool, made a calculation of the cost of prosecution and punishment of a number of juvenile criminals, and found it to be £145. 88. each. The Rev. John Clay, chaplain of Preston House of Correction, estimates similar costs, for prosecutions £50, imprisonment £65, public works £50, transportation, etc., £35, or a total of £200 for prosecuting and punishing each prisoner. A. Thompson, Esq., Chairman of the Aberdeen County Board, said, at the Birmingham Conference, "I have often thought, when I have passed a little ragged urchin in the street, one of the numerous class who are being trained up to a life of crime and misery- My poor little fellow, you are a bill of exchange for £200 or £300, drawn upon the public of Great Britain, and the last farthing you will cause us to pay before your career is ended.'" The Rev. Dr. Guthrie, of Edinburgh, calculates that every reclaimed child is a saving to the country of no less a sum than £300. Mr. Pierce, of Bow-street, confirmed this when he said, "I never see a criminal boy placed at the bar of the police court but I think—'Well, you will cost the country £300 before we have done with you.' From these statements we would not draw any insidious contrasts to elevate our own work and depress the labours of others; but if these figures be correct, it is clearly evident that if our emigrants had been sent out as conviets-and there was every prospect of such a climax-the cost to the English public would have been £109,500; and the cost to the Australian public would have been an imposition of 365 branded convicts, instead of 365 useful and tolerably well-trained emigrants. To send them out as emigrants appears to have cost £9,125, but if as convicts, £109,500, being a clear saving of £100,375. In this calculation we do not include our far less expensive, but no less efficient, plans for providing situations in this country for hundreds of other scholars, nor of the thousands who have been taught Gospel truths, and left to reduce those lessons in the practice of every-day life. From these premises it did, and still does appear to us the imperative duty, as well as a wise policy, both of the Home Government and of the Colonial authorities, to render us some small amount of assistance, if only by way of encouragement to persevere; but although in words they approve our labours, yet in action they discourage them. We must therefore rely solely on the voluntary contributions of philanthropists and Christians for the funds necessary to proceed in the work we have undertaken, and so far carried on successfully. We have before appealed to a sympathising British public in behalf of the outcast, and on no occasion without a generous and kind response. In again doing so, we believe we shall be enabled to meet the wants of those whose cry of distress has just reached us.

DWELLINGS OF THE POOR, MODEL LODGING-HOUSES,

BEER-SHOPS, ETC.

MEN cannot be elevated in masses as rocks were in the early geological states of the world. They must be dealt with as units; and only by the elevation of each individual can the elevation of the whole mass be effectually secured. Above all, the improvement of the masses cannot be accomplished from without; it is not the patronage of the wealthy and the intelligent classes that will ever raise any people from degradation; the action must be mainly from within; men must exert themselves, and help themselves, else they can never be effectually assisted. But the leisure and the wealthy classes can give their aid in this good work-they can point out the most desirable methods of improvement, they can remove all existing obstacles out of the way, they can stimulate the sluggish and indifferent by their advice and example.

The investigations into the condition of the mass of the people, which have been carried on during the last twenty years, have brought to light their actual state. The excuse of ignorance can no longer serve us in denying the manifold evils from which they suffer, or in withholding our active aid when it is wanted. The investigations referred to have been pursued systematically, like a study in natural science; and blue books abound full of details as to the state of paupers, vagrants, criminals, and the entire dangerous classes. There are also numerous reports and books of evidence full of information as to the dwellings of the people, their domestic habits, their providence and improvidence, and their whole social life; all this has been laid bare to us; but for what purpose? Surely not to satisfy a mere idle curiosity? No; this were only to insult the misery of the unfortunate. But it is with a really noble purpose to enable legislators to deal with the causes of social evil, with a view to their removal.

Let, however, the legislature do all it can, and there will still remain a large field for useful philanthropic operations, which no government can occupy. Individual effort must here come into play; men of influence in society, in their respective localities, must set to work "with a will," and endeavour to stimulate all worthy efforts to improve the homes and habits, and advance the moral character and condition of the people. But the depressed classes must themselves be enlisted to engage actively in the work. They must be mainly their own helpers; they must be helped to help themselves; the action must be upon them as individuals by means of teachers, mothers, preachers, and writers. We must act upon the units: this is, indeed, a condition of social progress impossible to be evaded.

Lord Ingestre, the young officer of the Guards-perhaps frowned at by his order because of his sentimentalism-courageously determined to go into the condition-of-the-people question; and he visited in succession the haunts of poverty and vice in the worst parts of London. He gives the result of his visits in the Letters to a Friend, published in a volume, called " Meliora; or, Better Times to Come," and frightful indeed are the scenes which he describes. But his labours speedily assumed a practical form, and the result was the establishment of Model Lodging Houses for the poor, and the formation of a Society for the improvement of the dwellings of the labouring classes. At the same time, he finds that many other philanthropic minds throughout the country, are engaged in the solution of the same great problem,-How the condition of the labouring people is to be improved; and he asks several of them to contribute a paper on some special subject with which they are best acquainted; hence Meliora, certainly a most promising sign of 'Better times to come," as well as a most gratifying proof that better times have already come.

The Rev. Sidney Godolphin Osborne contributes an article on "The Beershop Evil," in which he exhibits the pernicious workings of the public-house in agricultural districts. But this, he also shows, in a great measure springs