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EMIGRATION OF ORPHAN GIRLS.Mr. TV. MILES then moved, “ That it is expedient that the go-erament, with the consent and assistance of the boards of guardians throughout England and Wales, should take immediate sUps to forward the emigration of orphan girls, inmates of the several workhouses, and capable of entering service, to Australia as apprentices.” It would be unnecessary to detain th- house at anylength on the sabjec', as il iormed but a small, though a most interesting part of the engrossing subject of emigration, and he thought that the sooner it was taken up as a government question the better, inasmuch as the comforts, nay, in some measure, the subsistence of the poorer orders of the community depended on the speedy settlement of the question as to whether emi-gratien was to depend on the sale of crown lands in Australia, or whether the government should advance funds for emigration. [At this stage of the hon. gentleman’s speech a message was brought from the Lords requesting a conference on some bill, the name of which was not head. A number of members were appointed to conduct the conference; they left the house, and on their return Mr. Parker stated that the conference was managed on the part of the Lords by the Earl of Carlisle. The hon. gentleman then proceeded.] Among the best emigrants were small farmers with capital. They had been used to having menial offices performed by domestic servants; but if they took female servants for that purpose, they left them, and the more able the servant was, the more likely was she to leave her master when she arrived in the colony. He wished it to be understood that all the arguments he had to bring forward might be applicable to New South Wales, because no other territory was so willing to find labour for proper persons emigrating. The hoc. gentleman then read from a parliamentary paper, entitled “ Emigration to the Australian Colonies, a number of passages showing the great want of domestic servants in Sydney and Port Phillip. The question now arose was England in a condition to find for the colonies these female servants ? He conceived that it was. Early in the formation of the poor law unions he assisted in the formation of one. It contained a population partly rural and partly urban, of about 60,000 inhabitants, and there were then three workhouses, one for the aged, one for the able-bodied, and one for the children. Oa account of the expens?, there was now only one workhouse. He was astonished to find so many children, and that so large a proportion of them were orphan children. The girls were sent out to menial service, and many of them got such bad situations that they were glad get back into the house again. Up to the age of 15 they were separated from the other inmates. Between 15 and 16 they assisted occasionally in the women’® ward, and at 16 they were classed as able bodied. From the description of the persons in the women’s ward, he was sorry to »ay that the girls were contaminated. After the age of 16 they could go out on giving 24 hours’ notice, and he need not state the sad immorality which frequently occurred in the cases of young orphan girls. There was an objection in the colonies to reaeiving pauper labour, and he thought they were right, but as far as the cases of children went, the case was far different, He knew that Irish pauper emigrants had been found fault with, but he wished the colonies to understand that the training of pauper children, up to a certain time of life, was superior to that of ordinary labouring emigrants. They were taught reading, writing, and arithmetic, and the ordinary domestic duties. The hon. gentleman then read an extract from the report of Mr. Cooper, who was employed by the emigration commissioners to visit certain workhouses, and report whether the children were fit and proper persons for emigration. Sine# the date of that report, other evidence had been obtained from the gentlemen sent out at commissioners to inquire into the state of education in the different work houses. One of these commissioners, Mr. Tufneli, said that the girls in workhouses were much more intelligent than the boys, owing to the want of proper industrial training for the latter. The evidence of Mr, Brown, Mr. Bowyer, and the other commissioners was to the same effect, pro? ing that the industrial training of the girls was well at tended to up to a certain age. A return was made in 1848, by the late lamented president of the Poor Law Board (Mr. C. Buller), in which the workhouse girls were classed under 15 divisions; but this did nos show the number capable of entering service each year. Feeling the want of this information, he had addressed a circular last autumn to 12 unions in his county, from the answers to which he ascertained that there were 217 girls in the workhouses of these unions capable of entering upon service yearly, and that the guardians were willing to assist in promoting their emigration. A subsequent return, made on the motion of the hon. member for Dover (Mr. Rice), showed that the number of these girls, who were fed and educated at great expense, was yearly increasing. The totalnumber of children in workhouses was 56,323, of which 4,579 boys and 3,694 girls were capable of entering service. Of these, 1,578 boys and 1,175 girls were orphans, the only parties to be affected by his motion, it might be advan*' tageous to include those deserted by both parents, where the parishes stood in loco parentis, also the children of widows in and out of the workhouses. From the dispatches of Earl Grey it was clear that noble lord took a great interest in this subject; and it was most desirable that it should be taken, up by the government.Two years ago the noble lord (Ashley) the memberfor Bath, had sought government aid in favour of the emigration of ragged school children, some of whom had sines; been sent out by private subscription; but he was sorry to learn that the experiment had not turned out very well. He now invited the house to loek at the case of pauper children exclusively, who, more than any other, wera entitled to the public sympathy ; and he anticipated no opposition from the government. Looking at the state of the emigration fund, to which the colonvof New South Wales web indebted 120,0001, and which wl rapidly cSg m, he proposed that perishes should provide the outfit of the children, and pay 5f. towards their passage money, the remainder to be defrayed out of the emigration fund. The cost of sending out emigrants last year averaged from Pi t o 13i children being taken at half price ; and looking at. he number. these girls might probably be sent out at 107. per head, of which the parishes would pay half-, and for 1,400 such emigrants, the cost to the colonial emigration fund would only be 7,000i. Having shown the want of domestic servants in the colonies, and the mose of meeting it, he must express his belief that this pi in would be cordially seconded by half the parishes in the* kingdom.
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London Express
London, Middlesex, GB
Wed, May 29, 1850
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