1847-1856 bounty immigration to
NSW - regulation of 7 April 1847

WHEREAS by reason of the difference of climate and soil, many commodities producible in this colony, such as wine, oil, silk, &c, are not produced in the United Kingdom, and the skilled labourers requisite for their culture or manufacture cannot in consequence be obtained by the colony from the mother country; and whereas it is deemed expedient to afford to such of the colonists as may desire to employ their land and capital in the production of such commodities as aforesaid, the means of providing themselves with the required labourers from, such foreign countries as can supply them; his Excellency the Governor-General directs it to be notified that, subject to the approval of her Majesty's Government, and under the conditions hereinafter mentioned, there will be granted to settlers who shall be at the charge of bringing into New South Wales, for their own services, emigrants from the continent or Europe, a pecuniary aid or bounty at the following rates: -

(1) - For a married man and his wife, neither of whose ages shall exceed on embarkation fifty years, £36
(2) - For each child, male or female, above the age of fourteen years, for whose parents or either of them the foregoing bounty is allowed £18.
(3) - For each child, male or female, between the age of one and fourteen years, for whose parents, or either of them, the foregoing bounty is allowed £9.

II.   Before any payments are made under this regulation, the immigrants on whose account they are claimed, must present themselves before the Immigration or other Board appointed by the Governor-General to inspect them.
Each married man, and each of his unmarried sons, who shall have reached the age of eighteen years, must produce the Board testimonials of good character, and of their being duly qualified for the particular employments which they have been brought to the colony to fill. These testimonials must be signed by clergymen and respectable inhabitants of note in the place of the Immigrant's former residence, and authenticated by a certificate under the hand of the British Consul residing at or near such place.
Every Individual for whom bounty is claimed must produce a certificate, showing his or her parents Christian names and surnames, and the age of which he or she is known or reputed to be; and this certificate must be also authenticated by the British Consul.
Every individual for whom bounty is claimed must be Indented to the person in whose favour the permission is granted, for a period of not less than two years, in accordance with the provisions of the 5th section of the Act of Council, 10 Vict. No. 42: and the employer of such immigrant so indented shall, on his arrival in the colony, pay to the Colonial Treasurer the amount provided in the schedule hereunto annexed to be paid on account of the passage or every such immigrant, and shall give security to the satisfaction of the Immigration Agent for the due payment within the specified time of the second moiety of such amount, and such Indenture shall provide for the re-payment to the employer, in equal proportions, out of the wages to which every such immigrant shall be entitled during his first two years of service, of the said amounts the payment of which shall have been so advanced or secured by such employer to the Government.
If the Board shall be satisfied with these documents, and that the persons presented before them are within the prescribed ages, of sound mind, of good bodily health and strength, and in all other respects likely to be useful members of their class in society, and that they have been placed under proper medical supervision during the voyage, and that due attention has been paid to the ventilation of the ship, and the moral conduct of the immigrants, and that they have been duly supplied during the voyage with a sufficiency of good and wholesome provisions and water, the latter in the proportion of at least three quarts per day for every emigrant, and with reasonably comfortable accommodation, a Report to that effect will be made by the Immigration Board, and so soon thereafter as it shall be shown by the person bringing out the emigrants, that he has received them into his service, and that he has paid into the hands of the Colonial Treasurer the amount specified in the schedule hereunto annexed, and has given security to the satisfaction of the Agent for Immigration for the due payment of the remainder at the expiration or twelve months from the data of the first payment, a warrant will be Issued for the payment of the sum to which he shall be entitled under this notice.

III.  Any settler desiring to avail himself of the bounties promised by this notice, must transmit to the Colonial Secretary, at Sydney, a list, specifying, as accurately as circumstances will permit, the number, condition, and calling of the persons whom he may propose to bring out. In no case will bounties be allowed, unless the claimant shall have made such application, and shall have received in reply an official intimation that (subject as already stated to the approval of Her Majesty's Government) bounties will be granted on the introduction of the persons described in his list. The document containing this intimation must be produced before the Board by the claimant, who will be required at the same time, to prove to the satisfaction of the Board, that the Immigrants have been imported in pursuance thereof. And in order to guard against the inconvenience of long outstanding claims against the Government, bounties will not be allowed unless the immigrants described in the application shall be presented to the Board within two years after the date of the notification of acceptance by the Colonial Secretary.

IV.   To define the several descriptions of labourers for whom bounties will be allowed under this notice would be impossible, and an attempt to do so would be inconsistent with the object in view, which is to provide the supply or labour requisite for the progressive development or the capabilities or the soil as they may from time to time become further known. It may, however, be stated as a general rule, that the Government will limit the allowance or bounty to such labourers as are requisite for raising articles the produce of the soil, and for bringing them into their simplest marketable shape. In illustration of this principle, the cases of wine and silk may be instanced. In the former, bounties will be given for all descriptions or labourers necessary for the culture of the grape and the manufacture and casking of the wine. In the latter case bounties will be given for the labourers required for the production and preparation of the raw material, but not for its manufacture. Bounties will not be allowed under this notice for persons above the labouring class, such as overseers, nor for any labourers of a description obtainable from the mother country.

V.    The fund available for the purposes of this notice being very limited, it must not be expected that the Government will be able to promise the payment of bounties on every application which it may see no reason to disapprove. In any case, however, in which the Government may be restrained by no other cause than the want or means from giving an immediate assent to an application, such application will be noted in the Colonial Secretary's Office, with a view to tis being entertained in preference to others of a later date, whenever the requisite funds may be at the disposal of the Government.

VI.    It is to be distinctly understood that no Quarantine nor other expenses whatever attendant upon the Introduction of Emigrants under this notice will be defrayed by Government, excepting the Bounties herein before mentioned.

VII.   To prevent misapprehension and disappointment, and to ensure a rigid adherence to the principle of this Regulation it is proper to state that the whole of the conditions thereby imposed will be strictly construed. Parties therefore who may introduce immigrants not qualified by age, calling, character, or otherwise, will do so entirely at their own risk, and will have no claim on the Government to obtain the Bounties offered by the present notice.

By his Excellency's command,
E. DEAS THOMSON.