Government Immigration Scheme
Australia 1858

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©Jenny Fawcett - Genseek

The following example of an immigration scheme,involving UK residents, to encourage emigration into Victoria, or to assist with the reunion of families,
This artice was taken from the Belfast Banner,April 1858,
[Port Fairy,Victoria,Australia,]
It is an example of one of the many schemes that where made available to encourage emigration to the fledgling colony of Port Phillip,Australia, which is now the State of Victoria,

Immigration Remittances

NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC

His Excellency the Governer in Council has been pleased to direct,that from the first day of April next,ensuing,the Immigration Remittance Regulations of 1st August 1856, and all alterations subsequently promulgated up to the present date, shall be cancelled,together with all rules made in pursuance of these regulations,and that in lieu thereof the following Revised Regulations be adopted and published for the information of persons desirous of securing passages for their relatives and friends from the United Kingdom to Victoria.
by his Excellency's Command
Henry Miller

___________________________________________________________________

Regulations:

Persons wishing to bring their relatives and friends from the United Kingdom to Victoria can secure passages for them in vessels charted by Her Majesty's Government, on the following conditions.-

1.The persons eligible for passages under these regulations are agricultural laborers of every kind,domestic servants, railway laborers,mechanics,and artisians ,and their wives,children and near relatives.They must be in sound health,free from all bodily or mental defects, of good moral character,sober,industrious and accustomed to work for wages,at the occupation specified in the application forms.

2.The names,ages,relationship,married or single state,occupation and address of the persons for whom passages are requested,must be furnished by the applicant according to the accompanying forms.

3.The applicant will then be informed of the amount to be paid to secure the passages,and upon payment of this sum,he will receive a certificate which he will forward to his friends by post.

4.Applicants will be required to pay the amounts set forth in the accompanying scale as their proportion of the cost of the passage, the remainder being defrayed by her majest's Government.

Married Persons or Couple:

____males under 40yo - £12
__________above 40yo - £18 [the full cost of the passage]
___females under 40yo -£ 9
__________above 40yo - £18
___children_____________£18
___single females__above 16__and under 30__£3
___________________above 30__and under 40___£7
___________________above 40__£18
__single men___________£18
Children under 15 years of age cannot be accepted unless accompanied by some suitable person who will take charge of them during the voyage.

6.No single males above 16 years of age will be allowed passages in vessels which may be devoted for the conveyance of single females unless, such males form a portion of a family on board.

7.No Payment will be required by Her Majesty's Colonial land and Emigration Commissioners from the persons nominated under these regulations, but they will have to defray their own expenses to the port of embarkation, and to show that they possess an outfit for the voyage in accordance with the regulations of the Commisioners, of a copy if adjoined.

8.It will be advisable,therefore, that the applicant should deposit a sum of five pounds in addition to those mentioned in the above scale, or such amount as may be deemed sufficient or convenient.This amount will be paid through the Commissioners to the person nominated,in the United Kingdom.

9.Persons resident in Victoria,therefore,desirous of availing themselves of the advantages of these regulations should apply at the following offices;-
Melbourne - by the Immigration Agents
Geelong - By the Assistant Immigration Agents
Portland - ditto
Warrnambool - ditto
Port Albert - ditto
Castlemaine - by the "Receivers and Paymasters" where application forms [a] and almost every information will be furnished and the deposit received.
Sandhurst ditto
Ballaarat - ditto
Maryborough - ditto
Beechworth - ditto
Ararat - ditto
Creswick - ditto
Pleasant Creek - ditto
Raglan, - ditto
Amherst - ditto
Dunolly - ditto
Maldon - ditto
Heathcote - ditto
Avoca - ditto
Yackandandah - ditto
Buckland - ditto
Blackwood - ditto
Rushworth - ditto
Form A should then be filled in by the applicant,signed by him, and left with the officer.he will then be informed of the amount required to be paid,and of the outfit [form c] So soon as the amount mentioned shall be paid to the Assistant Immigration Agent, or Receiver and Paymaster [as the case may be] the money,or a Treasury receipt for it, is to be sent to the Immigration Agent Melbourne,with the application forms [marked C] and a statement of the sums paid for passages and outfit.The Immigration Agent will then transmit a certificate for the persons nominated either to the office at which the mone was paid, or to such address as the applicant may request.This certificate must be sent by the applicant to his friends in the United Kingdom.

10.Persons residing at a distance from any of the places not mentioned in the list appended to clause 9,may be supplied with the application form [A] at the nearest Post Office,which,after having been duly filled up and signed,should be transmitted to the Immigration Agent in Melbourne by whom every information will be furnished.The Amount required can be sent to the Imigration Agent in Melbourne by cheque or order on a Bank or Mercantile house,or by bank notes in a registered letter.Upon receipt of this remittance, the usual certificate [if approved] for the passage of his friends will be forwarded to the depositor to be transmitted by post to their address in the United Kingdom.

11.The Deposits recceived should be paid into the Treasurer daily,the Immigration Agent will furnish a return to the Honorable the Commissioner of Trade and Customs monthly,in sufficient time for transmission by the mail of the succeeding month to the Commisioners in England.

12. Should the persons nominated decline or be unable to emigrate the money paid towards their passages will be refunded to the depositor in this colony,wether upon return of the certificate originally granted ,or a notification being received from the Commissioners in London that such refund may be made,the money to be repaid will,however, by subject to a deduction of ten per cent to cover expenses incurred by the Goernment on behalf of the applicant. ALl applications for sums to be refunded should be addressed direct to the Immigration Agent Melbourne.

13.Should the applicant wilfully misrepresent particulars respecting the persons nominated,the deposits made towards the passages will be liable to forfeiture.

14.Persons resident in Victoria desirous of introducing female domestic servants,through the agency of their friends in the United Kingdom,will be allowed to do so upon depositing with the Immigration Agent in Melbourne, an amount in accodance with the scale set forth in the 4th clause of the regulations.
A certificate to will then be issued to that effect,which should be transmitted to the person by whom the servant is to be selected.Upon engagement of such servant the certificate should be presented to the Commissioners in London, who will grant a passage to such persons in one of the vessels charted by them on behalf of the Government of Victora.