THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE EMPIRE. (From the Spectator.)

New Zealander, Volume 5, Issue 316, 9 June 1849, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE EMPIRE. (From the Spectator.)

(From Spectator.) India is governed in London by a twofold authority —the Comt of Directors and the Board of Control. The Board of Control is a branch of the ordinary Executive Government; but the Court of Direstors is remarkably constituted. A!l persons having any kind of in'erest in Indian affairs may qualify themselves, by the purchase of India Stork, to vote in the election of ihe Directors ; who arp thus obliged to possess some sort of quilificntion to engage the piedilections of the voters. Take the latest example. Mr. Wodehouse Cunie aski the suffragei of ihe proprietors, and seis, forth his claims. He is partner in a wll-knownbmk ing house, and therefore a man personally responsible for promoting the ordei and well-being of the empire. He has made a three-yea*s' tour of India, becoming acquainted with its nctunl condition, its practical wants, and its mode of ; his tour has extended to outlying provinces seldom visited by the European—for Mr. Currie i* the traveller whose informing and animated letters fr^m Rajpno'ana enriched our ptges about a twelve month asjo. 'He has traversed India from Cejlon to the Him<ilayah mountains, Spending months in the society of the natives, speaking their language, aud familiarising himself with their uspges: he has in such mode studied Cachmere, the Punjaub, and Rnjoootana, and finished his education ag a future candidate for governing in the society of officials in India. Helcnows India from top to bottom, geographically, socially, and politically. The«e are the qualifications ou which Mr. Wodehouse Currie relies. It is true that every candidate for election to the Court of Directors cannot holdout qualifications so studiously complete and extended ; but at least every candidate ramt be able to show some reason why the addition of his name to the list of Directori will be advantageous to the government of India and to the interests of persons connected with India. Contrast this with the London government of the Colonies, by a Secretary of State and his clerks. There is no Colonial Council like the Indian Council which the Directors constitute. What voice have the Colonies, or any of them, or any of their connexions, in appointing a single clerk ? What knowledge of the colonies ii required to an appointment ? What candidate for office think* it incumbent on him to traverse the wholo Colonial empire, from Stewatt's Island to the Lake of the Woods, from Hongkong to Demerara ? Most Secretaries for th<? Colonies have visited Paris and Rome ; but it is not necessary that any of the department should have been even to the Cape of Good Hope. A direct connexion with a colony, indeed, is a disqualification for office, because few colonists are " gentlemen," No, you need not know much about the Colonies to share in their government: the great point is, that you should be an opponent of systematic rolon'zation, find a systematic supporter of the AntiColonial Office.

Emigration. — Plymouth, Jan. 22. — The full, rigged ship Pemberton, Captain J. H Richardson, arrived fccre from Liverpool on the 12th instant, for the purpose of embarking Lish girls for Sydney This fine vessel belongs to Mesirs. Lodge and Pritchard, of Liverpool, and registered 1263 tons; her | assenger deck runs flush from stem to stern, with an average height of eiuht feet and a half between derks ; the lardboanl quarter is fitted for a hospital, and the starboard bow is screened off for elevrn Irish married couples, passengers. Double bed places for the girls, measuring six feet long, by three feet four inches broad, are ranged in two tiers all round the sides of the ships, the lower tier being one foot from the deck, so as to admit of free ventilation underneath. Her fitment* include portable swinging fire-places, an extensive cooking apparatus distinct from that of the crew, a life-boat, life buoys, &c. The captain and aft deck officer*, occupy a poop cabin, which has a chief entrance from the main deck and a sub-entranre naar the ship's wheel. The crew are berthed forward on the main deck in a top-gallant forecastle, middle forecastle, and a round-house. liy this desirable arrangement there is a total separation of the accommodation of the crew and the passengers. On Saturday last, the girls were carefully mustered on board the ship in the Sound, by Mr. W. H Foulds, the officer of Her Majesty'i Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners. These orphans were all above twelve and under twenty yean of age, had a fine healthy appearance, and seemed well pleased with their des-ination. They were selected us follows :— From the Poor Law Union at Roscrea, 60; Nenagh, 40; Limerick, 50; Kilrush, 30 ; Liin»kea, 20; Tipperary, 4J; Mallow, 20; South Dublin, 7 ; from the Dublin Royal Hibernian Military Asylum, 24 ; and from the Cork Foundling Hospital, 16; in all 307, under charge of a head matron, one school mistress, and four sub matrons. After they had been mustered and sent below, the crew, consisting of 63 persons, were inspected by Her Majesty's Emigration officer, Lieutenant Carew, R.N., who in addition to some general advice, endeavoured in the most feeling manner to impress upon the minds of the men the propriety of treating the unfortunate orphans with every proper respect during the voyage This officer subsequently examined the ship's provisions, fittings Sec Dr. Sullivan, who hat made eight voyBges to Australia, has chur^e of the passengers ; through his application additional deck lights and ventilations have been fitted to the ship. Thus in every way the bodily aad physical wants of these expatriated girls have been cared for. The mental abilities of those from the unions have received little or no cultivation—scarcely any one can write, and very few can read. To aid them in this deficiency, and to provide suitable emplojment during the long and tedious voyage is the peculiar object of the benevolent ins'itution denominated the Female Emigration Employment Society, which distributes its donations by thehandi of the Rev. T. C. Childs, minister of St. Mary's, Devonport, a gentleman who (with Mr. Allen) received the orphan" on leaving the main deck of the Pemberton, and was soon actively employed in giving them spiritual and moral advice, in kindly ranging them in classes, supplying them with books, and appointing teachers and monitors to instruct them on the passage. The latter were selected mainly from the girls of the Dublin Asylum and the Cork Foundling Hospital, whose education, discipline, and general appearance, reflected credit on the conductors of those humane establishment. There is every reason to hope that the efforts of Mr. (Jhilds will, under Providence, be attended with the njoit luccejsful results,— Times,