SYDNEY EXTRACTS.

New Zealand Herald and Auckland Gazette, Volume I, Issue 49, 5 February 1842, Page 3

SYDNEY EXTRACTS.

IMMIGRATION. The following summary has been taken from the return of the sums paid on account of Immigration into New South Wales, from the Ist January, to the 30th November, 1841, which was laid before the Council by His Excellency the Governor on the first day of this last meeting of Council. The total number of immigrants landed during the above period have been 10,724, of these bounties have been paid on 7,333 adults and 2,G6 ; children above one year of age amounting to, 9,509 ; 215 adults and 344 children, amounting to 559 souls, have come out here unassisted, whilst 656 still remain to be paid for. The amount of bounties already paid, added to the gratuities to Surgeons and Quarantine expenses amount to £162,287 11s. 7d. To this is added the arrears of bounties by the ship “ Posthumus,” which arrived here in 1840, but was not paid for till 1841 (£3B), and the salaries of immigration agents and clerks. &r. £lO,lB 4s 4d making a total of sums actually paid that year of £163,343 15s. lid. The probable amount of bounties, gratuities and quarantine expenses, on the 656 immigrants, not yet paid for, is estimated to amount to £13,225 75., making a total of sums expended on Immigration, into Sydney, of £176,569 2s. lid. The numbers of immigrants landed in Port Phillip during the same term has been 5,888; of these 24 adults and 114 children have come out without assistance from the government; 3.264 adults, 844 children, and 711 not particularized, have already had the bounties paid on them, and 833 still remain unpaid for. The amount of bounties, gratuities to surgeons, and incidental expenses, already paid, is £83,725 Bs. 4d., to which is added the arrears of bounties for immigrants per “ Marmion ” and “ Perfect,” £’224, and incidental expenses £63 6d. making a total amount of sums paid, of £84,012 Bs. lOd. The probable amount of bounties and gratuities, not yet paid is estimated at £16,101 35., making a total for Port Phillip of £i00,113 11s. 10d.,t0 which is added the total for Sydnev, making altogether the grand total of £276,680 14s. 9d., expended during the present year on immigration. THE PRESS. The following letter has been addressed to the Editors of the Melbourne papers by His Honor the Superintendent: — “ Melbourne, Nov. 24,1841. “ Gentlemen —Referring to an interview which you had with His Excellency the Governor, when in Melbourne on the 27th October, I take the earliest opportunity of informing you, by His Excellency’s command, that His Excellency has ascertained since his return to Sydney, that the opinions which he then expressed were correct, as far as the following points are concerned : “ 1. That the Act of Council, 8 George IV. No. 2, is in force at the present moment in the whole Colony. “ It was repealed indeed in part by the 11th George IV. No. 1, but the repealing Act being only a temporary one, the parts repealed were revived, and came again into force by the expiration of that Act. “ 2. The Bth of George IV. No. 3 is not, nor has it ever been, in force in New South Wales. “ It was suspended because it had passed the Council without the certificate from the Chief Justice, required by the 29th clause of the 4th George IV. ch. 96, or because the Chief Justice (Sir Francis Forbes) refused to give the certificate required by that clause. “ 3. The 11th George IV. No. 1 having been passed for two years only, is long since expired, and of no force or effect whatever. “4. The 2nd of William IV. No. 1 was a permanent Act, but as the only object of it was to repeal a clause (the 9th) in the above-mentioned temporary Act, it ceased to have any effect when that temporary Act expired. “ These are the only Acts of Council which have ever been passed in New South Wales 1 respecting newspapers, except the 2nd of Victoria, No. 20, which relates only to Port Phillip, and other parts of the Colony remote from Sydney, and was passed solely for the convenience of proprietors or editors residing in that district so situated. “ I am further to observe, that the clauses in the Bth George IV. No. 2, which, require certain affidavits to be made by the proprietors, editors, &c. of newspapers are always enforced in Sydney, it being held to be the duty of the Colonial Secretary to see that these clauses are complied with. “ With respect to the recognizances required by the 16th clause of the Act, the Colonial Secretary has not hitherto considered it to be his duty in I any way to interfere, as they (are to be entered

into the Supreme Court. The penalties, however# which persons expose themselves to, who may print or publish newspapers without entering into these cognizances, are explained in the clause itself, and the way in which those penalties may be sued for, is pointed out in the 22nd or last clause of the Act. “ In conclusion I have the honor to state, that, though the Governor has every reason to believe the statement herein made to be correct, yet as His Excellency has made it without reference to the law officers, it is not to be taken as an official exposition of the law by the Government. “ I have the honor to be, “ Gentlemen, “ Your most obedient servant, ‘‘ C. J. La Trobe.”