The Syndey Monitor, 18 Dec 1833, page 2s.
FEMALE EMIGRANTS, BY THE LAYTON. The Layton brings out
306 Girls and Women, varying in age
from twelve to forty. The great bulk of them are from twenty to thirty years of age. All
unmarried. There are a good many matronly looking females of genteel manners, who seem to
be capable of taking charge as Housekeepers, and to act in the capacity of Governesses.
They speak well of the Captain, but indifferently of the pro- visions. They are
all much
distressed to hear of the conduct & fate, of former importations, and at present there is
much
weeping on board. The find themselves dreadfully disappointed, as the have been
already told, that comfortable situations are scarce, and but very moderately paid. They
say, they are quite willing to go up the country, if they can get respectable places. They
have a good character on board, except a few; and appear to be equal in respectability
and morals, to those who arrived by the
Palambam.
Fortunately, a great many have relatives
or friends in the colony, and a great many more have brought letters to respectable
people. The are from various parts of England, but are not farming women, probably,
chiefly from the seaport towns; but some come from the inland towns. We augur better of
this importation than any who have yet arrived; and we have little doubt, that ere a month
elapse, there will be no just cause for tears.
This
Government is niggardly of the public money, in all cases of great utility. It is
liberal only in giving superfluous salaries and pensions. If it had any just notions of
policy, true economy, and a real regard for the morals and happiness of the Settlers, it
would
not allow this valuable arrival to dawdle their their time away in Sydney,
to be
tempted by our immoral vagabounds, both gentle and sim-ple, to concubinage and
prostitution, but would turn out of
the Lumber Yard, at the end of a week, all those who
refused to go to those towns and districts in our interior, where our Commissariat is
established. They should be conveyed there, with orders to the Commissaries and
storekeepers, to furnish them all, indiscriminately, for one month with rations. This
would make honest women of the whole of them, and wives of three fourths of them, in less
than three months.
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