Colonial Despatches

The Colonial Land and Emigration Commission was established in 1840. A board of commissioners was appointed to manage the sales of Crown lands in British colonies and regulate emigration from the UK to the colonies. The commissioners had the power to use the proceeds from land sales to defray the expense of emigration. They corresponded with colonial governors indirectly through the Colonial Secretary (head of the Colonial Office). They also supervised the emigration officers stationed in British colonies. The first board rented a private house for their office space on Park Street, Westminster, London.1

It became Emigration Commission in 1856 after the imperial government had granted the rights of administering Crown lands to the colonial governments.2 In 1878, the Commission was replaced with Emigration Department set up in the Colonial Office.3

• 1. Fred H. Hitchins, The Colonial Land and Emigration Commission, (Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1931), 42-45, 59, 159.
• 2. Ibid., 310.
• 3. Ibid., 94.