Emigration during the last Seventeen Years.—From a return furnished by the Emigration Board, it appears that the number of emigrants from England and Wales, in the seven years from 1825 to 1831, were 103,218, or an average of 14,745 yearly; in the ten years from 1832 to 1841, 429,775, or 42,977 per annum. Total number in the last seventeen years, 532,993; or an average for that period of 31,352. But the rate of emigration has greatly increased of late years, as is shown by the fact, that while the emigration of the seven years ending 1831 averaged only 14,745 per annum, that of the last ten years (ending 1841) averaged nearly 43,000 per annum.

New South Wales.—The monetary and commercial disasters which have afflicted this important colony are most serious, and they are thus alluded to by the colonial press:—"Our next mail to England will carry home the tidings of fresh disasters to this once flourishing colony. The fast growing embarrassments of 1841, and the 600 insolvencies of 1842, have been crowned in the first third of the year 1843, by the explosion of the Bank of Australia, then by the minor explosion of the Sydney Bank, and, last of all, by the run on the Savings Bank. These three latter calamities have come in such rapid succession, that before men's minds recovered from the stunning effect of one shock, they were astounded by the sudden burst of another; and we are convinced that at the present moment there is a deeper despondency and a more harrowing anticipation of ruin to the colony than ever existed before since the landing of Governor Philip, in 1788."—The run upon the Savings Bank at Sydney originated, it is said, from malice against Mr George Miller, the accountant, whose exertions had been very useful in exposing the mismanagement of the Bank of Australasia. Reports were circulated that the Governor had gone suddenly down to the Savings Bank and demanded a sight of all the bills under discount and mortgages, and that his Excellency declared that he would not give three straws for all the securities put together; but this statement regarding his Excellency is flatly contradicted. Many of the largest holders of land and stock in the colony are said to be so irretrievably embarrassed, by reason chiefly of the high prices at which their investments were made, that their property must go to the hammer without reserve. The present time is, therefore, held out as a favourable opportunity for emigrants, with moderate capital, to make their purchases. It is broadly declared that 500l. would go as far now in New South Wales, in the purchase of land and live stock, as would 5,000l. four or five years ago.Australia has been, in some respects, unlucky in its colonization. New South Wales has hitherto flourished from its abundant supply of convict labour, at the expense of those higher interests which constitute the true strength and security of a state. Western Australia was planted with a sound of trumpets and drums, as if another El Dorado were expected. But the sudden disaster and discredit into which it fell, linked the name of Swan River with associations as obnoxious as those which were once inspired by the South Sea or Missisippi. South Australia, again, planned on principles which are universally recognised as containing the elements of sound and successful colonization, has also proved a failure. One of the newest and most enterprising of our Australian settlements, that of Port Philip has been sharing with Sydney in the recent commercial distress and calamity; and though it is already getting over its troubles, it must undergo a painful process before it can lay an unquestioned claim to its title—Australia Felix. Land jobbing; banking facilities at one time freely afforded, and at another suddenly withdrawn; ventures beyond the means of those engaged in them; imprudent speculations, in which useful capital was either rashly risked or hopelessly sunk—these unquestionably have been amongst the causes which have brought on the commercial disasters of New South Wales. It is seldom advantageous for an emigrant, newly arrived, to become a proprietor of land in any part of Australia, unless his capital be considerable; but the eager desire to become possessed of the soil overcame all prudential considerations; land at Port Philip was eagerly bought, at prices varying from 12s. to 500l. In 1840 the influx of moneyed immigrants from England and Van Diemen's Land, to a newly-discovered and extensive territory, produced a land fund exceeding the sum of 300,000l., and engagements were entered into by the colonial Government, on the faith that the land fund would produce annually a large amount, but in 1841 it fell down to 81,000l.; and though in 1842 as much as 343l. 10s. per acre was given for building ground in the town of Brisbane, district of Moreton Bay, it was impossible for this to continue; and even for valuable lands in the neighbourhood of Sydney, in the very same year, wholly inadequate prices were obtained. The colonial Government became embarrassed by the expenditure exceeding the revenue; and in 1842, Sir George Gipps, in an official despatch, says, "Pecuniary distress, I regret to state, still exists to a very great, and even perhaps an increased, degree in the colony, though it at present shows itself more among the settlers (agriculturists or graziers) than the merchants of Sydney. When, however, I consider the vast extent to which persons of the former class are paying interest, at the rate of from 10 to 15 per cent., on borrowed money, I can neither wonder at their embarrassments, nor hope to see an end to them, except by the transfer of a large portion of the property in the colony from the present nominal holders of it to other hands, that is to say, into the hands of their mortgagees or creditors, who, in great part, are resident in England." This official prophecy is now in the act of fulfilment; and when the storm has spent itself, the colony may be prosperous again.

Cape of Good Hope.—The want of Government protection which is felt by the British resident at the Cape of Good Hope is well illustrated by the following extract from a letter addressed by the writer to his family at home:—"I am sure I shall be able to get on well in this country if the Caffres are only prevented from doing mischief, but if they go on in the present way, I shall not be able to keep a horse or an ox, both of which are indispensable to a farmer. Now I can never assure myself that when I let my horses go I shall see them again. It is a disgrace to our Government that we are not protected. As it is, all our profits may be swept away in one night by the marauders."

New Zealand.—We understand a box of specie was placed on board the Thomas Sparkes, in charge of the captain, for Mr Chetham. On the owner opening the box, he discovered to his great surprise that, by some unaccountable process on the voyage, the money—gold, had been turned into one of the baser metals—iron. It is stated that the steward left at Plymouth, and the first and second mates whilst the vessel was detained at the Cape, but whether they had any agency in the transmogrification of gold into iron remains to be proved.—New Zealand Gazette, Feb. 4, 1843.