361 



said Mr. Ellis " the future progress of India, speak- 

 ing not of particular portions of the country, but, 

 of the Empire generally, ran a serious risk of being 

 interrupted and delayed, by the want of a suffici- 

 ent population. This deficiency of labor was likely 

 to retard an object in which His Lordship's prede- 

 cessor in the Government of this country, and the 

 English public generally, had shown so great an 

 interest, the reclaiming of the vast tracts of jungle 

 and waste land, and the application to the soil of 

 English capital under the superintendence of 

 English settlers. When he reflected upon the vast 

 extent of Railways still remaining incomplete; the 

 tramways, feeders, and roads required to bring the 

 great lines of Railway into profitable operation ; and 

 the vast works of irrigation which were being under- 

 taken with the object of fertilizing and enriching 

 the country when they knew that all these great 

 enterprizes were not looming in the distance, but 

 were already in progress he (Mr. Ellis) confessed 

 that he thought they should view any increase in 

 the number of emigrants, and any measures which, 

 like the present Bill, have a tendency to encourage 

 emigration, as matters of regret, and as a serious evil. 

 "The laws relating to emigration would, he did 

 not doubt, be found very sufficient in countries 

 where the people were more civilized and self-reliant 

 than they were in India; but he did not believe 

 that the law, in its present state, was sufficient to 



Z 7 



