The beginnings of assisted immigration have already been traced. In the opening years of the third period there were two separate systems running side by side, one directed by the Government of New South Wales through its agent in England, and the other worked by private labour agents over whom the Government Immigration agent had no control; this was the “Colonial Bounty” system, under which a bonus was paid for every approved immigrant landed in the colony. At the beginning of 1840 the agent of the New South Wales Government became one of the Commissioners for Land and Emigration appointed by the Colonial Office, ceasing to act specifically for the colony, and almost immediately afterwards emigration under the direct control of the Commissioners, who had become the emigration agents for the colony, was put an end to by the British Government. This step was taken in deference to the views of the colonists. The system of direct selection of emigrants by a Government agent was opposed in the colony, on the ostensible ground that it was more expensive than the bounty system, and that the number of married men with families sent out was unduly large. The real objection was that the immigrants, being of a superior type, were disposed to look for higher wages than the settlers were willing to pay, and the married man with a family was apt to seek to “better himself,” whereas the settlers sought to have men who would remain with them permanently.