received Lord Barnarvon's despatch, the Colonial Secretary, Mr. Gardiner Austin, had remarked that I had given Executive Council more about the prison system and the treatment of criminals, in nine months, than my two predecessors had given them in the preceding years of their Lordship mine.
If Your Lordship will cause an examination of the Minutes of the Executive Council to be made, it will, at least, be seen that during the years 1877 and 1878 those questions were brought by the Governor more frequently before the Executive Council than in any two preceding years in the history of the Colony.
It may, however, be said, in perfect fairness, that the Minutes of the Executive Council are formal documents generally transmitted to Downing Street in simple covering despatches, and that it rarely happens that a Governor, in forwarding the minutes of Council, calls attention to their contents.
Nor can I find that I deviated at any time from this routine system.
On the other hand, I admit that it is the duty of a Governor, in dealing with such serious questions as the principles of a sound penal system and the details of prison discipline, not merely to endeavour to do so with the help of his Council (as I did), but to give the Secretary of State a distinct intimation of...