6
have been made by them of land adjacent, which has very much increased in value since they were settled there. The term of their service, originally for seven years, will begin to expire in 1854, when arrangements will be made to discharge those who
are becoming very ineffective, and to replace them Measures to keep up the force. by other Pensioners enrolled on similar conditions.
Van Diemen's Land.
Similar considerations as regards the necessity for providing a local Military Force, and to relieve the regular troops from being broken into small detach- ments for convict guards, led, in 1849, to an arrangement for performing that duty by means of Pensioners, who thus obtained a free passage for themselves and families to Van Diemen's Land,
Same causes induced the Govern
ment to send Pensioners to Van Diemen's Land in 1849, as Convict Guards.
where the majority of them are settled in cottages, Conditions of the service, with allotments of land, under the obligation of
military service. Others are in public employ, or permitted to exercise their respective trades, on condition of registering their residences, and being ready to assemble under arms when wanted. On this condition there have been landed in the Colony the following numbers:
Men ..
Women Children
Total
522
416
703
1,641
Causes of success in the Colony.
7
No returns have yet been received as to the employment of the remainder, they having only recently arrived; but owing to the demand for labour, no one has a difficulty in obtaining good wages who wishes for employment.
The facility with which this force was raised for service in the adjacent Colony of Victoria, at a very short notice, affords a striking instance of the advan- tage of having such men available in remote Settle- ments, where there is a difficulty in obtaining Advantage from having the Pen- troops. The discovery of the Gold-fields rendered sioners available in the Colony. the presence of an armed force absolutely necessary till troops could arrive from England; but as none could be spared from Van Diemen's Land, or any of the adjacent Colonies, pensioners were engaged for the service at the rate of 2s. 6d. a-day, with an allowance for the support of their wives and families during their absence. The required force was thus enrolled in a few days, and has since been employed
at the expense of the Colony of Victoria.
Convict Guards to Western Aus-
tralia.
Number landed in Van Diemen's
Land-522 men.
These Pensioners have performed the duty of
24 convict guards, in all of which the convicts were 24 Guards sent out.
safely conveyed to the Colony without a single
complaint.
According to the last accounts received from the Colony, the occupations of 350 of these men were
as under:
Holding situations in the public employ In private employ..
67
24
Pensioners in Van Diemen's Land
-how employed.
Settled in their cottages and allotments
113
Fullowing their trades in towns and villages Volunteered into a Police Force for the protection
of the Gold Fields at Victoria
16
130
Total
350
Number sent out.
Conditions of the service.
Western Australia.
The same system of sending out Pensioners as convict guards has been pursued in Western Aus- tralia, to which there have been forwarded, since 1850, the following numbers:
Men
Women
Children
Total
274
209
361
844
These men are generally engaged to do military duty for a year after their arrival, by which arrange- ment there has been no necessity for sending addi- tional troops of the line to that Colony since it has been made a convict station. On the termination of that engagement, the Pensioners are to be settled in cottages and allotments of land in the vicinity of the convict stations, subject to the obligation of serving under arms when called on; and thus a the number of convicts increase, so will the mcat. of protection.
TETTI
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
C.O.
Reference :-
885
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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