PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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Reference :-
NEW SOUTH WALKS
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DESPATCHES RELATIVE TO THE RECEPTION
consider it advisable that convicts should be introduced under any circumstances whatever, I have to inform you that after the ship which is already engaged shall have proceeded to Moreton Bay, it is not intended that any more convicts shall be sent to any part of New South Wales. That ship having been engaged in pur- suance of a course of proceeding adopted with the concurrence of the Legislature, its destination could not now he altered without very serious inconvenience.
5. I have not, however, thought it necessary to advise that, in compliance with the concluding portion of the Address from the Legislative Council, Her Majesty should immediately revoke the Order in Council in which New South Wales 18 named amongst the places to which prisoners who are sentenced to transportation
It
that this step should be taken hereafter, but there may be sent.
may be proper
is nothing to make it of immediate urgency. You are aware that the existence of such an Order by no means implies that convicts are to be sent to each place named in it, but merely renders it legal to send them there if it should be judged advisable to do so. The Transportation Act gives power to send convicts to such places as are appointed for the purpose by the Order in Council, and hence the necessity of an Order naming each colony to which they may be removed; but this Order is purely permissive, and contains no directions for introducing convicts into the places which it enumerates. You will understand that Her Majesty's Govern- ment do not intend to act upon the Order by sending convicts to New South Wales while the opinion of the colonists, us expressed by the Legislature, continues ad- verse to that measure. Though New South Wales was originally established as a penal colony, and therefore its inhabitants would have no right to complain had it been continued as such, the Order in Council which Her Majesty was pleased to make in the year 1840, directing that convicts should no longer be sent there, may fairly be regarded as virtually conveying a pledge to its inhabitants that without their concurrence the practice of so sending them would not again be resumed. Her Majesty's Government have acted strictly on this understanding of what is due to the colony, and will continue to do so; but considering that the judgment of the Legislature (which must be regarded as authorized to declare the sentiments of the inhabitants whom it represents) has from time to time undergone more than one change on the question, and that the opinion of the community upon it has always appeared to be much divided, and still continues to be so, it would seem to be inconvenient (as it is unnecessary for the purpose of practically meeting the pre- sent wishes of the colonists) to revoke that Ørder in Council until it shall clearly appear that after being more fully apprised than it was at the date of the last advices of the measures adopted by Her Majesty's Government to meet its wishes, as previously expressed, the Legislature has deliberately adopted as its final con- clusion a determination that no more convicts ought, under any conditions, to be sent to any part of the colony.
I have, &c.,
GREY.
Sir C. A. FitzRoy,
&e. &c.
(Signed)
OF CONVICTS IN NEW SOUTH WALES.
No. 8.
(No. 137.)
Copy of a DESPATCH from Governor Sir C. A. FITZROY to Earl Grey.
Government House, Sydney,
MY LORD,
(Answered December 11, 1849, No.
June 27, 1849. (Received December 3, 1849.)
+ page .)
I HAVE the honour to transmit the report of the principal Superin- tendent of Convicts of the arrival of the ship "Hashemy," on the 8th instant, with 212 convicts on board, and of their distribution and classification,
2. I am gratified at being enabled to inform your Lordship that this vessel arrived in excellent order, and that the conduct of the convicts during the voyage, and, as is stated, "under trying circumstances," has been exceedingly good, with the exception of only four, who have in consequence been sent to Cockatoo Island on probation before tickets-of-leave are authorized to be issued
to them.
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3. The remainder were permitted to make engagements with persons who were allowed, under an order from the Principal Superintendent, to go on board for that purpose; and, notwithstanding the strong feeling entertained by a great number of persons in the colony against the employment of convict labour, and although there were at that time four emigrant ships in the harbour, having on board about 1,000 souls, 153 of these men immediately obtained respectable engagements, at wages from 121. to 167. per annum; some mechanics at 28/. per annum; and boys at from 8l. to 117. per annum. The 59 not so engaged have been forwarded by the steamers to Moreton Bay and the Clarence River, from whence applications for a considerable number had been received; and the Principal Superintendent states in his Report (to which I would beg to refer your Lordship for further detail), that there are still applications in his office "from private individuals and others, in different "parts of the colony, for a larger number of this class of labourers than can be “supplied by the arrival of several convict ships."
NEW SOUT!! WALES.
No. 8.
25 June, 1849.
14 June, 1:49.
4. I have also the honour to transmit a copy of the suggestions of the Prin- cipal Superintendent of Convicts for the disposal of the prisoners on board the Hashemy," which, under my authority, have been carried into effect, together with a copy of the book of regulations, &c., referred to by the Prin- Printed pamphlet. cipal Superintendent in his Report.
5. I cannot conclude this Despatch without particularly calling your Lord- ship's attention to the merits of the Surgeon Superintendent, Dr. Browning, R.N. This gentleman has made several voyages to this colony in charge of convicts, and has, on every occasion, deserved the approbation of the Govern- ment for his excellent management of them while on the voyage out, both as to their discipline and to their moral and spiritual improvement; and the gratitude evinced towards him by the men he has now brought out is a sufficient proof of the efficacy of the system he has followed.
6. The concluding paragraph of the Principal Superintendent's Report shows that the master of the Hashemy" is also deserving of great praise for
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his kindness towards these men; while the fact of his having permitted some of
them to remain on board, to his own inconvenience, while waiting for their
employers to remove them, speaks well for the generally-orderly conduct of the men during the voyage.
The Right Hon. Earl Grey,
&c. &c. &c.
I have, &c.,
(Signed)
C. A. FITZROY.
885
Encl. 1 in No. 8.
Enclosure 1 in No. 8.
REPORT of the PRINCIPAL SUPERINTENDENT of CONVICTS of the Arrival, Distribution, and Classification of the Convicts by the ship Hashery."
I HAVE the honour to report, for the information of his Excellency the Governor, that the ship
Hashemy" arrived in Port Jackson on the 8th instant, having on board 212 convicts (from the Millbank, Parkhurst, Pentonville, and Wakefield prisons) under the super- intendence of Dr. Browning, R.N.
On the day following, I proceeded on board the vessel and inspected the prisoners, their prison hospital, &c., and was very much pleased with the cleanly and respectable appearance
1 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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