10 DESPATCHES RELATIVE TO RECEPTION OF CONVICTS.
NEW SOUTHI WALES.
any
Section 13,
Regulations dated 2nd May, 1846. Art of Council,
3 Wm. IV, No. 3, dated August, 1832,
sec. ly.
Section 20.
Section 34.
Regulations dated 2nd May, 1846.
Act of Parliament, & Vict. cap. 7.
holder of a ticket-of-leave to change bis district; and all applications to him for that pur- pose, or for permission 10 reside beyond the boundaries on passport, must be made through the bench of magistrates of the district in which the ticket-of-leave holder resides, accompanied by a fee of 2s. 6d, and the bench is required to forward such applications, with their remarks thereon, to the Principal Superintendent of Convicts.
The breach of any of these regulations will subject a ticket-of-leave holder to be deprived of his indulgence, and to be returned to the service of Government.
No ticket-of-leave holder for a country district is allowed to be in Sydney without a pass; and any such person found there without authority will have his ticket-of-leave cancelled, and be immediately removed to Cockatoo Island.
A ticket-of-leave holder who forfeits his indulgence, from a breach of the regulations, or any other cause, returns to the position of an ordinary prisoner of the Crown, and forfeits all the privileges which he possessed while holding his ticket-of-leave, and can be called upon to serve a probation of three years, before his indulgence is restored to him.
The holder of a ticket-of-leave is liable to be punished summarily by magistrates in petty sessions, for the following offences, namely, misdemeanors, pilferings, and simple larcenies under 57. Punishment-sentence to irons for six or twelve months. Drunkenness, absconding from district, or when beyond the boundaries from the service for which he holds his passport, or other disorderly or dishonest conduct, the forfeiture of his ticket-of-leave. In addition to this, as an ordinary prisoner of the Crown, he may be punished for neglect of work, disobe- dience of orders, or absconding, by 50 lashes, two moutlis to the tread-mill, or imprisonment with hard labour, or 14 days solitary confinement.
That any convict absconding from district, or the service of his employer, during the sub- the sistence of his sentence of transportation, shall be liable to be tried in a summary way tribunal authorized to take cognizance of such offences, although at the date of his appre- hension his original and additional sentences may have expired by effluxion of time, and ho will be liable to be punished in the same way as if the period of his original terin had not expired.
All sentences to irons, to the roads, to imprisonment, or the treadmill, are cumulative on a prisoner's original sentence, and have to be served in addition 10 such original term: for example, if a prisoner's sentence is 14 years, and he receives a sentence of six months to irons, he will not be free until he has served 14 years and 6 months from the date of original con- viction.
A ticket-of-leave holder is also subject to the provisions of the Masters' and Servants" Act, being Act 9 Vic., No. 27. by which he may be punished by imprisonment, or forfeiture of wages, for absence from his employer's service, for disobedience, or neglect of orders, or other misconduct in service; or if he obtains money in advance from an employer, and fails to enter his service, or fails to perform his agreement in any way; for all these offences he is liable to punishment under the above Act, irrespective of any other punishment, as a prisoner, where the offence is of a criminal nature.
But under this Act a ticket-of-leave holder can also compel his employer to perform his part of the contract, in all respects, as effectually as if he (the prisoner) was a free man.
Any ticket-of-leave holder who has held his indulgence with good conduct for three years, certified to by three magistrates, or persons of respectability known to Government, may apply by petition to the Governor, through the Principal Superintendent of Convicts, for a conditional pardon; this indulgence enables the holder to exercise all the rights of a free subject; and 10 proceed to any part of the world, save Great Britain and Ireland, or if tried out of the United Kingdom, excepting also the place where he was convicted.
By the Act of Parliament, 6 Vic., c. 7, it is provided that a convict holding a ticket-of-leave is allowed to acquire and hold personal property, and to maintain an action or suit for the recovery of any personal property, or for any debt due to him, or for any damage or injury sustained by him; but if he should at any time forfeit his ticket-of-leave, from misconduct, the property acquired by him will become absolutely vested in Her Majesty, and shall be disposed of at the discretion of the Governor of the colony.
Principal Superintendent of Convicts Office, Sydney, April 19, 1849.
ADDENDA.
J. M'LEAN, Principal Superintendent.
with
Every ticket-of-leave holder is required to hold his indulgence for three consecutive years good conduct, and to pay into the hands of the Principal Superintendent of Convicts the sunt of 15, by yearly instalments of 57. each (on account of the expense of his passage to the colony, before a conditional pardon can be issued to him.
Any ticket-of-leave holder who has held his ticket with good conduct for two years (which must be certified by three magistrates or persons of respectability known to Government), and who has paid the sum of 107, on account of his passage money, may apply by petition to the Governor through the Principal Superintendent of Conviets for a conditional pardon, and will be recommended home for that indulgence; but his pardon will not be issued until he has completed three years from the date of his ticket, and has paid into the hands of the Principal Superintendent of Conviets the remaining sum of 57. due for his passage, It being, however, understood that any offence committed by a ticket-of-leave holder after he has been recom- mended to the Secretary of State for a pardon, will render him liable to have that indulgence withheld (on its arrival) for such time as his Excellency the Governor may see fit.
J. M-LEAN.
Office, June 13, 1849
STATE OF HER MAJESTY'S COLONIAL POSSESSIONS.
(No. 93.)
MY LORD,
NEW ZEALAND.
No. 9.
Copy of a DESPATCH from Governor GREY to Ear] GREY.
Government House. Auckland,
July 9, 1849. (Received November 23, 1849)
1
I HAD hoped by the present opportunity to have transmitted to your Lordship the Blue Books for the provinces of New Ulster and New Munster; but that for New Munster not having reached me, I think it better no longer to delay forwarding the Blue Book for New Ulster, together with my Annual Report upon these colonies.
2. In order that this Annual Report may be understood, it is necessary to take the following view of the present state of these colonies:-
3. They are composed at present of what may be termed nine principal European settlements, besides smaller dependencies of these. The largest of the settlements contains about seven thousand (7,000) European inhabitants; and their total European population may be stated at about twenty thousand (20,000) souls. These settlements are scattered over a distance of about eight hundred (800) miles of latitude; they are separated from each other by wide intervals; and cominunication, even for persons on horseback, exists only between three of them. Their inhabitants are chiefly British subjects, but there are amongst them many Americans, French, and Germans. The majority of them have never been trained to the use of arms. The settlers, both in the main colonies and the subordinate dependencies, have occupied the country in so scattered and irregular a manner, that it would be found impos- sible to afford them efficient protection. They are generally without arms, and would probably be deprived of them by the aboriginal population if they pos- sessed them at any remote stations.
4. The wide intervals between these European colonies are occupied by a native race, estimated to consist of one hundred and twenty thousand (120,000) souls, a very large proportion of whom are males, capable of bearing arms. These natives are generally armed with rifles or double-barreled guns; they are skilled in the use of their weapons, and take great care of them; they are addicted to war; have repeatedly, in encounters with our troops, been reported by our own officers to be equal to any European troops; and are such good tacticians that we have never yet succeeded in bringing them to a decisive encounter, they having always availed themselves of the advantage afforded by their wilds and fastnesses. Their armed bodies move without any baggage. and are attended by the women, who carry potatoes on their backs for the warriors, or subsist them by digging fern root, so that they are wholly inde- pendent of supplies, and can move and subsist their forces in countries where our troops cannot live.
5. I should correct here a popular fallacy, which, if ever acted upon, might prove ruinous to these settlements. It has been customary to compare them to the early American colonies, and the natives of this country to the North American Indians. There appears to be no analogy between the irregular manner in which these islands were partially peopled by whalers and persons from all portions of the globe and the pilgrim fathers who founded the early settlements in America. And I have been assured by many excellent and experienced officers, well acquainted with America and this country, that there is, in a military point of view, no analogy at all between the natives of the two countries; the Maories, both in weapons and knowledge of the art of war, a skill in planning and perseverance in carrying out the operations of a lengthened campaign, being infinitely superior to the American Indians. fact, there can be no doubt that they are, for warfare in this country, even better equipped than our own troops.
In
6. These natives, from the positions which they occupy between all the settlements, can choose their own point of attack, and might even so mislead the most wary Government as to their intended operations as to render it extremely difficult to tell at what point they intended to strike a blow. They
33 A
NEW ZEALAND.
No.
Enclosure No, 1.
Blue Book for New Ulster for 1848.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
C.O.
Reference :-
885
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO