PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
• 885
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rate of wages below the ordinary rate, such ticket-of-leave men and pass-holders as were unable to obtain employment (but not conditional- pardon-holders, who have the power of quitting the island) on such works of general utility as promise a fair remuneration, but which could not be undertaken by private enterprise. Such would be the construc- tion of reservoirs, the formation of main lines of road, &c.
5th. I think it deserves consideration whether sanction should not be given to a plan for the formation of settlements, divided into small allotments, on which some of the best-conducted ticket-of-leave men should be allowed to settle, paying a rent to the Government. The formation of the settlements might be the work of gangs of convicts, and they might be handed over in a state fit for immediate occupation.
6th. Although the subject is one of minor importance, yet with a view to increase the means of employment, I entertain a strong opinion that many of the articles of clothing and others required by the convict service, should be manufactured by themselves (and many especially by the women) of as good a quality and as economically as they are now supplied from ordnance stores; and even if the nominal cost were some- what enhanced (which I doubt), still there would be economy by getting some return, instead of little or none, for the maintenance of large bodies of convicts.
I am aware that the measures which I suggest for the consideration of my colleagues may cause some increase of the already large convict estimate; though I am by no means sure that it may not be ultimately counterbalanced by the increased proceeds of convict-labour on land and on various small manufactures; but it is absolutely necessary that some steps should be taken for the relief of the colonists from burthens which they can no longer bear. I have carefully examined the expenditure of the colony, and cannot suggest any further reduc- tions; and whatever may have been the case at one time, it is un- deniable that the pecuniary burthen of the convict population, apart from the moral taint, is much greater now than any benefit derived Some measures are also to the free settler from their presence. necessary on account of the convicts themselves. While the annual amount actually transported exceeds 4000 a-year, it would be idle to think of abandoning transportation, and adding this mass to our already over-crowded jails. The formation of a new penal settlement would be attended, wherever formed, with enormous expense, and, if attempted as a purely penal colony, would reproduce in a very short time all the evils complained of in Van Diemen's Land. I have given great attention to this subject, and have anxiously considered the means of escape from our present difficulties; and I see no mode so hopeful, both as to the relief of this country, and the reformation of a portion at least of the offenders, as an adherence to the present system in the main,
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by which Van Diemen's Land is constituted a great reformatory prison, with successive stages of discipline, and with an easy egress at the close of the period, to colonies sufficiently near and sufficiently extensive to absorb the annual overflow. But to the success of the system it is essential that employment should be found for all during their imprison- ment in all its stages; and that, as the prisoner passes by good conduct through each, he should feel a progressive improvement in his condition and physical conforts. This can only be done, in my view, by the capital of Government, and by giving every practicable encouragement to the investment of private capital in the colony, especially in land, which must furnish the chief means of employment.
I am unwilling to lengthen this paper by any reference to details of management, on which I am in expectation of receiving detailed reports, especially, with regard to the penal establishment at Port Arthur, and that for boys at Point Puer. These require very serious attention, though I am happy to say that my latest accounts are much more favourable.
But there is one point to which I think it necessary to advert, in reference to the moral condition of the convict population. I have already said, that till the present Government came into office little or nothing had been done towards their religious instruction; and even at the present moment, although some provision is made for them in the probation gangs, (the severest stage, and that least advantageously cir- cumstanced for instruction, except inasmuch as the prisoners are more collected together,) yet as soon as they quit these gangs, which in the case of a seven years' convict is at the end of a year, no farther care is taken of them, although still under the surveillance and control of Government. It has been pressed on me by the Bishop, and I think with force, that this is exactly the stage in which instruction and advice and kindness would be most likely to be gratefully received, and to be beneficial. The parochial clergy, paid by the colony, are few in number, and have ample occupation; and it has been suggested that if the colony were divided into districts, in each of which there should be one or more clergymen stationed, whose main object should be to attend to the convicts resident within their districts, and who should receive a small annual sum for each Protestant convict registered within such district, great and lasting good might be effected at a comparatively small cost. The total expenditure on this account could not exceed 30001. a-year.
I earnestly request the attention of my colleagues to the moral. political, and financial considerations which arise out of the above state- ment. I think it very desirable, if possible, to avoid a committee of the House of Commons on a subject of such a nature; and I am, therefore, anxious that the Government should be prepared, on its own respon-
2 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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