Sir E. Wilnoot. January 24, 1843,
24
endeavouring to find. The first measure which they adopted with this view was to extend to all the Australian colonies, the operation of con- ditional pardons, which had been previously limited to Van Diemen's Land, in the hope that an immediate outlet would thereby be afforded to a considerable body of those who pressed on the labour market in that colony.
2ndly. They introduced into Parliament a Bill, to remove Van Diemen's Land from the operation of the Land Sales' Act, in order to admit of the employment of pass-holders, for whom no other work could be found, in preparing waste lands for sale; the price of the improvements to be carried to the account of the British Treasury, in reimbursement of the expense of making them. This Bill passed into a law, but has not been brought into operation, its proclamation having been delayed, that the whole of the arrangements for the relief of Van Diemen's Land might take effect simultaneously. And,—
3rdly. They proposed to found a new colony north of the 26° South latitude, to be called North Australia, to afford an asylum to pass-holders and others unable to find employment in Van Diemen's Land, and to be a place of exile for prisoners who had passed through their probationary stage at Pentonville or Parkhurst; thus forming à labour depôt to the other Australian colonies. The Lieutenant-Governor of the new colony, Colonel Barney, has been sent out; but as yet no steps have been taken to dispatch any convicts to North Australia, either from this country or from Van Diemen's Land; nor would the arrangements necessary for their reception be completed before the beginning of the year 1817.
These measures, however, though calculated gradually to case Van Diemen's Land from the burthen of a superabundant male labouring population, congregated in idleness in public establishments, would necessarily be slow in their operation; and in the meantime the pres- sure of the financial difficulties had become so critical as to require immediate and effectual relief. It has been stated that in 1812, the revenue had for the first time fallen short of the expenditure, reducing thereby the balance in hand from 69,5131. 7s. 7d. to 34,267. 138. 3d. The same thing recurred in 1883, and the balance at the end of that It was calculated that in 1844 year was reduced to 2.690/. 2s. 10d.
there would be a deficiency to the extent of 45.275/. 17s. 2d., and in 1845, a further deficiency of 14.479. 5s. 7d., making, in the two years, a deficiency of nearly 60,000. The detailed accounts for those years have not been receiveil, but as it is known that Sir E. Wilmot had up to the end of 1845, borrowed 45,000/. from the Commissariat Chest; that 6,500/. had been advanced by the Treasury to the agent in this country; and that the debt for the labour of convicts on colonial works has not been paid, it is evident that the probable deficiency had not been over estimated.
One of the great sources of expense was the police and gaols, which had been thrown on the colonial revenue in 1834, the land revenue having been at the same time given up, as an equivalent, to the colony. Th whole expense of police and gaols in 1836 was 26,370/.; and at that time the net land revenue carried to the account of the colony was 23.9127. During the succeeding seven years, to the end of 1812, the average net revenue received from the land" fund, exceeded 29,000/.; but, since 1842, the land fund had not only ceased to be an advantage to the colony, but had become a burthen, having been insufficient to defmay even the expenses specially charged upon it. In the meantime the expense of the police and gaols had been gradually increasing, until in January 1815 it amounted to the sum of 36,193!., with a certainty that it had by no means reached its limit.
This state of things naturally attracted a good deal of notice in the colony, where, since the colonists had lost the advantages of the Assign- ment system, they were disposed to criticize with no friendly eye the effects of transportation; and when the colonial revenue began to fail, and the expenditure to increase, the colonists, as a matter of course, remonstrated against an arrangement which imposed on them so large a portion of the expense of an establishment maintained for imperial
25
purposes. Accordingly, as far back as December 1843, a committee of December 5, 1843. five of th principal office inquire into the finances of the colony, they brought this portion of the Government having been appointed to expenditure under the notice of the Lieutenant-Governor as one that required immediate attention. They enumerated as follows the expense entailed on the colony on account of convicts:--
£
Police and mounted police
29,096
Judicial, including gaols
16,436
Probation department
4,372
Rations to objects of charity, and medicine
to pauper invalids
4.000
£53,901
They pointed out the disproportion of these charges to the whole colonial expenditure; they maintained that they ought, to a considerable extent, to be borne by the Home Government, as being the results of an imperial service; and as a guide for their apportionment between the imperial and colonial revenue, they observed that out of a total population
of
The convicts numbered And the emancipists
Making a total of
61,638
23,922 9,872
33,794
191
ཤྲེསཎི།
21
87
or considerably more than one-half-that of 18,310 offences recorded at the police offices during the year 1843, 9,858 had been committed by convicts under coercion; and that of 339 persons committed for trial before the Supreme Court, during the year ending September 1843, 191 were convicts, 21 persons holding conditional pardons, and 87 emanci- pists. This representation produced no effect on the Home Government.
The same arguments were again urged more than once by the Lieu- 999 tenant-Governor, "but without effect, until the month of November last, when Lord Stanley, in consideration of the hopeless embarrassment into which the finances of Van Diemen's Land had fallen; the impossibility of their longer supporting the expenses thrown on them; and the injustice of compelling the colony to pay for the police and gaols, after the fund given them as an equivalent for those expenses had ceased to exist; determined on making a strong remonstrance to the Treasury. That remonstrance was successful; and the Treasury consented for the future to contribute a fixed sum of 24.0007. a-year towards the expense of police and gaols, being about two-thirds of the whole present expense. In consideration of this contribution, the Crown resumes the disposal of the Land Fund.
14
Lord Stanley's letter to the Treasury was dated 26th November, 1845; their acquiescence in his proposition the 2nd February, 1846. Three days after the latter date, on the 5th February, a despatch was received from Sir E. Wilmot, announcing a crisis which, had the matter August 26, 1843. not been previously decided, must have brought it to an issue. It appeared No. 125. that after having submitted the state of the finances of Van Diemen's Land to his Executive Council, Sir E. Wilmot had, with their advice, pro- posed to the Legislative Council two Bills intended to increase the local revenue. These Bills were at once rejected by the unofficial members of Council, the leader of the majority declaring that the members of his *side were not influenced by popular feeling, but by the calm and delibe- “ rate determination to resist the contribution of one shilling more by the people of this colony, so long as the inhabitants are taxed for British purposes; and that, until the Home Government acts with justice to the colony, in paying for the police and gaols, no bill should pass by which any tax was to be levied on the people." Under these circumstances,— seeing the hopelessness of attempting to force his estimates through the House, and the excitement which prevailed in the colony,-Sir E. Wilmot prorogued the Council. They met again in October; but on Sir E. Wil-
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