PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
C.O.
Reference :-
·885
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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fact rather an advantage than a punishment, since for less hard work than they had been used to, they received a far larger supply of the necessaries of life than falls to the lot of a labouring man in this country, and they had the prospect, with good conduct, of ultimate independence and comfort. On the other hand the circumstances, which under the system of Assignment exercised a favourable influence over convicts, seem to have been their dispersion, their being removed from the tempta- tions of great towns, and their being placed in a condition in which, without having any com- mand of
all their reasonable wants were money, well supplied in return for their labour, and they had a prospect of freedom as the reward of good conduct and industry, whilst for misconduct they were liable to summary punishment.
6. In order as far as possible to assimilate the condition of convicts sent out with tickets of leave in these respects with that of assigned servants under the former system, I have to instruct you that the following modifications are to be made in the regulations under which such convicts are now placed. In the first place, the payment of a certain sum of money to the Government by the convict is not to be regarded as optional, and only necessary
in order to establish a claim to a conditional pardon, but is to be required under pain of losing the indul- gence of a ticket of leave. On the other hand, instead of requiring a fixed payment of £15 from all convicts, whatever may be the length of their sentence, the amount to be paid in each case will in future be made to depend upon the length of the sentence of the convict, in such a manner that by paying a sum of £5 a-year for a time proportioned to his original sentence, a convict may liquidate the debt charged against him by the time when, if he has conducted himself well, he may be considered eligible for a conditional pardon. You are aware that by law the services of a convict sentenced to transportation become the property of the Crown, and that the Crown has a right to assign this pro- perty to the Governor of the colony to which the convict is sent. The payment required from con- victs, being in the nature of a deduction from their earnings, in consideration of which the Crown forbears to insist on their gratuitous services, the
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amount demanded from them ought to be propor- tioned to the length of time for which they might be subjected to compulsory and unpaid labour.
7. The following is the amount of debt which upon this principle is to be charged against convicts on their arrival, according to the length of their original sentences :—
7 years' men £7 10 (payable in 1 year.)
15 0 (payable in 3 years.)
10
""
10 () (payable in 2 years.)
15
11
20
"J
Life
25
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20 0 (payable in 4 years.)
0 (payable in 5 years.) You will observe that by this scale of payments the amount to be required from men sentenced for short periods will be considerably reduced, while, on the other hand, those upon whom more severe sen- tences have been passed will be subjected to the payment of larger sums than under the former regu-
lation.
8. With a view to the enforcement of these intended that con- payments, it is further
victs sent out with tickets of leave should not be allowed to pass out of the immediate custody of the Government until they shall have entered into an engagement with some private employer, who shall be responsible for paying to the Govern- ment out of the wages he may agree to give to the servant so engaged by him, a sum of £5 a-ycar. You will find in the accompanying copy of cor- respondence relating to convict discipline, which has lately been laid before both Houses of Parliament by Her Majesty's command, an account of the me. - sures adopted by the Government of New South Wales, in disposing of the convicts sent to that Parliamentary Paper, Jan. 1850, colony during the past year, and you will ob. serve that the regulation which I have now de- scribed to you is taken from the plan which was adopted in that colony, with the addition of making it a necessary condition of a convict's being released from the custody of the Government, that he should enter into such an agreement as that which was made by the Superintendent of Convicts in New South Wales, on behalf of those who were sent to that colony by the "Hashemy" and the "Randolph."
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