Sub-Encl. in No. 1.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference -
TILLC.O.
• 885
Bad, in No. 1,
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opposition which was made to them, and to the terms of the protest (forwarded herewith) which was appended to them by one of the unofficial members, Mr. Leake.
41. An attempt was made by the same members who rejected the estimates in 1848, to throw out those of 1850 in the mass, upon the same grounds as then stated, namely, that a large portion of the money expended in the salaries of officers was, in point of fact, paid for the benefit of the mother country, and should therefore be paid by her. This attempt, however, failed. The estimates were then gone into in detail; the amount proposed for the Colonial Secretary and the Clerk of the Councils, was then objected to upon the same principle. It was allowed that the salaries were not at all too large, when taken in con- nexion with the duties and responsibilities of these officers; but it was said that the Home Government should pay the difference between the present sum estimated and that pro- posed to be substituted for it. These propositions, however, were rejected by the Council, and the estimates carried in the form in which I transmit them to your Lordship.
A resolution was then submitted by one of the unofficial members that, "in conformity with a resolution of Council passed on the 10th October, 1848, it is the opinion of this Council, derived from the best evidence that has yet been obtained on the question of the relative expenditure of the colonial revenue for colonial and convict purposes respectively, that at least a proportion of two-thirds of the annual expenditure of the police, of the gaols, and of the judicial establishments, is incurred for convict purposes, and ought, in justice, to be defrayed by the British Treasury."
When this was put to the vote, one of the unofficial members and all the official members voted against it,-seven of the unofficial members voting for it; the numbers being equal, my vote was sufficient for its rejection.
Mr. Leake then (having voted steadily with the Government, except on the last occa sion) forwarded to me a protest to be appended to the estimates, a copy of which I forward berewith.
In justice to Mr. Leake, I must say that this document is drawn up in a much fairer and more equitable spirit than those claims which have been submitted to your Lordship by the members of Council in their collective capacity; but I need hardly do more than refer your Lordship to my despatch No. 102, dated 4th July, 1849, in which I commented upon the report of the Committee on conviet expenditure, to show that 1 do not coincide with Mr. Leake in the view which he takes.
If I might presume, however, to offer an opinion, I would say, that it would be very desirable that your Lordship in noticing the protest of Mr. Leake should allude to the spirit in which it is drawn up, and give some reasons why it cannot be acceded to.
The Members of the Legislative Council are naturally sensitive on matters in which they consider their official dignity is interested, and often feel hurt that their protests and comments upon the proceedings of the Government, do not receive that amount of notice I should be glad, therefore, at the Colonial Office, to which they consider them entitled. if your Lordship could consistently go into some detail of the reasons which influence you in taking a different view from Mr. Leake on the subject of the claim of the colony on the Home Government.
Enclosure in No. 1.
EXTRACT OF PROTEST by Mr. LEAKE, on the Colonial Estimates in Van Diemen's Land.
THE undersigned, being one of the unofficial Members of Council who annexed a protest, dated 3rd November, 1845, to the Estimates for the year 1849, reclaiming the sum of 11,2207. 17. 1d. as being the amount of the deficiency in the contribution equit ably due from the Home Government towards the expense of supporting the police, gaols, and judicial establishments of the colony, feels himself again called upon, by public duty, to make a similar reclamation in respect of the estimates passed for the ensuing year, 1850, 'to the amount of 9,9297, 14s. 4d.
The circumstances which then induced him not to oppose the passing of the Estimates for 1849, continue to exist in a great degree; and he prefers the present mode of asserting the rights of the colony to that of rejecting the Estimates, and thus causing embar- rassment to the Local Government, to the manifest detriment of the colony, for a consi- derable period.
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The principle, that a proportion of two-thirds of the expense of the police and gaols ought to be defrayed by the British Treasury, having been conceded by the Secretary of State in 1846, and acted upon by the British Parliament by their vote of 24,000/. as the two-thirds part of 36,000 (the "then total expense of police and gaols); what is now reclaimed under this head, is merely the difference of the increased expense of these estab lishments (which now amounts to 40,2782),—this increase arising from the extended operations or other measures of the Home Government.
The expense of the Judicial Establishment, so far as respects the administration of criminal law, being also incurred principally in the trial of convicts, ought in justice to be respectively borne by the Home Government and the colony in equitable proportion: this proportion, as Lord Stanley justly observed with regard to the police and gaols, cannot be determined with rigid exactness; but, from the various returns of criminals tried in the Supreme Court, from resolutions of the Council, and even from the common obser- vation of daily experience of what is passing in our Courts of Supreme Judicature, and in
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our Courts of Quarter Sessions, it is quite evident that the same proportion of expense of criminal justice should be defrayed by the Home Government for the trial of British con- victs as it pays for police and gnals.
It has been objected that, as the British Government has restored the Land Fund to the colony, it ought to be accepted in lieu of any contribution to the expense of the Judicial Department: but the waste lands, though held in Sovereignty by the Crown, are properly a trust for the sole benefit of the colony, and cannot in justice be offered or accepted as an equivalent for a debt due for a large expenditure of money for British
bjects.
(Extract.)
Sub-Enclosure in No. 1.
LETTER from James Stephen, Esq., to C. B. TREVELyan, Esq.
27th November, 1815. "UNDER all circumstances, it appears to Lord Stanley manifestly just that the British Treasury should hereafter provide for a considerable part of the expenses of the gaols and police in Van Diemen's Land. To determine with rigid exactness what proportion of those charges should be so undertaken, appears to his Lordship impossible. But as at least half of the whole population of the island is composed of convicts, either liberated or in actual bondage, and as those in bondage compose at least two-sevenths of the whole colonial population, and as it is to the presence of such persons that the extraordinary charge under this head of the Colonial Service is chiefly to be ascribed. Lord Stanley is of opinion that the British Treasury should not contribute less than two-thirds in aid of the existing expenditure of 36,0007. per annum and upwards.”
(No. 154. Executive.)
MY LORD,
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No. 2.
Van Diemen's Land Government, House,
18th October, 1849. (Received 8th April, 1850.)
I FORWARD herewith to your Lordship the estimate of the revenue and expendi ture of the Land Fund for the forthcoming year. Also a supplementary estimate for addi- tional expenses which have been rendered necessary during the present year, and I will now beg to draw your Lordship's special attention to the various circumstances connected with the collection and expenditure of this amount of revenue.
2. The first document which I would submit for your Lordship's consideration, is one which gives an abstract of the total receipts and expenditure during the year 1849 and 1850, It appears that on the 1st January, 1849, there was in the hands of the Collector of Internal Revenue, or rather in the Commercial Bank of Hobart Town, the sum of 23.9317. 19%. 3d., to the credit of the Land Fund, in addition to a sum of 2,150% which had been lent to the Bridgewater Commissioners upon the security of the tolls of the bridge, making thus a total of 26.0817. 198. 3d.
3. The revenue which will probably be received during the present year is taken at 17,908% 18. 6d. as shewn in Return No. 2. This sum is less than would have been received had not. I, in accordance with the advice of the Executive Council, as reported to your Lordship in my Despatch No. 109, dated 26th July, 1849, allowed the annual amront of rent for the right of pasturage upon Crown land, to be settled in two half- yearly payments, by which a sum of upwards of 5,000, which would otherwise have been received in 1849, will now form part of the revenue of 1850.
4. The charges upon the fund for the present year will amount to 87817, as shown in Return No. 3, the details of which will be alluded to hereafter. A balance therefore of 9126/. 78. 10d. will be added to the total above stated, making thus a sum of 35,208). 78. Id., which will be available at the end of the present year, of which 17,6667. 38. 7d. will be set aside for emigration, or for such other purpose as Her Majesty may please to direct. The remainder, or 17.5481. 38. 6f., as I informed your Lordship in my despatch, No. 137, dated 27th September, 1849, accompanying the Estimates, I shall appropriate to the civil service of the colony, in the manner therein pointed out.
5. The probable revenue for 1850 is taken at 29,7377, and I have no doubt but that this full amount will be realised. Should the investigations which are now making to the westward of the Derwent prove successful, and the quality of the land turn out as good as was at first reported, a large amount will be taken up, and the sum received for licenses to pasture will, instead of 19,000, as taken in the Estimate, approximate more nearly to 22.0007. I have taken, however, the estimate of the Collector of Internal Revenue, as being rather under than over-rated.
6. The expenditure for 1850 is taken, as shown in the appended estimates, at 8601. 38., and there will then be a balance of about 20.0007. from the income of this year, available at the expiration of 1850, of which one-half, or 10,000, as shown in the estimates forwarded in my Despatch, No. 137, is credited to the colony, the remainder being carried to the credit of the fund for emigration.
7. This then is a brief summary of the state of the land revenue.
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