12
Simultaneously with this general agitation the gold fields were discovered; and to reach Australia. instead of a cause of terror, became the highest object of ambition to every man accustomed to manual labour.
Such were the circumstances under which the Imperial Government abandoned a useless struggle which threatened to unite the whole of the Australian colonies in a common bond against the mother- country, and the Secretary of State announced, in a
Gold Discoveries.
Abolition of Transportation to Van Diemen's Land, 185.
despatch dated the 14th of December, 1852, that Parl. Paper on Convict Discipline, transportation to Van Diemen's Land would cease.
An Order in Council, formally declaring it no longer a place for the reception of convicts, was passed in January 1854. An Act of Parliament was passed on the 20th of August, 1853, substituting, in the case of all offenders liable to be transported for less than fourteen years, the punishment of penal servi- tude for that of transportation.
December 1852.
Penal Servitude Act, 16 & 17 l'ict., c. 99.
Good conduct of the Convicts, and stimulus to the prosperity of the Colony.
13
present time) to serve as guards on the voyage, and as a means of protection in the Colony, and there was also sent a company of 100 Sappers and Miners, both as a military guard and as superintendents and instructors upon the public works carried on by the convicts; but a large part of these last have been recalled owing to the exigencies of the war.
The inhabitants welcomed the arrival of the
convicts with gratitude, and their conduct hitherto has been decidedly good. An entirely new aspect is said to be presented by the Colony. The convicts have been chiefly employed in preparing the buildings and grounds required for their own establishment, but they have also been making new roads and cons- tructing bridges, and they are to labour on some important improvements of the harbour. Upwards of 1,000 ticket-of-leave men are in private service. The following figures exhibit the increase of revenue and trade since convicts began to be received :
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference -
C.O.885
2
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
Western Australia, therefore, being left the only Settlement open for transported offenders, it is time now to revert to the affairs of that Colony. The inhabitants, as already said, asked for the introduc-
tion of convicts. The numbers dispatched as yet Number of Convicts introduced
have been as follows:
384
878
From
Great Britain.
From Ireland.
Total.
1850
384 >
1851
878
1852
1853
600
592
1,192
1854
280*
280
1855
485
485
January 1856
250
250
2,877
592
3,469
With these convicts have been sent out a con- siderable body of military pensioners (482 up to the.
* 160 of these went from Gibraltar.
Pensioner Guards as Settlers.
B
Demand for labour, however, still very limited.
Question of Free Immigration.
Colonial Revenue.
Imports.
Exports.
£
£
1849
1854
9,000
33,600
28,500
128,200
£ 26,100
34,100
Nevertheless it must be admitted that the result of the introduction of convicts has developed the material resources of the Colony less than might have been hoped. No increase has occurred in the number of substantial, wealthy settlers. Had cir-
cumstances remained the same as when the measure was adopted, it might reasonably have been antici- pated that cheap labour, internal improvements, and the prospect which then existed of steam communi- cation with Europe, would have attracted a large supply of immigrants of capital. But the discovery of gold in the other Australian Colonics, almost at the very moment when transportation to Western Australia was beginning, was fatal to the hope of a great influx of free settlers. The whole tide of immigration set to the eastern parts of Australia; and Western Australia has, after all, only mani- fested those signs of progress which the artificial stimulus of the large Government expenditure could not avoid producing.
Hence, doubtless, it is that some difficulty has
E