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attended the introduction of free labour by Parlia- mentary aid. It was promised that any Colony which would take convicts should receive an equal number of free people of the working class by means of British funds To any of the flourishing Colonies on the other side of Australia, this would have been a great boon, and so also it would have been to Western Australia, had it thriven more rapidly. But as it was, the supply of labour, both free and convict labour being poured in together, soon out- ran the means of employment. The whole number of convicts sent into the Colony has been 3,469, and the number of free people, men, women, and children, sent by public aid, has been 2,310 private emigrants, and 1,476 pensioners and their families, or 3,786 in all But in 1854, no less than 2,4981. was expended in the support of several of the emigrants who had become burthens on the public, unable to earn their own subsistence. The supply, therefore, was intermitted; for evidently it would be absurd to send out strong industrious people, of good character, from this country to the other end of the world, in order afterwards to main- tain them there as able-bodied paupers. It would be unfair to the emigrants themselves, and would do no good to the Colony. As soon as it really wants them, they will be sent, and, in the mean- while, since a long time has elapsed without dispatching either any convicts or emigrants, the Emigration Commissioners have been ordered to send out a small emigrant ship.
The cost of the establishment has been enormous, as will be seen by the following figures :-Parlia- mentary vote in-
>
£
1851
12,000
1852
86,600
1853
65,100
1854
76,765
1855
82,060
£322,525
Of course the first expense is the greatest, as buildings, landing-places, roads-everything which may be called the "plant" of the Department-bas to be provided, but still a grant of more than
Heavy Expenses of the Convict Establishment.
Small number of Convicts for Transportation.
.
Question of the future use of the System of the Western Aus- tralia Establishment.
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320,0001. in five years, for the care and accommo- dation of about 3,000 convicts, must be admitted to be tolerably heavy. And this is irrespective of the charge for transport, which, for such a number of convicts, accompanied by their guards, cannot have been less than 80,000l.
If, indeed, there were a prospect of a very large future transportation from this country, a heavy expense might be well worth while in order to keep open a suitable field. But this leads to the next consideration to be mentioned, viz., the great and unexpected difficulty experienced in obtaining a sufficient supply of convicts of the kind wanted for this Colony, and intended for transporta- tion. They ought to be men who still have a substantial period of their sentence to serve, who are to remain for a certain time in prison and on the public works, instead of having a very early claim to a ticket-of-leave, who are healthy and, if possible, capable of labour at some useful work. This last condition is fulfilled by none, almost, of the prisoners in Ireland, although a better system is in course of introduction; and in England the number of properly qualified prisoners is far short of the demand in the Colony. The Governor of the only remaining convict Settlement is calling for more convicts to execute the necessary public works, whilst the directors of prisons are quite unable to furnish the required number: and if such be the case whilst so many of the old sen- tences must still remain to be worked off, what may be expected when the new punishment of penal servitude comes into full play? The number sen. tenced to transportation in 1854 appears to have been only 400 in the whole of the United Kingdom. The Colonial Department has recently applied to the Home Office for the means of estimating the probable future supply of convicts requiring to be transported, as far as can at present be judged. In the meanwhile, unless some important change of policy respecting transportation be likely to happen within the next year or two, these facts suggest some grave considerations as to the possibility of keeping up the service in Western Australia at so very large a cost for so limited a number of convicts.
1
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
ELEC.O.
885
2 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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