PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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TLC.O-885
EL STA
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2 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
No. 1.
EXTRACTS of Sir WILLIAM DENION's Despatch to Earl GREY, No. 137, dated Van Diemen's Land, 24th September, 1849.-(Received 22nd February, 1850.)
I HAVE the honour to forward herewith the estimates which were laid before the Legislative Council during the present session, and which having been embodied in Appropriation Acts, have received the necessary legislative sanction.
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7. In my despatch, No. 215, dated 25th October, 1848, explanatory of the estimates therewith transmitted, I pointed out to your Lordship that the Council had guaranteed to replace the sum of 15,0001, which I proposed to borrow from the Land Fund for the purpose of paying off a portion of the debt due to the Commercial Bank, should Her Majesty's Government not sanction the application of the proceeds of this fund to the civil service of the colony. I accordingly, at the beginning of the year, paid to the Com- mercial Bank the sum of 15,000 in liquidation of a portion of this debt, which, by this payment, is reduced to 10,000. As, however, your Lordship in various despatches has notified to me the intention of the Government to sanction the appropriation of a portion of the Land Fund to the service of the colony, and as it was in no way desirable to leave a large sum to accumulate in the hands of a private banker, I have thought it advisable to adopt the system sanctioned by the Australian Land Sales' Act, and have appropriated one half of the net balance of the Land Fund to the service of the colony, leaving the other half available for emigration or such other objects as Her Majesty may please to approve. The half of the net balance of the Land Fund at the expiration of 1849 is expected to amount to 17,5957. and this sum is, as stated in my Finance Minute, credited to the civil service of the colony.
8. In this manner I have been able to pay off at once the amount of debt before- mentioned, and I hope in the course of the forthcoming year to reduce still more the sum remaining due to the Commercial Bank. I trust, therefore, that your Lordship will sanction the employment I have made of the fund in question.
With regard to the items composing the supplementary estimate, with the exceptions of those under the head "miscellaneous," which includes the repayment of debts of different kinds, it is hardly necessary for me to do more than to refer your Lordship to the Finance Minute, in which clear explanations are given of the reasons which induced me to insert the different items. It is true, that owing to the deficiency in the revenue of 1848, there will still be an outstanding balance at the end of the present year, but as I have every reason to expect that there will be a saving upon several items in the estimate of this year, I am in hopes that this balance will not amount to anything near the sum at which I have put it, but that, on the contrary, I may expect to commence the year 1850 with but a trifling deficiency,
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33. The total charge under the head of police and gaols for 1850 amounts to 40,4087. 148. 11d., while the estimate for the present year is 40,7517. 5s. 7d., there is therefore a diminished charge under this head, to the extent of 3427. 10s. 8d. There are a few additions to the strength of the constabulary, but the decrease is owing to the with- drawal by the police magistrate, of the sum of 600 usually taken to cover the expense of employing extra constables on an emergency. I am happy to say that these emergencies seldom or never occur; that the police is well organized, and competent to perform its duties, and that I believe the present strength will be sufficient to enable the chief police magistrate (to whom the credit of the organization of the present effective police is justly due), to meet all the exigencies of the service.
31. With regard to the gaols, I hope shortly to be able to propose an arrangement which will both be more economical than the present, and, at the same time, more effective. Your Lordship will observe that at present there are no less than eight gaois, with all the staff of gaolers, javelin men, &c., but these gaols are all so badly arranged, as to render any efficient system of secondary punishment altogether impracticable. By reducing the number to three, and by carrying out in these three, proper arrangements for the discipline and coercion of the innates, we might hope to establish a system which would be sufficient for the wants of the community for many years to come: some expenses would of course be incurred in building, &c., but this must soon be done whether the present number of gaols is maintained or not. The eventual saving will not Amount to much, but the benefit which will be derived by the maintenance of a proper
■ystem of discipline in the prisons will be very great.
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40. I have now gone over the estimates in detail for the purpose of enabling your Lordship to form a judgment of the correctness of the principle upon which they have been framed, and it only remains now that I should allude briefly to the character of the