CO885(1-2) — Page 543

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

whiuluilu.

C.O.

Reference :-

885

2 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO

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places the active, the intelligent, and the healthy, in a better position than the weak, the ignorant, and the sickly.

The first objection will not, I think, apply to the system as proposed, for the tasks will not in any way be left to the discretion of the overseers, but will be arranged, after careful consideration, by the Comptroller and other competent officers, so that nothing need be left to the overseer, except to certify to the amount executed, and as this will admit of actual measurement, no dispute can arise on the subject, which may not easily be settled by the Superintendent, who should be most positively enjoined to mete out the strictest justice in case of any complaint on the part of the convict against the overseer. As to the second objection, it applies to every kind of punishment that can be devised; the same description of labour, which to the convict poacher or labourer is mere amusement, is to the convict forger or pickpocket most severe toil; and while the pick- pocket or the burglar feels no degradation in being thrown into company with two or three hundred vagabonds of the same class as himself, the clergyman, the clerk, and others, who have yielded to temptation, and are expiating their perhaps solitary offence by transportation, feel most acutely the state of degradation to which they are reduced, and their punishment is thus aggravated tenfold,

I should propose to adopt a careful system of classification in the first instance, and then to proportion the task to the powers, physical or moral, of the class, and having done this, each individual of the class will be subjected to the same amount of toil.

I have said nothing on the subject of punishments for the daily petty offences against the rules and regulations under which the convicts must exist, in fact I should not propose to make any alteration in them; it would be desirable to introduce as many secondary punishments as will be effective, and to reserve the lash for those offences of a grave descrip- tion, which require to be met by a punishment short, sharp, and decisive. But there are details which must be considered on the spot.

I have here given a short statement of the modifications which 1 should propose to introduce into the present system, adapted, not to the present circumstances of the colony, but to such a state of things as will take place in a year or two, should the Government propose to keep the island as a depôt for convicts, but on a less extensive scale than heretofore. I will now proceed to consider what immediate steps can be taken to remedy the present evils, to find employment for the pass-holders who are now almost idle, to make their labour when they do work more available for the benefit of the Treasury, and also for that of the colony.

There will be, on 1st January 1847, in round numbers, about 16,000 pass-holders and 6,600 probationers; of the pass-holders 9000 may perhaps be employed, and able to procure their own livelihood, leaving 7000 for whom the Government will have to provide. A certain number of these may be employed in cultivating the ground for the support of the remainder. I should propose to adopt the same system of task-work as far as possible, with these men, as before detailed; and I have very little doubt but that by adopting a proper system of cultivation, and holding out suflicient inducements to the convicts, that a small proportion, cer- tainly not more than one-eighth, will be able to provide food for the whole convict population. I must remark, however, that this cannot be an immediate result, it will probably take two or three years to work out, as proper situations must be selected where the land is capable of yielding a fair return for the labour bestowed upon it. The ground must be cleared and prepared, and a proper rotation of crops adopted. I should also observe, that as it is impossible to procure a return from land which does not receive a proper allowance of manure, and as this cannot be procured without a stock of cattle, it would be very desirable that the Governor should be empowered to purchase a certain amount of stock, and, in fact, to establish the farm or farms upon such a footing as would ensure their proper cultivation; and by so doing, in a short time, the amount of meat required for the convict population" might be provided from these farms without any expense to the Commissariat.

Thus much as regards that portion of the convicts, one-eighth, sup- posed to be employed in agricultural pursuits. Auother portion might be

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employed in clearing ground and fencing it for settlement, the proceeds of the sale of which would be paid into the Commissariat chest for the benefit of the Treasury. The number employed in this way would depend of course upon the demand for land; it would be useless to clear much more than would be sold within a few months of the time it was cleared, and if this work was done by task, for which there would be every facility, a small number of men would be able to clear all that could be required.

There would then be a large number of men still unemployed; and I should propose to find work for them in such undertakings as would be for the benefit of the colony, still keeping up the same system of task- work as before explained. Great complaints have been made in the colony of the operation of the rule by which, when the convict is employed on colonial public works, a charge is imposed upon the Colonial Treasury, equal in amount to that which a private individual would have to pay. The consequence has been, that roads commenced under the old system have never been completed, and that various useful public works have been stopped for want of means of paying for the labour at the rate demanded by the Government: on the other hand the convicts not being able to find employment either from the public, or from individuals, have been thrown back upon the hiring depôts and have been there living in a state of idleness and of vice.

I should therefore wish to see those regulations abrogated which establish a difference between public works executed for the colony, and those performed for the Crown; the Governor should be instructed, of course, to give a preference to those works which return money into the Treasury. But after that he should be at liberty to employ the convicts upon any work of public utility.

With regard to the Probationers, of whom, as I before stated, there will only be about 6,600 on January 1st, 1847, I should propose to adopt with them the system of task-work as before detailed; but as the whole of these men will in the course of about two years emerge from their state of probation, and become pass-holders, I should not wish to see this period curtailed by allowing them extra time, as several of the probation stations will have been vacated by the time I arrive. I should propose in conjunction with the Comptroller, to select those best adapted for the description of labour which the probationers will have to perform; and to employ the gangs by task-work in erecting the necessary buildings for the accommodation of 1000 men: such buildings being constructed with the view of keeping the men strictly separate at night, and indeed at all times, unless when working under the eyes of their overseers.

I should propose also, with the view of checking as much as possible, the indulgence of those unnatural crimes of which such a fearful account has been given, to separate the men in their present dormitories by partitions made of strong bars of wood reaching from floor to ceiling, which, while they would allow of sufficient ventilation for the purpose of health, will effectually prevent any communication between the occupants of contiguous sleeping berths.

The great complaint at present as regards the discipline of the convicts is the absence of efficient superintendence. In Mr. Hampton's statement, forwarded before his departure, he proposed the following establishment for a station of 300 convicts:-

1 Superintendent, at

| Senior Assistant, at

3 Assistants, at each

3 Overseers, at each

3 Sul-Overseers or Constables,

wages not stated, but probably

3. d.

10 0

6 0

4 0

3 6

2 6

total 11, or 1 to every 27 convicts. This number will not appear exor- bitant when it is considered that in the jails of this country, where there is every convenience for carrying out a strict supervision at the least possible expenditure of labour the proportion varies from 1 to 7 ta