Parliamentary
Papers of 1845. P. 54.
January 8, 1945. ibid. p. 64.
Ibid. p. 66.
Ibid. p. ti9.
22
holders. To find employment, therefore, for the large number of convicts on the hands of the Government, Sir E. Wilmot projected works for irri- gating a part of the colony; and also undertook certain works at Hobart Town and Launceston, and proceeded to open up a part of the country which was as yet unsettled.
24,824 4,307
29,191
8,300 Female 2,233
Paas-holders-Male
Total
In service men
Ditto women Married women
Unemployed-Men
14
10,545
5,604
790
2,706
Women 743
3,449
In January 1845. the Third Half-yearly Report of the Comptroller- General was sent home. From this report, it appeared that during the year 1844, 5009 convicts had arrived in the colony; and that conse- quently, the convict population had increased to 21,824 men and 4,367 women; that of these, 8,310 men and 2,235 women were pass-holders, of whom 5,604 men and 790 women were in private service, and 702 women married; but that the number of pass-holders unable to obtain employment had again increased to 2,076 men and 753 women; and that while the number to emerge from the gangs during 702 7,006 the year 1815 would be 6,179, the average number required for private service was only 7000. Not- withstanding these drawbacks, the Comptroller- General, in reporting on the effects of the system, observed-"I am happy to be able to state that "the first stage of probation fully answers its object. Punishment and "instruction go together; yet is the latter not allowed to interfere with "the former; and I hope that at least 90 per cent. of the convicts will emerge from this stage into that of pass-holders able to read, and a larger proportion of them to write also;" and he added, the return showing the conduct of pass-holders, is satisfactory, notwithstanding the disappointment a large number of them experience in not being "able to emerge from Government into private service.
In private "service the conduct of the pass-holders is much better than was that of convicts under the system of assignment; but the congregation of the pass-holders in masses unable to procure employment in private “service, undoubtedly prevents the new system developing itself as favour- ably as I have every reason to believe it would do under a different state of things." He concluded his report by stafing, that "notwith- standing the difficulties experienced in this particular part of the system, I have no hesitation in saying that, as a whole, it is vastly superior to any that has preceded it; and, had the colony continued in a prosperous "state, I feel convinced it would have worked well throughout; pro- vided always that there had been an outlet afforded to keep down too great a supply of convict labour." The only point in which he suggested a difficulty, was the immediate removal of the
gangs and pass- holders to unsettled districts, to be employed in raising their own food, &c., according to Lord Stanley's instructions of August 1844. With reference to this part of the subject, he observed, “Eventually the whole ** of the convicts will be removed from the settled districts; but this must, "as I have said before, be a work of time, for the preparation of "huts and barracks for so large a body of men, especially when the proper great objects of discipline, instruction, and reformation have to be con- sidered, is no slight task; with which important objects the Separate system is closely connected; and unless this part of the general plan is "carried out, it is impossible, in my opinion, to work convicts in large gangs in unsettled districts, without the greatest fear of demorali- "zation;—indeed I feel it to be a paramount duty to lay before Lord Stanley, that the Separate system, to a certain extent, is one of neces- "sity; and that it is a matter of very great difficulty, not insurmount- “able, certainly, but requiring great attention and time, to carry out successfully a system of discipline and reformation, concurrently with “field labour, in large gangs of men hutted." The total number of acres at this time in cultivation by the convicts was 538.
41
+
+
23
By the end of June 1845, the number of con- victs had slightly decreased, the whole number being 24,513 men and 4,356 women; of these 5,134 men and 1444 women held tickets of leave; 9,477 men and 2,049 women held probation passes, of whom 6,6-42 men and 1606 women were in service, and 2,835 men and 443 women unable to obtain
24,613
4,356
——28,869
5,134 tickets of leave-Men.
44 ditto
--6,678
Women.
2,049 9,477 pass-kulders-Men. dillo 11,520
Women.
employment. The Comptroller-General reported 1,008
6,642 in service-Men.
ditto --8,249
Women.
2,835 uuemployed-Men,
443 ditto
-3,278
Women.
that arrangements were in progress to carry out the instructions of August 1844, as to the manner of employing the convicts; that in the course of the summer all the convicts in the first stage of probation, would be so em- ployed; but that it would not be advisable to move the unemployed pass- holders to the unsettled districts, as such an arrangement would reduce them to a state no better than the convicts in gangs, and would disap- point the reasonable expectations which they had been led to form. The estimated value of the agricultural produce raised during the season amounted to 3,5107. 2s. 8d.
23,133
4,816
20,949
5,430 tickets of leave-Men. 1,806
ditto -7,236
Women.
On the 23rd January, 1846, Sir E. Wilmot transmitted Mr. Forster's last report. It had been drawn up by Mr. Forster previous to his illness, but had not been signed at the time of his death. From the returns which accom- panied it, it appears that the convicts had again slightly increased to 25,133 men and 4,816 women: that of these, 5,430 men and 1806 women held tickets of leave, and 11,824 men and 2,066 women probation passes; that of the latter no less than 3,268 men and 211 women were unable to obtain employment, while 1328 men and 322 women were under sentence; making a total of 4,596 male and 563 female pass-holders, who, instead of being able, 3,268 unemployed-Men. as had been expected to maintain themselves, were on the hands of the Government. The number of acres in cultivation had increased to 1112 in the season of 1845-6; and it was expected that they would amount in the season of 1846-7 to 2,022. The number of convicts to come out of the proba- tion
+4
*
46
11,824 pam-holders-Men.
2,066 ditto
13,890
211
litto
-3,509
1,328
322
--1,650
Women.
Women.
under sentence, Men
ditto Women
5,159 Total supported by
Government.
gangs in 1816, was 3,852 men and 479 women, It was natural that, under such circumstances, the means of dispos ing of this superfluity of labour should be a matter of great anxiety, both to Sir E. Wilmot and the Comptroller-General. They had ceased to repeat the anticipations of success which at first they so confidently expressed; and Mr. Forster now gave his opinion of the ill effects of the existing state of affairs, in the following terms: It is my duty again to "state that the condition of pass-holders at Hiring depóts, is little better than what it was when they were in probation gangs; and that so long as the present state of things lasts, the value of the discipline and instruction afforded to the convicts in the probation gangs, cannot be 'fairly tested. The evil of large bodies of pass-holders being congre- gated at depots, although no part of the system originally promulgated by Her Majesty's Government, has, from the force of circumstances, become not only a component part of it, but a serious detriment to its "moral success. The only practical suggestions, however, which Mr. Forster offered, were, an extension of the period during which convicts should be detained in the first stage of probation; and the grant of some additional indulgencés to pass-holders who, through no fault of their own. should lapse into the Government service. The first was a mere temporary expedient but little calculated to make head against an evil, which was evidently inherent in the system. The second, though a palliative, was entirely insufficient to reconcile the pass-holders to the disappointment of the expectations which they had been led by the Government to entertain. It is evident that neither afforded any solution of the diff- culties with which the system began to be surrounded, from the mis calculation as to the powers of the colony to employ convict labour.
44
That solution Her Majesty's Government had for some time been
Cominons' Paper,
No. 36 of 1846. p. 41
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