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8. The rule which has hitherto been adopted in reference to convicts sent to this country as to the stages of indulgence is based upon the instruction contained in Lord Stanley's despatch to Sir John Franklin, No. 175, dated November 25, 1842. It is there stated, in regard to the indulgence of a ticket-of-leave, "that no convict is to obtain a ticket-of-leave before half the term of the original sentence shall have expired, and that, in 'the case of persons sentenced for life, that indefinite term shall be counted as 12 years." Such being the rule with regard to the ticket-of-leave, the following rule has been observed in respect to the conditional pardon:-"That no ticket-of-leave holder shall be recom- mended for a conditional pardon until he has held a ticket-of-leave, without offence, for three months, eight months, one year, or two years, according as his original sentence may be for 7, 10, or 15 years, or for life." To these periods must be added one year, as being the average time which must elapse before the receipt of Her Majesty's authority to issue the pardon. Under the operation of this rule, therefore, a convict under sentence of 7 years, must have served 4 years and 9 months; under a 10 years' sentence, 6 years and 8 months; under n 15 years' sentence, 9 years and a half; and under a life sentence, 15 years, before he could receive his final indulgence.

9. In the case of several of the convicts who have been recently sent out to this colony with tickets-of-leave, I have already pointed out to your Lordship in my Despateli, No. 18, dated January 31, 1549, that the amount of punishment which has been inflicted on them can hardly be said to have had any reference to either the length of their sentence or to their conduct since conviction. Some have received the indulgence of a ticket-of- leave after having undergone a detention, either in prison or on board the transport, for a period varying from a maximum of 18 months to a minimum of about eight months, while others have served a much longer period, having been detained at Bermuda or Gibraltar, and the subjection to a system of compulsory labour. There is then another and a large class of convicts who have worked their way through the various stages of probation and indulgence in this colony until they have received their tickets-of-leave. To place these three classes of convicts on an equal footing as ticket-of-leave holders in reference to the next stage of indulgence would, it appears to me, be obviously unfair; and I have therefore decided, pending the receipt of further instructions from your Lordship on the subject, to determine the eligibility of men who may have arrived, or may hereafter arrive, with tickets-of-leave for the final indulgence of a conditional pardon by the rule now in opera- tion which I have already stated, and which has especial reference to the period for which the convict was originally sentenced.

The Right Hon. Earl Grey,

I have, &c.

(Signed) W. DENISON.

Enclosure in No. 1.

&c.

&c.

&c

Enclosure in No. 1.

Convict Department, Comptroller General's Office,

July 2, 1849.

It is hereby notified that, in accordance with instructions from the Right Honourable the Secretary of State, all ticket-of-leave holders, arriving in Van Diemen's Land after the 1st of January last, will be required to repay the sum of 157., as the cost of their convey- ance to the colony, before they will be allowed to receive the further indulgence of a con- ditional pardon; and to enable them to make this payment in a regular and gradual manner, such portions of their earnings as they may from time to time be able to set aside in aid thereof will be received, in sums of not less than 58., at any of the police offices, and carried to their credit in the savings-bank.

2. In pursuance of this regulation, a ticket-of-leave holder, if under a sentence of 7 years, will be required to have paid 71. 108.; if under a sentence of 15 years, 117. 58.; and if under a sentence of life, the whole amount of 157, before he can be recommended for a conditional pardon.

3. It is further notified, that the wives and families of ticket-of-leave holders, of the class above referred to, will be sent out to them, when half the cost of doing so has been paid by themselves, their friends, or their parishes in the United Kingdom

(Signed) J. S. HAMPTON, Comptroller-General.

N.B.-The remaining dispatches on Convict Discipline, proposed to be answered by the drafts now circulated, are in the Parliamentary Proof, herewith, at pages 2, 3, 48, and 68.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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LTC.O-885

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