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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

C.O.

Reference :-

885

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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labour; that the reformed men to be sent out were very different from those who used to be transported; that the payments obtained from them, as above stated, would go towards free emigration; that for encouraging the same object, the Treasury would relinquish its claim to the land revenue; and finally, that whenever half the estimated expense of send- ing out the wives and families of convicts were con- tributed by the convicts or from any other private source, they would be sent to the colony at the public charge.

In conclusion, Lord Grey observed that these were the measures which appeared best to the Government in their present state of knowledge; but that they were far from supposing that upon this difficult subject, after so many attempts to contrive effectual methods of punishment, and so many disappointments, they were likely to have yet succeeded in devising a system which would not still require many improvements.

Such were the instructions issued in April 1848, and, subject to some alterations of detail, which have since been made and to others which have been urged by the Governor and are still under dis- cussion, they may be said to constitute the basis of the system which continues to be pursued in Vau Diemen's Land.

But before tracing the further correspondence with that colony, it will be convenient here to pause, in order briefly to notice the proceedings which occurred in regard to introducing convicts into other places.

Endeavours to open new fields for the reception of Conpicts.

Van Diemen's Land, it cannot be denied, had suffered much from having become suddenly the ole receptacle for all offenders transported from the United Kingdom. The total number of male cou- victs who arrived in the five years ending 1840 was was 7,942, the number in the five years ending 1845 was 17,637. Every place for their reception was overcrowded; the officers were inadequate for their superintendence or control; the settlers had no demand for their labour, and the men accu-

mulated on the hands of the Government.

At the same time, the reformatory effects of the new prison discipline at home appeared evident. The

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journals of the Surgeons Superintendent on the out- ward voyage showed how tractable the prisoners had become. Reports of a similar character were re- ceived from the officers in charge at Bermuda and Gibraltar.

In this state of things, the natural expedient appeared to be to endeavour to ascertain if several colonies might not be induced to accept a small share of convicts. The very same number of men

who in a single island would outrun the means of employment, and exercise a bad moral influence, dispersed among several colonies, might profitably recruit their industry without hearing a sufficient proportion to the whole population to lower the moral standard. Accordingly, the whole course of the measures adopted by the Government in the latter part of 1848 and in 1849, may be said to have aimed at the object of gaining a wider field for the dispersion of convicts.

Lord Grey addressed a circular on the 7th of August, 1848, to the Governors of several colonies, communicating the favourable accounts received of convicts who had undergone due preliminary punish- ment and training, and making inquiries as to the practicability of introducing some into those colonies with advantage. This circular was sent to New South Wales, the Cape, Western Australia, New Zealand, and, with some modifications, to Ceylon and Mauritius.

The cases of the three first colonies will require to be stated rather more fully than the others. In New Zealand the interests of the native race, and the danger of collision with it, were urged as an obstacle (to which Lord Grey deferred) to the adoption of the plan. At Ceylon it appeared that there was a want of demand for skilled labour, and the climate was deemed a sufficient objection. So

it was by the Governor and Council of Mauritius, when coupled with the differences of language and race in that island, and also the facilities for obtain- ing ardent spirits.

NEW SOUTH WALES.

In New South Wales it may reasonably be assumed that there must have been a division of parties on this question, and that one and the other