§ MR. HUMEsaid, he had that day received from Tasmania a Copy of Resolutions passed by the Legislature of Van Diemen's Land, which he thought of very great importance, looking to the contentment and satisfaction of the colony. The Resolutions stated that the colonists had from 1844 to 1851 been constantly petitioning the Government to discontinue the transportation of convicts, and that the population comprised 70,000 persons, and 20,000 of them were convicts, the expense of maintaining whom was taken from funds that ought to be devoted to improvements 1318 in the Colony. The colonists wished to be entrusted with the management of their own affairs, and asked that no more convicts should be sent out, and that the expense of the convict establishment should be borne by the mother country. He wished, therefore, to know if the Government had received any intimation of the Resolutions to which he had referred, and to express his hope that they would take steps to remove the causes of complaint which they stated?
§ The CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER, in the absence of his right hon. Friend the Colonial Secretary, said, he believed that the Resolutions in question had been received by the Government, and that he had no doubt they would meet with the attention they deserved.