§ LORD TAUNTON,in presenting petitions from the city of Melbourne and other places in the colony of Victoria, praying for the immediate and permanent abolition of the transportation of convicts to Australia, said, that these petitions, which were more than thirty in number, came from every part of the colony of Victoria, and he believed that never had any petition to their Lordships' House expressed more faithfully the unanimous feeling of the community from which they came. The petitions were couched in the most respectful language, and the petitioners expressed their confidence that their Lordships were always ready to hear and prepared to redress any grievance which afflicted any portion of Her Majesty's subjects. He could state the places from which the petitions came, but as the names were not very familiar to their Lordships, he should gain nothing by taking that course; but he would refer to the petition from Melbourne, as it was one of great moment, as expressing the sentiments of the leading colonists and of the mass of the colonial population. It emanated from a public meeting, and was signed by the mayor and all the municipality, the Bishop of the Church of England, the Roman Catholic Church, the heads of the Presbyterian body, and those of the other religious communities in the colony, the Chief Justice, and other high functionaries. He was happy to find that he was relieved from the necessity of going into the subject at the length which he should have done as Her Majesty's Government had already-adopted in substance the prayer of the petitioners; for he understood from the papers presented to Parliament that the Government had determined that the system of transportation to Western Australia should cease in the comparatively short period of three years. He thought the Government had consulted true dignity and wisdom in taking that course, and the reasons which they assigned were such as well became the Government of England, a country which had possessions in every part of the world. The reason they gave for their resolution to give up the present system was because they found that it was opposed to the unanimous opinion of the colonists themselves. His own belief, however, was, that the system of transportation to Western Australia might possibly have been continued for some time longer, al- 738 though it was viewed with great jealousy by the other colonists, had it not been for the Report of the Commission appointed to consider this question. They reported that it would be not only right to continue the system of transportation to Western Australia, but to extend it. The alarm and apprehension which that Report created in Australia it was quite impossible to overstate, and although the colonists placed confidence in the good intentions of the Legislature of this country, they at the same time expressed their belief that the Report of the Commission had been adopted in ignorance of the feelings and opinions of the colonists. He believed that transportation to a colony was incompatible with the well-being of the free colonists. The petition from Melbourne was signed by 5,000 persons, and it showed a well-founded feeling on the part of the colonists, and of men who were not all likely to lend themselves to mere popular clamour. The public meeting at Melbourne was presided over by the Mayor, and he and the whole of the municipality, together with the Bishop of the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Bishop, the heads of the Presbyterian Church, the members of other Churches, the Chief Justice, and all the other Judges—men of all others the most likely to form a sound opinion upon the subject, and of the effect of the convict system upon a community—signed the petition. The President of the Council and the Speaker of the Assembly also signed the petition. The petitioners alleged, amongst other things, that Western Australia acted as a sort of conduit pipe in bringing convicts into the colony of Victoria, and that there were now 3,000 persons who had been convicts, and who had found their way to the other Australian colonies, and they stated that the effect of this influx of criminal population was to cause an increase of crime and an expenditure of money for police and other charges to the amount of ten times as much in proportion as it did in this country. They stated that not only were ordinary offences committed by these convicts, but that they perpetrated crimes from the mention or thought of which the mind recoiled with horror. He believed in the controversy which had been carried on between the colonists and the Government that upon the whole the colonists had acted as every Englishman would have done if he had been placed in the same position. He thought that the Government had acted 739 wisely in the course which they had adopted, for it must be remembered that not Victoria alone, but the whole of our Australian colonies—with the exception of the small settlement of Western Australia—comprising a million and a half of people, who raised one unanimous voice against having the system of transportation inflicted on them. The Cape of Good Hope and New Zealand in former days had also shown the same repugnance, and he hoped that any of their Lordships who took an interest in the question of criminal punishment would at once dismiss from their minds the anticipation that any colony could be found which would consent to receive our criminal population. Not that there were not places where we might send our criminals to be employed on public works, such as Gibraltar and Bermuda, but we should not find a colony which would consent to receive and absorb our criminals in the hope of making them at any time a useful part of the population. The same causes which had induced the Australian colonies to object to the reception of criminals would also induce other colonies to take the same course. He rejoiced exceedingly at the removal of this cause of difference between the colonies and the mother country. The Australian colonists were as loyal a body of men as could be found in any part of the Empire, they valued highly the connection with the mother country, and he believed that connection might be continued with mutual advantage to both.
§ EARL GRANVILLEMy Lords, I entirely agree with what my noble Friend has stated as to the feelings and conduct of the colonists. But I think the question being now settled, it would be idle and unbecoming in any one—much more in any one connected with the Government—to rake up any of the objections which might, perhaps, at one time have been taken to certain portions of their conduct. I agree, too, with my noble Friend that the strong feeling unanimously expressed by the colonists was founded on some of the highest feelings of human nature. My noble Friend says he regrets the recommendations of the Commission which sat two years ago. That Commission was powerfully composed; it was presided over by Lord Grey, and comprised persons having great legal and judicial knowledge. Their conclusion was arrived at not on selfish views as regards the mother country; but was found- 740 ed on a great deal of evidence as to the desire of Western Australia to receive convicts. But, as my noble Friend has pointed out, facts have come to light since which bear differently on the question of the advantage which transportation would be to Western Australia. With regard to the feelings of the other colonies the Commission took very little evidence. The Government entirely disagreed with the recommendation of the Commission that transportation should be increased; they thought that with certain modifications the same amount of transportation to Western Australia might he continued; but the feeling in the colonies grew stronger and stronger, and the evidence of the different Governors showed how sound and genuine that feeling was. At the same time there came news of the discovery of a fertile tract of country close to Western Australia. There is no doubt that the want of fertile land was the real cause of the want of success of that colony; its iron-bound coast and the poor quality of the soil have been a great disadvantage to the colony. Before the introduction of convict labour it was in a lamentable state, but since then the population and the imports and exports have increased. When this fertile land was discovered it was decided that it would be desirable to exclude convict labour from it, and it was of course impossible to continue a double system in the same colony, admitting convict labour into one part of it and excluding it from another. This being the case, and receiving a unanimous statement from the colonists of their deprecation of what they deemed to be a curse which would be sure to increase as communication became more easy, Her Majesty's Government had not the slightest hesitation in deciding to put an end to transportation altogether. With regard to the particular question my noble Friend has put, the words of the Despatch are given without the slightest double meaning. Three years were specified as the time necessary to make all the required arrangements, the principal of which is the providing additional prison room in this country. Our great wish is to do this as soon as possible, but before it is done Parliament must be consulted in one shape or another. I have no doubt that we shall be able to bring the subject before Parliament either in the way of a vote or otherwise in the course of the present year.
§ LORD CRANWORTHsaid, that in the absence of his noble Friend (Earl Grey) 741 who had presided over the Commission that had been referred to, he wished to explain the reasons which had induced the Commission to come to the almost unanimous recommendation that not only ought transportation to Western Australia to be continued but be extended to the full extent of the capability of the colony to absorb convicts. There was, in fact, no conflict of evidence upon the subject; all the witnesses who came before the Commission agreeing in the opinion that it was essential for the interest of the colony that the system of transportation should be continued and extended. They had no doubt heard a sort of rumour about the other Australian colonies being adverse to it; but they had no evidence as to it; and considering that the distance from Western Australia to Sydney by sea was greater than from Cork to the Coast of North America, and as it was impossible for convicts whose time had expired to cross the country by land, there seemed less chance of their reaching New South Wales than there was of men in similar circumstances reaching New York from England. He thought there would be no second opinion as to this, that for the convict himself, the best punishment which he could undergo was that which enabled him to be absorbed into a society in which he might be able to redeem his character. Evidence had been laid before them which went to show that in Western Australia convict labour was on some grounds preferred to free labour; but, perhaps, in their anxiety to keep the convicts, the witnesses rather exaggerated that point. The Commission, therefore, came to the conclusion that it would be beneficial to this country, beneficial to the colony, and beneficial to the convicts themselves that transportation should be continued. He did not, however, mean to dispute that in the filtered state of circumstances there might be reasons why the recommendations of the Commission ought not to he carried out.
§ LORD REDESDALEthought it would be an advantageous compromise for both countries if ticket-of-leave men were sent out to the colony. It would be better they were there than allowed to roam at large in this country.