The Press.
London, England, 1857-02-14 00:00:00

SECONDARY PUNISHMENTS AND TICKETS OF LEAVE..

Sir G. GREY moved for leave to bring in a bill to
amend the act 10 and 17 Vic., c. 99, entitled "An
act to substitute in certain cases other punishment
in lieu of transportation." The Home Secretary
shortly stated the reasons for the change introduced
by the act,—namely, the cessation of a demand in
the colonies for convict labour, and the general and
strong feeling of the colonists against the reception
of criminals,—the main provisions of the act, and
the system, including tickets of leave, under which,
those provisions were carried out. He then pro-
ceeded to show what had been the effects of the act..
of 1853, so far as appeared from the number of:
sentences of' transportation and penal servitude'
passed at different periods, the number of licences.
granted on the ground of good conduct, and those,.
revoked for misconduct or forfeited by recouviction-
In the three years before 1853, the average annuall
number of transports was 2,049; in the three years
after 1853, it was '2OB, while the average number of
prisoners sentenced to penal servitude was 2,102,
these two numbers making together 2,400. Adding
the sentences of transportation since the passing of
the act to the sentences substituted for transporta-
tion since the act, the number of sentences was 249
loss in the three years since 1853, than the number
of sentences to transportation in the three years
before the act was passed. Having given corre-
sponding figures for Scotland and for Ireland, the
right hon. baronet remarked that the effect of the•
act had been a vast decrease in the punishment of.
transportation ; but there had been a large increase•
of sentences of penal servitude. In Great Britain,.
since 1853, the annual average had been 2,300,.
nearly three-fourths of which were sentences of four
years' penal servitude, in substitution of the previous.
seven years' transportation ; and simultaneously
there had been an augmentation in the character of
crime. In 1853, there were in Great Britain 9,850
convicts under sentence of transportation, which
sentence could not be carried out. Out of these
9,850 convicts, 1,050 were actually transported.
There had since been discharged on licence, up to
the date of the last return, 7,002 : about 1,200 were
now employed at Bermuda and Gibraltar, and the.
number of convicts under sentence of transporta-
tion, and who would receive tickets of leave in the
next few years, did not exceed 500. Sir George
declared his belief that the alarm excited by the.
liberation of convicts under tickets of leave, although,
' to a certain extent well founded, had been greatly
exaggerated. Looking at the general state of crime
• in the last two years, he found that, while there was+
a small fractional increase in the summary comics-
lions, the committals for trial had decreased from
25,922 in 1855 to 19,433 in 185 n, or about 25 per
cent., notwithstanding the disbanding of the militia.
This state of things did not, he thought, ustity the
great alarm prevalent in the country. Sir George
then adverted to the reports of the committees of
both houses which sat last session, which concurred

FEBRUARY 14, 1857.

in recommending a continuance of transportation, as
far as practicable. To carry this proposal into effect
without a breach of the engagements entered into
with the colonies, which the Government had not
the remotest intention to violate, was, however, the
great difficulty. Western Australia was at present
the only colony which would receive convicts. Its
capabilities were said to be great, and the colonists
bad been represented to be desirous of convict
labourers. After full consideration, the Government
had determined to propose to give effect to the re-
commendation of the committee of the House of
Commons, and to select Western Australia for the
reception of our convicts. Sir George Grey then
explained the changes which he proposed to intro-
duce in the present bill :—First, to lengthen the
term of sentences of penal servitude to an equal
duration with that of the periods of transportation
for which they were substituted; secondly, giving
judges a discretionary power to pass sentences of
intermediate severity between those of ordinary im-
prisonment and the minimum of transportation;
thirdly, allowing prisoners sentenced to penal servi-
tude to be removed to certain colonies, a power
which, he observed, would be exercised with great
&caution, but might, lie considered, enable the Go-
weinment to serve the colonies, and especially West
Australia, and to benefit the convicts who might be
!selected for removal to another sphere ; fourthly, he
proposed to continuo the practice of mitigating sen-
tences as a reward for good conduct in prison, but to
restrict the range of their remission within much
narrower limits than were now observed, while ren-
dering the discharges, generally speaking, uncon-
ditional. A few minor points were touched upon by
Sir George, one of which related to the hulk system,
which was, he said, in process of abandonment.
Sir J. P.tKLNGTON thought that with respect to any
discussion on the general proposals of Sir G. Grey it
'world be better to wait until the bill was before the
&ease. The question involved two points—first,
avbat was to be the state of the law as to secondary
ipaqishments ; second, the manner in which the law
was Co be administered and carried out. An impres-
sion existed that there had been an indiscreet exer-
cise of the prerogative of mercy by the advisers of the
Crown, which he believed was exaggerated, but not
without foundation ; and that the punishment under
sentences of penal servitude was not made suffi-
ciently penal. Sir John then referred to a case in
point :
Some months ago a very respectable woman, who lived
in his neighbourhood, and whose son had been sentenced
in January, P.M, to four years' penal servitude, called upon
him ( Sir J. Pakington) and placed in his hands several
letters which she had received from her son, and which
showed that he expected to be released in the approaching
spring if some respectable gentleman would give a testi.
monial in his favour. Writing from Preston Gaol, in
which he was subjected to separate confinement, he said
that lie was quite well, and was better than he had been for
years, that he had as much good warm food as he liked and
a good bed to lie on ; that he had no taskwork to do, and
that he did just as much as lie liked ; that he had nice
clean walks to walk upon, and that, in short, he was enjoy-
ing life as much as any man could possibly desire. And
this, be it remembered, was the most severell penal part of
his sentence. [Sir G. GREY.—" No part of these sin-
tences is undergone in the prison at, Preston. There must
be some error. Perhaps it is all a myth."] He begged
the right bun. gentleman's pardon. The whose of the
fifteen letters which had been placed in his hands were
written upon the printed forms of the gaol. [Sir G. GREY
admitted that he was mistaken when he interrupted the
right hon. baronet.' The writer of those letters said that
the chaplain of the gaol had Old him that if he would only
desire his friends to endeaviur to obtain a testimonial in
his (the prisoner's) favour, he might be released in the
course of this year. In March, 18.56, the priioner was re-
moved from Preston Gaol to Portland, and. he wrote a
letter to his mother in September last, in which he stated that
he was well and happy ; that he had plenty cf food, and was
getting stout ; that he had been placed in the shoemakers'
shop, in which there were thirty men, and that they had the
privilege of conversing with each other. Now, as the right
hon. Ii tronet had undertaken the revision of the system of
secondary punishments, and there was to be no outlet in
the colonies fur our criminals as heretofore, it was surely
ot• the utmost importance that the public should be dig.
tinctly inform td that the penal sentences passed in lieu of
those of transportation should be rigidly enforced.
In conclusion, Sir J. Pakington thought the in•
ference which the public would draw from the com-
parison between the crime of 1855 and 1850 was
that there had been a decrease to the extent stated
by Sir G. Grey in the graver crimes. This would not
be correct, for by a change in the law during the in-
terval a large class of offences, formerly left fur trial,
were now dealt with summarily.
Mr. COLLIEE contended that with respect to our
worst criminals it would be far better to imprison
them for life at home than to incur the expense of
imprisoning them abroad. The next class might be
dealt with as proposed by the Government, either by
transportation or penal servitude at home.
Sir J. RAMSDEN doubted whether the advantages
attending transportation, as a secondary punishment
and as a reformatory process, were not overrated,
though it was difficalt to exaggerate its importance A

THE PRESS.

to the mother country. The proposals of the Go-
vernment, he thought, deserved the approbation of
the house, but he hoped their attention would he
directed to a change in the condition and treatment
of prisoners. •
Mr. ADDERLEY cordially concurred with everything
that had fallen from Sir G. Grey, suggesting, how-
ever, whether it would not be better to abolish alto.
gether the ticket-of-leave provision, the few ad-
vantages attending which were overbalanced by its
evils.

Mr. LABOUCHEEE observed that, although it might
ho doubted whether transportation had in all cases a
deterring effect, there was no question that, as a
means of disposing of a part of our criminal popula-
tion, for home purposes, it was a most valuable
secondary punishment. He would not say that
besides Western Australia other places might not be
fitted to receive convicts; but he objected to Van-
couver's Island, the Gulf of Carpentaria, and the
Falkland Islands, on the ground that the first was
too close to California, the second. within 000 miles
of the Moreton Bay sheep stations, and to the third
one fatal objection existed, that whenever the local
Government ceased to employ convict labour, work
for the convicts would not be found upon the islands.
Western Australia posttessed many advantages as a
colony where the labour of convicts could be em•
ployed ; at the same time he should not be justified,
he said, in holding out an expectation that it would
be available, except to a certain extent and for a
certain time, the measure requiring the utmost
caution and the most judicious management.
Mr. BENTINCK and Mr. PHILLIMORE having briefly
spoken against returning to transportation, and Mr.
NEWDEGATE and Mr. LIDDELL in favour of the same,
leave was given to bring in the bill.

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