The Sun.
London, England, 1853-08-30 00:00:00

Ireland.

It may also be assumed that the present number of
convicts in Ireland will not be materially increased ; and
the following is given as an approximate estimate of
numbers and expenses :
Number of convicts, 5,250

... £57,750

. .
Abstract of the foregoing estimates of an assumed maxi-
mum unmber of 17,250 prisoners sentenced in Great
Britain and Ireland.
Gross estimate for 12,000 prisoners in England
and at Gibraltar, Bermuda, and Western
Australia £278,000
Gross estimate for 5,250 prisoners in Ireland 57,750
Estimate for transport services to Bermuda,
Gibraltar, and Western Australia as before

11,000

Total estimated gross cost of 17,250 prisoners 346,750
Add estimated gross cost for 1,200 females ... 24,000

370,750

Deduct earnings of 12,000 prisoners
at 121. per head as before £144,000
Deduct earnings of 5,250 prisoners
In Ireland, at 51. per head
Deduct earnings of 1,200 females at
4/. per head

26,250

- - 175,050

Total estimated net cost of 18,450 male and
female prisoners £195,700
Distribution of the foregoing number of prisoners, and
application of convict labour.
It may be convenient that I should submit my views
as to the distribution of this large number of men
(17,250).
The present establishments at home and at Gibraltar,
Bermuda, and Western Australia, will accommodate, on
the present footing, 16,126.
The additional number to be provided for, therefore,
only amounts to 1,124, which I should propose to place
generally in the most advantageous position for the pro-
fitable application of their labour.
With regard to the general locality of additional con-
vict prisons and their extent, much would depend upon
the means that might exist for the profitable application
of the prisoners' labour.
On this point, which will be one of great importance
in any change of system, I would beg leave again to
submit the few observations which occur in my third
report for 1849 :
" There can be no question that if it be necessary
from any cause to carry into effect probationary periods
of discipline in this country, and that, in consequence, a
body of 10,000 or 12,000 men are to be maintained by
the Government, they ought to be usefully employed.
It is a confiscation of labour in which the Crown has a
vested interest.
"This, as a matter of finance, will not in the opinion
of some be regarded as the least of the questions to be
considered, and by all will be acknowledged to be of
some importance.
" One of the objects at Portland is to show to what
extent this can be done consistently with other and more
paramount considerations, and when the system shall
have been tested by experience, I hope, with the co-ope-
ration of the Admiralty and Ordnance authorities, to be
enabled to render the labour in the dockyards and
arsenals much more useful and valuable than it ever
has been."
The experience since gained at Portland has more
than realised all my expectations. both as regards the
moral improvement of the men and the amount of work
executed.

The ascertained value of the work performed by the
convicts at that prison for the last four years has been
as follows :

1849..
1850..
1851..
1852..

£7,214 6 11
14,067 16 7
20,531 16 5
20,568 0 0

During the past year the earnings have nearly equalled
the entire cost of the establishment, and there is no rea-
son to doubt that, wherever there exists the same facili-
ties of employment, a similar result will be obtained.
I have carefully considered the subject, and am
of opinion that, whenever the nature and extent of any
work required the employment of from 500 to 800 men,
for a period of five or six years, it would justify the erec-
tion of a removable prison, and the formation of a con-
vict establishment for the purpose of executing it. It is
in this way that prisoners under long sentences might
be employed to the greatest advantage.
Harbours of refuge, fortifications, docks, &c., are the
description of works the most suitable for the employ-
ment of convicts, from there being a large proportion
which could be executed by unskilled labour. The works
now in progress at the Holyhead and the Channel
Islands are of that nature, and the large docks, recently
executed at Portsmouth and Devonport, would have
been well adapted for the purpose.
The records of the public departments will, doubtless,
show that there are many such works of acknowledged
importance in a national point of view, which have been
deferred or objected to on the ground of expense; and if
the Government be obliged to maintain the men, it be-
comes a matter of necessity, in order to carry out a
sound system of penal and corrective discipline, that
they should be usefully employed.
"The third and last duty of a Sovereign," says Adam
Smith, " is that of erecting and maintaining those public
institutions and those public works, which, though they
may be in the highest degree advantageous to a great
society, are, however, of such a nature as that the profit
could never repay the expense, and which it cannot,
therefore, be expected that any individual should erect
and maintain."
It will be admitted that our insular position has
ceased to afford the means of defence on which we for-
merly relied, and that where, in former days, our mer-
chantmen might ride safely at anchor, they would now
be exposed to sudden and rapid incursions of hostile
steamers. It will also be admitted that no adequate
measures have yet been adopted for meeting a change of
circumstances so disadvantageous to us as a nation.
The relative position we formerly occupied can only
be regained by a great addition to the standing army,
or by the construction of such works as will place the
force at command in the best position to resist an
enemy. The improvement of our national defences,
the erection of a large work between London and the
south coast, and a harbour of refuge half way between
Portsmouth and the Downs, to fulfil the same object as
Portland, which occupies that position between Ports-
mouth and Plymouth, are of obvious and pressing

p ortan cos. -
These works alone, and others having similar objects,
would furnish useful employment for many years, for all
the labour that the convict department could spare, and
with the assistance of one or two companies of Sappers,
they might be executed with -but little further expense,
excepting for materials.
Prisons in Agricultural Districts.
In the event of there being no public works, to which
the labour of the prisoners could be devoted, with a
view to promote the objects to which I have adverted,
the less profitable application of it to agriculture might
be resorted to. In such a case my general view would
be to obtain two or more tracts of good land, in a dry
and healthy locality, contiguous to a railway, and in
such a situation as to be conveniently accessible from
the more densely populated parts of the country, so as
to reduce to a minimum the cost of the removal of
prisoners.
Penal Establishment for the worst classes of convicts.
In considering the means necessary for giving effect
to any change of system affecting the continuance of
transportation, it is deserving of consideration whether
it would not, in luau respects, be desirable to form a