The Sun.
London, England, 1853-09-05 00:00:00

Lf._)N DON, MON DAY EVENING, SEPrEMBEit 5, 1853.

NICOLL'S AUTUMNAL PATTERNS are
NOW READY.
EXCELLENCE and ECONOMY combined, as illustrated by the
well known Patent PALETOT, at Two Guineas.
In England, France, or Germany, the best talent, workmanship,
and materials are secured by H. J. and D. NICOLL, 114, 116, 118,
120, Regent-street, and 22, Cambia, London.

lIERTS.-THE TRING GROVE ESTATE.
TO BE SOLD, pursuant to a Decree of the High Court of
Ctiancery, made in the causes " Lake v. Currie," Lake v. O'Hara,
and Lake v. Currie, with the approbation of Sir Richard torte Kin-
derrav, Knight, one of the Vice-Chancellors of the said Court, by
,qtr. Witham Brown, at the Auction Mart, Bartholomew-lane
London, on 117E03AT:the sixth day of September, 1853, at Twelve
o'clock at noon,
The important and very eligible Freehold and Copyhold Estates of
the late Viscount Lake, comprising Four Capital Farms, with suit-
' able Homesteads, containing together nearly 600 acres most delight-
fully situate, in the vicinity of the Tring Station, on the London and
North. Nestern Railway, 31 miles from London and 7 from Ayles-
bury. This invaluable liroperty will be offered in nine lots. The
Grove Park Farm, with the walled Kitchen r iarden and ornament-
ally timbered Park; Farm Reuse and Agricultural Buildings abut-
ting noon the Town of Tring will form one lot, presenting numerous
eligible sites for building first-class houses. The Tring Grove Farm,
comprising nearly 300 acres of first-rate Arable and Pasture Land,
with Homestead and Labourers' Cottages thereon, extending to
within a short distance of the railway, will form another lot. The
Little Tring Farm of 40 acres,, the Puttenham Farm of 112 acres, and
some other small portions of the property at Ding Grove and Wig-
einton, will be sold in separate lots.
Particulars of the Property, with Plans and Conditions of Sale,
may be had at the Auction 51art, at the Royal Hotel, Tring Station,
at the Swan Inn, Leighton Buzzard, the George Ins, Aylesbury, and
the Rose amt Crown Inn, Hemel, Hempstead; of Alfred Jones, Esq.,
Solicitor, No 15, Sise-lane, City; of Messrs. Currie, Woodgate, and
wiliams, Solicitors, 32, Lincoln's-Inn-Hens ; and at the offices of
Mr. William Brown, Auctioneer, Tri g

DISCIPLINE AND MANAGEMENT OF
CONVICT PBISONS.
( Continued from The Sun of Aug. 29.)
THE CONVICT QUESTION.
6. FEMALES.
In. the ,foxgg9ing Calculations have,,generally, speaking,
excluded females, for whom there has existed separate ac-
commodation at Millbank, which has not been included in
the general returns, but the females in Ireland are included.
The number annually sentenced to transportation cannot
be ascertained from any returns to which I have access ;
but those who have been received at Millbank prison, after
an average detention of about six months, have been em-
barked with tickets of leave for Van Diemen's Land.
An average number of 450 have been sent out annually
from Great Britain on this plan, and about 400 from Ire-
land, making a total of 850.
Assuming sentences of imprisonment to be substituted
for transportation in the case of females, I conceive they
might be subjected to a few months' separate confinement,
according to circumstances, and then be employed in mo-
dified association at suitable industrial occupations, for
periods proportioned to their respective sentences.
If the present average number of 450 were sentenced to
various periods of imprisonment, and an average of about
2 to 3 years were taken as data, accommodation for about
1,000, in addition to that which now exists, would be found
sufficient.
Under your lordship's authority, the prison at Brixton,
formerly belonging to the county of Surrey, has been pur-
chased for 13,000/., and the additions and alterations which
are now in progress will render it capable of accommodating
from 700 to 800 females. Any excess above this number
may probably be conveniently provided for in county pri-
sons.
The cost of an assumed maximum number of 1,200 fe-
males, might, therefore, be taken as follows :
Maintenance at 20/
Deduct earnings of 1,200 females, at say 4/
Total net cost of 1,200 females

224,000
4,800

In the event of any large number of well-conducted con-
victs being selected for conditional pardons, and embarked
for Western Australia, or any other colony, I think it
would be desirable that a proportion of females should
from time to time be selected for the same destination, and
that this point should be specially provided for in any ar-
rangements that may be made for affording a colony the
advantage of convict labour. This plan would be calcu-
lated to reduce the amount of accommodation required at
home.

7. DISP,)SAL OF CONVICTS.
The foregoing explanation of the present system of dis-
cipline and management to which convicts are subjected
in this country, whilst undergoing the first and second
periods of probationary discipline, will, I trust, have sa-
tisfied your lordship that the measures which have been
adopted are generally calculated both to deter and reform.
The real difficulties in the solution of the convict ques-
tion commence on the termination of the penal discipline,
when it becomes necessary to release the prisoners from
direct control. A ticket of leave in Van Diemen's Land
or Western Australia, has hitherto fulfilled several objects;
and proved of the greatest advantage and convenience to
almost all the parties concerned. The liberated prisoner
has been placed in a spherei.where he would have the op.
portunity of doing well for himself—the mother country
has been relieved from all anxiety as to his future career ;
and the colonies, however much they might object, on
principle, to receive the refuse of a population, have un-
questionably de-Hvecl great and permanent benefits.
The discontinuance of transportation to Van Diemen's
Land will, however, close the main outlet by which these
advantages have been hitherto secured. It may be said
that we have only to send convicts to some other colony,
or to found a fresh one, fjr the purpose of continuing the
system. In taking a practi,..l view, howexe.Z.ALthe_Meptns
of obtaining all that is required, it will ba apparent that
it is only in a settled, prosperous colony, that there exists
the means of absorbing the labour of a convict, whether
under the modified freedom of a ticket-of-leave, or when
he receives his pardon, or is released on expiration of his
sentence.

On this point, the only question that arises is, whether
any colony so circumstanced, is willing to receive the con-
victs on the same conditions as Van Diemen's Land. If no
such colony can be fonnd, it remains to be considered whe-
ther, with a view to combine the deterring effects of trans-
portation with the future disposal of the convict, ani fresh
penal colony could be founded.
If a settled colony urges objections which are admitted
by the mother country, there remain only the alternatives
of founding fresh colonies which wiil receive them, or
releasing them at home, where, if really dangerous to
society, they can be more effectually controlled than any-
where else.
The objection to a purely penal colony is, that the same
difficulty which is now under consideration will be sure to
arise on the expiration of the sentence. If the neighbour-
ing colonies will not willingly receive such a class of
convicts, the mother country will be obliged to fetch them
home, or otherwise dispose of them as is now done in the
case of the convicts at Bermuda, Gibraltar, and Norfolk

Isl and.
In considering the alternative, however, of releasing
them at home, our own past experience is not, after all, so
very discouraging. It must be remembered that until a
very recent period all convicts under sentence of transpor-
tion for seven years were indiscriminately sent to the
hulks, where it is notorious they were placed in circum-
stances that could not fail to be in the highest degree de-
moralising.
After this course of training, they were, very generally,
released with a free pardon at expiration of about one-
half the period of their respective sentences. The number
so released was very considerable. In the years from 1843
to 1847, there were discharged by free pardon nc less than
3,450 so circumstanced. There can be no doubt that the
greater proportion of them, if not originally bad, had be-
come so, and, generally speaking, more dangerous than men
who had been subject to a better discipline.
There could have been little chance of any such obtaining
employment by their own exertion, and no steps were taken
by others to obtain it for them ; and yet, though it might
fairly have been anticipated that the consequences of such
periodical additions to the criminal population would be
seriously felt, so far as I have been able to ascertain, no
material effect was produced.
Since the subject of convict discipline has engaged the
anxious attention of the Government, and ameliorations
have been introduced, which would render the release of
certain classes of criminals in this country comparatively
harmless, there have existed great facilities for the dispo-
sal of all convicts in the colonies with tickets of leave.
This has rendered unnecessary the consideration of any
measures calculated to remedy the evils which might
naturally have been expected from the former practice of
granting free pardons after a course of training in the
hulks.

CONDITIONAL PARDONS AND OTHER MEANS.
The change introduced of late years into the convict
prisons, and experience of the favourable effects which
have been produced on the general character of the con-
victs by an improved discipline, confirm the opinion I ex-
pressed in my third report for 1C49, that—
" Looking to my own experience, and to the opinion of
others who have had better opportunity of j udging, I do not
hesitate to express my conviction, that it would be quite
possible, without detriment to the public interests, mate-
rially to reduce the number of convicts to be annually sent
abroad, by granting conditional pardons to the best con-
ducted men, after periods of confinement proportioned to
their respective sentences, on showing that they had the
means of earning their livelihood, or obtaining securities
for their good conduct."
In the event of its becoming necessary to dispose of con-
victs on discharge in this country, I would further venture
to repeat the suggestion that, as a means of giving more
effectual security to the public, some of the restrictions
enforced in the colonies on the holder of a ticket-of-leave
might be advantageously applied to a convict receiving a
conditional pardon in this country ; and that the system
of demanding sureties for good behaviour might be more
extencnsively acted upon.
It is impossible to state the precise operation of such
measures, or the extent to which they might be applied,
but if the very worst characters were imprisoned for the
whole term of life, or during their respective sentences, at
some penal establishment at home, or in Gibraltar, or
Bermuda ; others disposed of by tickets-of-leaven in
Western Australia ; others released with conditional par-
dons, or encouraged to emigrate; and a portion drafted
into companies of labourers under military discipline, as
suggested further on, I believe that no sensible inconve-
nience could possibly be experienced.
My opinion is founded partly on a general knowledge of
the character of the convicts, the reformatory effects of the
moral and industrial training to which they are subjected,
according
also
rest o tno a c hc
oa
nr as
dt eelerrsora,
ftathtniwthoe(hlheinericori:cor
aofic
miiwulhufinvioatinrwbsheit
omavuneetcnr eyts
and the means that would exist of dealing with individuals
small Myconvictionsistthepro.
portion of this proscribed race when compared with the
f
mie
znAojr
noat
ti
abstract
yr
ea ic onofiun ncgrt ior
ymf
during
oi
ann faet
any ad
vantagetdurned lo oos
Iseonrmeteunnit,s tcoomcopmilmeaenbcye
again their career of crime.
Mr. Redgrave will illustrate my meaning. I have given it
in the Appendix, page 120, but the ,following
g is the sub-
stance of it.
In 1851 there were tried in England and Wales 27,960
offenders, divided into classes as follows :-
Ist Class. Offences against the person, including
murder, attempts to murder, man-
slaughter, rapas, assaults, &c. 2,21
Offences against property, committed
with violence, including burglary, as
saults with intent to rob, menacing
lettere to extort money

3d „ Offences against property, committed
without violence, including cattle and
horse-stealing, larceny, receiving
stolen goods, &c.
4th „ Malicious offences against property, in-
cluding arson, killing and maiming
cattle 3O
sth „ Forgery and offences against the cur-
rencyrency 803
.......................................
6th ~ Other offences not included in the above
663
classes

Totals

.. 27,960

Of the above numbers, 2,895 were sentenced to various
periods of transportation ; 18,695 were imprisoned, fined,
&c., and 6,359 were acquitted. From the number sen-
tenced to transportation must be deducted one-third, as
having been disposed of in various ways in this country,
so that not more than 2,000 out of the 27,960 offenders
were actually transported. It is further deserving of re-
mark, that of this number only 379 were under sentence
for more than 10 years, just one in 70 of the total number.
To the gross total of 27*0 offenders, as shown in the
abstract, Middlesex, including London, contributed as fol-
lows :

Ist Class
2d „
3d. „
4th „
sth „
6th „

333
163
3,138
8
222
105

Total 3,974
Of the above number 422 were sentenced to various
periods of transportation, 2,810 were imprisoned, fined,
&c., and 742 were acquitted. Deducting one-third from
the 422 sentenced to transportation, leaves only about 280
actually sent abroad.
It appears from the above figures that not more than
one in 14 of those who are tried in the course of a year are
sent abroad. It cannot be denied that there is far greater
danger to be apughended frog' the release of the remainder,
who are-returriM upon society; and yet this circumstance
appears to be altogether overlooked.
My impress on is, that, if 1,000 prisoners who had un-
dergone an average period of 4 years' corrective discipline
and industrial training were released in this country, they
would not do so much mischief to society in a given time
as another 1,000 taken indiscriminately from among those
who are discharged at the gates of some of our large prisons,
from which as many as from 8,000 to 10,000 are released
in the course of 12 months.

In former times, when convicts were confined in hulks,
it would have been otherwise, but circumstances are alto-
gether changed.
From the foregoing considerations, I am led to the conch'.
pion that the extensive change of system, which has been un-
der consideration, is not likely to entail any sen sible inconve-
nience; and I am supported in my opinion by the views of
the commissioners of Pentonville, recorded in their sixth
report, signed by the Earls of Devon, Chichester, and Har-
rowby, Sir W. Molesworth, and others, &c. They say—
" We conclude these general observations by a remark
suggested by the joint consideration of the favourable and
unfavourable circumstances in those reports.
" These appear to ?is to demonstrate, that whilst the dis.
cipline and instruction at Pentonville have not in all cases
prevented the exiles from relapsing into crime when ex,
posed to severe trials and demoralising associations, by fai
the greater part of them have become useful and valuable
servants, superior, we are told, to the average of free emi-
grants.

" We regard this view of the subject as highly encourag-
ing, for it seems to prove that if this system were generally
introduced, a large portion of our convicts would be quali-
fied, on their discharge, to occupy an honest position in
their own or any other country ; and if so, we believe that;
under ordinary circumstances, there would seldom be
wanting motives of self-interest and benevolence to afford
them that employment which would enable them to be.
come useful and exemplary members of society."

It is a great though a very common mistake to regard all
who receiv 3 a sentence of transportation as being irre•
claimably bad, and as being of one class, and sunk to the
same depth of moral turpitude. The fact is not so. There
is every shade of difference in character, as well as in the
circumstances of temptation under which their crimes may
have been committed.

The experience of all who have the best opportunities of
judging will, I am satisfied, coincide with the opinion of
the House of Commons, 1850, as expressed in the following
resolution :

"That the committee concurs with some of the most ex-
perienced witnesses that have been examined, in the opinion
that a great majority of convicted prisoners are open to the
same good motives and good impulses which influence other
human beings, and therefore, that a system of encourage-
ment to good conduct, and endeavours to inspire feelings
of self-respect, self-reliance, and hopefulness for the future,
which have been tried in some of our largest ests.blish
ments, ought to be adopted, so far as it is practicable,
without impairing the penal and deterring character essen-
tial to any system of imprisonment."
FORMATION OF COMPANIES OF LABOURERS UNDER
MILITARY DISCIPLINE.

In considering the means of disposing of men who have
gone through a proportion of the imprisonment that may
have been awarded, and are eligible for conditional par-
dons, the formation of a corps of labourers under military
discipline for service in the West Indies, or in Africa, or
in other of the colonies, is not undeserving of attention.
The moral results of the present system of discipline are
such as to remove all doubt as to obtaining good and effi-
cielqprv4o from a body of_ men selected for inch a _INF
pose.
My view would be to carry out certain minimum periods
of probationary discipline, as at present. When the men
might have become eligible for a ticket of leave, the re-
maining terms of their sentences should be commuted into
service as military labourers. 'As they would all have been
trained to certain trades, such a corps would be invaluable
in colonies where labour was high, as the men might be
employed at their respective trades and occupations in the
same manner as the Royal Sappers and Miners and the
late Royal Staff Corps.
There would be great objections to their takin., duty
with the regular troops, but the same objections might not
possibly hold good with regard to West India regiments.
It would, however, be an object not to degrade them by
the name of a "condemned regiment,"
but to adopt mea-
sures for rendering them thoroughly efficient. By means
of military discipline a more efficient control would be
maintained over all who were so disposed of, than under
any other plan yet tried, and 1 should not hesitate to re-
commend their services being applied wherever they might
relieve regular troops, or be otherwise useful.
Whilst on this subject I cannot but advert to an objet
tion which was urged at a recent period, when the possi-
bility of an invasion was talked of, and which, if the num-
ber of convicts were increased, would have greater force.
It was held by some to be dangerous to have large masses
of convicts assembled at Portland and in our dockyards
and arsenals, and being required to offer an opinion upon
the subject, my experience of the character of the men
enabled me to state, that out of 6,000 men who were then
under sentence, 4,000 could be produced who might be re-
lied upon to go wherever they were ordered, and to be as
serviceable in the field as others who had an equal time
for drill and exercise. Further reflection has not caused
any change in that opinion.

TICKETS OF LEAVE IN BA.IIIIADoES.
Sir W. Colebrooke, Governor of Barbadoes, who has
brought his great ability and experience to bear on this
point, thus adverts to the operation of a system of tickets-
of leave in that island.

His Excellency states in a dispatch to Earl Grey, dated
June 9, 1831 :
Of the number of those
discharged
with tickets of
leave under the Act (13 Vic., c. 21), and the reports made
to me of their industry and good conduct, none have been
recommitted for any offence, and the grant of good-con-
duct badges to prisoners has tended further to encourage
orderly behaviour in the gaol.
. " The success during the last two years of the act for
granting tickets of leave has proved that under a reforma-
tory system of prison discipline, by which incentives
good conduct are held out to prisoners, it is practicable,
with the assistance of the magistrates, aided by a rural
constabulary, to guard against the renewal of bad habits,
in which discharged prisoners are exposed in populous
places ; and adverting to the difficulties attending the de-
portation of convicts, arising from the reluctance of other
communities to receive them as such, it is important to
have ascertained that they can be corrected and controlled
at home, although in many cases their voluntary emigra-
tion may be afterwards encouraged with advantage to
themselves and the public.
" One effect of a reformatory system of discipline in pri-
sons acting on the habits of convicts, and holding out to
them the means and motives for improving their own cha-
racters, may be expected to be the removal of the popular
objection to employing them when discharged with favour-
able testimonials of their conduct from the prison authori-
ties, and especially when withdrawn from the influence of
evil associations by the surveillance exere'.sed over them as
holders of ' tickets of leave ;' nor is it improbable that the
reluctance to receive them as emigrants, in other commu-
nities where labour is in greater request, would yield to
acknowledge that they had been previously restored to so-
ciety, without a renewal of their depraved habits and asso-
ciations."
8. MEASURES FOR ASSISTING DISCHARGED PRISONERS.
In my second report, published in 1847, 1 observed that
the difficulties inherent in the treatment of juvenile crimi-
nals were "increased by the consideration that it is of no
use instructing criminal children, unless they are provided
for in some way on discharge." The same observation is
equally true as regards adult prisoners ; for it is too ob-
vious to need remark, that, however they may have been
led by the reflection which has been forced upon them in
confinement, sincerely to deplore their past career of crime
and to form good resolutions for the future, or with what-
ever dread of a prison, the stern discipline to which they
have been subjected, may have inspired them, it is vain to
expect they will be able to avoid a repetition of their
offences, unless they can obtain the means of subsistence
on discharge. What chance will they stand in the struggle
against the pressure of wants which cannot be postponed,
unless they receive some help in their search for employ-
ment ?
Several establishments for this purpose havebeen formed,
amongst which are the Philanthropic Society, which now
carries on its operations at Red-hill, Reigate, that for fe-
males at Camden-town, one in Great Smith-street, West-
ininster, and a few others. The application of hundreds for
admission into the last-mentionedinstitution under circum-
stances that preclude all doubt of the sincerity of their desire
to abandon criminal courses, or at least to try the effect of
a change, have been unsuccessful because of its scanty
funds; and it is well known that some have been compelled
to resort to their former pursuits.
Private individuals, too, have in the most praiseworthy
manner exerted themselves in this useful and Christian
field of action ; and conspicuous amongst them is Air.
Wright, of Manchester, through whose sole instrumenta-
lity upwards of 150 prisoners have after their discharge
procured situations. How rich the harvest of reward that
has followed his endeavours may be gathered from the
fact that, out of all these cases, he has heard of but one
relapse.
These voluntary efforts of benevolent persons are, how-
ever; wholly insufficient to meet the necessities of the case,
and can accomplish+but a very smell portion of what is re-
quired. They have indicated the void in our social ar-
rangements which requires to be filled, and the great suc-
cess of the existing institutions proves their utility, and

the urgent necessity, under present circumstances, for in-
creasing, their number.
If only on the low ground of financial expediency, Go-
vernment would do well to second and stimulate these
humane efforts. Many a man, whether from having been
brought to see the errors of his way, or, from the dread of
punishment, would gladly avoid again coming within the
grasp of the law, if it were in his power to maintain him-
self by honest industry. Without friends, or the means
of employment, what are they to do? That question de-
mands au answer.

Sir W. Colebrooke well remarked, on a recent occasion
of laying the first stone of a new prison in Barbadoes, that—
" There is a duty which society owes to the discharged
prisoner, which, until of late years, may have been too
much neglected in all countries. The taint of crime is not
readily removed, and the difficulty of regaining a place in
society, when once forfeited, has caused but too many to
relapse into evil associations. Some interposition is there-
fore needed in the way of prevention, and by placing them
for a time under the surveillance of the magistrate, and in
situations remote from temptation, they are better enabled
to regain a respectable position ; and examples may be ad-
duced where this has been followed by decided reforma-
tion.

"We should deceive ourselves, however, if we were to
regard the subject as one in which there are not great dim-
culties to surmount, but which, for the sake of society, it
is not the less our duty to encounter with a resolution to
overcome them." •

Within a few years there may, probably be 9,000 to
10,000 convicts undergoing imprisonment in this country,
and perhaps 2,000 to be annually discharged on completion
of their sentences.

Of this number it may reasonably be anticipated that a
large propor: on will do well for themselves, if only afforded
very moderate pecuniary assistance. They may have friends
or property, or a trade requiring but little capital to fall
back upon, but very many will require the active hand of
benevolence, or a comprehensive scheme under the control
of the Government, for giving them some measure of
assistance until they can provide for themselves.
With respect to emigrants, many would gladly avail
themselves of being -placed' in "tirenmstances to go away,
some of them from a feeling that in returning home they
would disgrace their friends, others from a desire of change
and hope of making a fresh stars in life.
The class requiring assistance in this country would pro-
bably be most difficut to deal with; but, if they were re-
leased with conditional,and not free pardons, and some sys-
tematic efforts were made to enable them to meet the diffi-
culties of their position, I should confidently expect a
much more favourable result than might be generally antici-
pated. Rather than leave them to their fate, and to the
chance of the Government being again burdened with the
cost of a trial, and other attendant evils, I believe it would
be desirable to retain the services, on public works, of such
well-conducted convicts as could not readily find employ-
ment. They might receive rations and clothing, to be paid
for out of moderate wages. It would be an object to afford
every possible facility for their dispersion, as demands
for their services arose, or opportunity offered. Their stay
would be voluntary, and, from being accustomed to obe-
dience and discipline, there would be little difficulty in
maintaining good order.
This suggestion is the same in principle with that pro-
posed in a letter addressed by me to Sir George Grey, in
October, 1849, with reference to the employment of con-
victs on remote works in Western Australia, from which
the following is an extract :
" On the important point of the means of employment,
I would state my opinion that, though it would be quite
practicable to execute any colonial work that might be re-
quired in the immediate vicinity of the penal establish-
ment, I see no ground for hoping for a favourable result
in the application of convict labour at a distance.
" I conceive, therefore, that the execution of the pro-
jected road by such labour should not be attempted. Any
effort to maintain discipline among a body of convicts in a
remote situation, where no effective means of control can
be established, must of necessity fail, as regards the moral
object.

1‘ Authority, duly supported, will induce submission,
but, when authority cannot be exercised with effect, an-
tagonism and resistance take the place of submission.
" In order to avoid the many difficulties and evils which
may be anticipated, if anything of the character of a penal
gang be established, and, at the same time, to accomplish
the object of having the road of 60 miles in length made at
a reasonable cost to the colonial or home Government, the
principle of the convict system now in operation might, I
think, under the favourable circumstances of the colonies,
be extended in the following manner :
" I would propose that the men on discharge from the
penal establishment should be required to undergo a
further state of probation before they should be permitted
to engage in private service, or enter upon the full advan-
tages conferred by a ticket of leave. During this period
of comparative freedom they should be obliged to execute
a certain amount of work for the Government in such
places as might be determined.
" I would not propose they should he confined, or be
under any kind of penal coercion. If they misconducted
themselves in any way their probationary ticket of leave
would be withdrawn, and they would only entitle them-
selves to release from the restrictions imposed by properly
executing the work assigned to them, and by having con-
formed to such rules for their guidance as might have been
deemed necessary.
" The work executed might be measured and the value
placed to their credit, to be afterwards applied in further-
%nee of the object of the Government and for the benefit
of the men.

" This probationary period would appear to offer the
,most favourable opportunities for bringing into effect the
regulations established. by Earl Grey with reference to the
repayment, by a ticket-of-leave holder, of the cost of his
passage previous to his obtaining a conditional pardon.
" If the men were encouraged by the work being esti-
mated at its full value, and that they received weekly, in
addition to rations, a small proportionate amount of their
earnings, to be expended at discretion, I have little doubt
it would prove a powerful stimulus to exertion, if, as
there appears reason to believe, it would be an object to
them to obtain their pardon, with a view to remove from
the colony.
" The period of gaining this indulgence might be regu-
lated with reference to the demand for labour and other

circumstances, so as to avoid having a greater number of
ticket-of-leave holders on the Goveinment works, or in
private service, than were required.
" With reference to the execution of the work, facilities
should be afforded to the men for building huts in conve-
nient situations ; a limited amount of bedding should be
allowed ; they should receive rations at a fixed price, and
be enabled, on the certificate of the superintending officer,
to purchase provisions and clothing from the commissariat
to a limited extent, proportionate to their earnings.
"In fact, the system would be situ ilar to that in operation,
in executing a sub-contract on a railway; each party would
virtually have a small contract to perform, but there would
exist stronger inducements to exertion and good conduct,
and greater fear of the consequences of misconduct, than
can be brought to bear on free labour ; or, if it were prac-
ticable to' let the execution of the road to a contractor,
and afford him the means of obtaining the required
labour, it would in some measure relieve the Government
from responsibility, and bring into play the vigilant super-
intendence of persons watching their own interests. In
such case, however, the governor should retain strong
powers for protecting the interests of the men, which
might otherwise be prejudiced by the cupidity of a con-
tractor, who would have different objects from those of the
Government."

The instructions given by Earl Grey to Sir W. Deni-
gon, with a view of carrying out the same principle in
Van Diemen's Land, are given in his lordship's dispatch
of 25th July, 1850, from which the following is an ex-
tract :

" But if this rule of requiring newly-arrived convicts to
take up their abode in the more remote districts is to be
adhered to, it will, I am aware, be necessary to adopt
some means by which employment in these districts may
he insured to the convicts who are required to remain in
them ; and I will proceed to detail to you the measures
which I propose should be adopted with this view, and for
the purpose of enforcing the regular payment by convicts
holding tickets of leave of the sums charged against them.
I have already said that, for the latter purpose, no such
convict is to be allowed to pass from under the immediate
charge of the Government until he shall have entered into
a contract to serve for not less than a year some private
employer, who will be responsible for paying to the Govern-
ment the required deduction from his wages, but convicts
holding tickets of leave, who have been guilty of no mis-
conduct, and remain under the charge of the Govern-
ment only because they are unable to obtain private
employment, are not to be subject to coercion in the
gangs. The system I propose to adopt with regard to
them is, that they should be employed by the Govern-
ment in such useful labour as can be found for them, that
credit should be allowed them at the full rate of wages,
obtainable in private service for the value of the work they
may perform (which should invariably be task-work); but
that, instead of being paid in money, they should receive
such supplies as they might choose to draw for (including
a reasonable proportion of tobacco and other articles, which
may rather be termed luxuries than necessaries), the cost
of these supplies being charged against them, and the
balance of their earnings being credited to them in reduc-
tion of their debt to the Government.

Assistance should be given to convicts placed in this
situation, to provide themselves with huts in situations
convenient for their labour, and, so long as they should
continue to come regularly to their work, for the same
number of hours as are usually expected from free la-
bourers, and to conduct themselves with regularity and
propriety, no restraint should be placed upon their freedom
of action during the remainder of their time. Of course,
any attempt to leave the district in which they are placed,
or a failure to come regularly to their work, or to exert
themselves during the hours of labour with proper industry,
should be immediately met by withdrawing their tickets
of leave for a longer or a shorter time, according to the
degree of their misconduct, and by placing them in the
probation gangs, subject to the same discipline as other
convicts who are in that situation."
The Earl of Chichester, in his evidence before the se-
lect committee on prison discipline, in 1850, referred
incidentally to an intermediate stage of probation, pre-
viously to the final discharge of the prisoner. His lord-

ship observed :
" Experience has, I thank, proved that those systems of
prison discipline which are based solely or mainly on the
theory of reformation, have failed in both the essential re-
quisitions of a penal institution ; I mean. they have failed
to reform as well as to deter. There is, no doubt, much
truth in what has been advanced by some of the humane
advocates of these systems, but their principles and their
reasoning apply to a state of things most desirable in itself.
as an intermediate stage between one that is strictly penal
and entire liberation, but which neither the present con-
dition of our penal establishments nor of our criminal code
is qualified to admit."

COST OF LAND IN LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER.—
The trustees of the Liverpool Docks, having occasion to
purchase 23,836 square, yards of land for increased ac-
commodation of the docks, had to pay for it 11. 2s. 111 d.
per square yard, or a total of 33,1131. One thousand
square yards required for the erection of a warehouse in
Manchester last week fetched 10/. per square yard, or a
total of 10,0001.