Morning journal and courier., 1882-07-29
FFICE 400 STATE STREET.
Price Four Cents.

Governor can only shrug his shoulders in
 the usual French way. It has happened
 more than once that pretty girls have been 1 wooed by warders, free settlers, or time-ex- | plred soldiers and sailors, instead of by con- victs. In such cases the Governor can only assent to marriage on condition that the female convlcts free lover shall place him.
 self In the position of ticket of leave man. and undertake never to leave the colony. Love works wonders; and there is no in-
 stance on record of man having refused to comply With these conditions when once he had fallen in love. There are some instances
 though, of the authorities having declined to let female convict marry a free man when they were not convinced that the latter was 8
 person of firm character and kindly disposi- tlon For the women's own sakes it is neces- sary that they should not be married to men
 who would be likely, in some moment of temper, to fling their disrepuiab antece- dents into their teeth. There is nothing of thls klnd to fear when the female convict gets welded to man whose past life has been as pad as her own. Why the French govern ment should have saddled itself with the re- sponslblllty of promoting marriages among convlcts 1t IS difficult to say but the experi- ment has on the whole yielded very good re- sults The married couples get huts and free grants of land. and all that they can draw from 1t by their own labor becomes theirs
 During five years they are subjected to the obligation of reporting themselves weekly at the district police office, and they are forbid den to enter public houses, and must not be found out of doors at night. This probation cry period being satisfactorily passed, they get their full freedom, but subject always to the condition of remaining in the colony
 10 thls rule the law has distinctly forbidden that any exception shall be made On no &C., count whatever must convicts who have ac. cepted grants of land and contracted lad mln1stratlve marriages" " as they are called, ever return to France. They are at liberty however, to send their children to France if any respectable person in that country will become answerable for them, and undertake to provide them with good education. The sons or convlcts are born French subjects and will be required at the age of 20 to draw at the conscription, and serve their appoint ed terms In the army. From what precedes 1t may be inferred that the lot of con victs in New Caledonia is fairly pleasant one but we have spoken as yet only of those con- vlcts who have tickets of leave, and are more or less free to roam over the whole island
 Those who have not earned tickets -of-leaye are kept in the penal settlement of the Island or Nou or are employed on public works. road making, house building &c., in the gangs moving and encamping from place to place during the fine season under military escort. The lot even of these convicts can- not be called a hard one as compared with that of convicts in other countries, and of French convicts under the old sy stem of ba0- "es. or transportation to Cayenne. The eli mate of Cayenne was deadly that all the convicts transported there either died or con- tracted incur able maladies. As for the old 6dg7ees of Brest and Toulon, they were very hells, where the convicts were kept chained In couples and were treated pretty much like wild beasts. The climate of New Caledonia. on the contrary. is delightful and the soil of the different islands composing the colony is 50 fertile that corn, fruit and vegetables grow there in abundance, and can be had very cheap. In 1878 an attempt to cultivate vines was commenced, but hitherto the ex pertinent has not met with full success. It is said, however, that the difficulties which have beset the vine growers will be over come in time