THE TRANSPORTATION QUESTION.

Lyttelton Times, Volume II, Issue 69, 1 May 1852, Page 4

THE TRANSPORTATION QUESTION.

The aspect of this question becomes more alarming bj every fresh intelligence from the Australian colonies. Earl Grey, by a singular fatality, which seems to prompt his lordship to the commission of almost inconceivable political blunders, has, it appears, seized with avidity upon the fact of the gold discovery in Australia as a justification for his obstinate pertinacity in insisting upon the continuance of transportation. While many a statesman in the southern hemisphere is speculating with eagerness upon the great destinies which are opening upon these colonies, and is soberly ponderinf how the gifts which Providence lias placed in their hands may be turned to the best account, the Government at home can read nothing else upon the golden page, except the fresh chance which it may afford for continuing the convenient system of shovelling out their criminals upon other communities. The minister no sooner hears of gold being discovered, than he throws up his cap, and says, " their labourers will all run to the diggings, they will want labour, they will take the convicts, we can continue our transportation ; so that question is settled ! htinrah '."

The people of Melbourne, in the very midst of the gold frenzy, have thus replied to His lordship. At a full meeting the following resolutions were supported by some of the ablest and most influential of tne citizens, and were carried unanimously.

Comment upon them would be superfluous. We regret that we have no space to notice the many able speeches which were delivered and enthusiastically received upon the occasion.

1. That as it appears by recent intelligence from Britain, that Her Majesty's Government, swa}'ed by the pernicious counsels of Earl Grey, has'determined upon forcing on the Australian Colonies, through the medium of Van Diemen's Land, the convicted felonry of the Mother Country, in the vain hope that, the pressure in the labour market, occasioned by the discovery of the rich gold fields of Victoria and Kew South Wales, will reconcile employers to 'he reception of the thieves, robbers, and murderers of Britain; this meeting most solemnly protes:s against a decision in the highest degree cruel and unjust to the free colonists of Victoria, and utterly subversive of the rights of the Colonies, as integral portions of the British Empire; and this meeting takes this opportunity, when the inconvenience, discomforts, and losses, arising from the absorption of labour at the gold diggings, are most severely felt —and more severely in this than in any other of the Australian Colonies—of again renewing the declaration of our fixed determination to resist, by every means in our power, the i nportation of British Criminals into this Colony in any form, and under any circumstances.

2. That the dogged determination of Earl Grey, Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, to persist, in despite of the i-ntreaties aivt remonstrances of the Colonists, in inundating the Australian Colonies, through the medium of Van D'cmen's Land, with the outpourings of British crime, is ra'.hhy weaning the affections of the Colonist- from the Parent State, their connection with wiiich b;!S hitherto been their pride and boast ; and should bis counsels unfortunately be much l.nger allowed to prevail »»ith Her Majesty's Government, must inevitably diive them to seek refuge from such

heartless tyranny and oppression in national independence.

3. That the insulting comparison of the free im- [ migrants of Victoria, with the outcast criminals of the Mother Country, made by Earl Grey, Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, in an interview with John Charles King, Esq., Delegate from Victoria, on the 25th November last, though shamefully false and unjust to the very numerous body of industrious and respectable people, who have been imported to this Colony by means of the Land Fund, is nevertheless, in itself, a withering censure of his Lordship's administration of the Immigration Fund of the Colony, and an incontestible evidence of the danger of leaving the control of funds, intended for the introduction of respectable people, in the hands of a man whose undisguised object it is to coerce the Colonies into receiving the sweepings of the British gaols. 4. That the Council of the Victoria Branch of the Australasian League, be requested to forward the foregoing resolutions to the Queen, through the customary official channel, accompanied by a humble and respectful request, that Her Majesty will bi graciously pleas-d to remove Earl Grey from the list of Her Majesty's advisers, and give a heedful ear to the entreaties and remonstrances of her duti ■ ful subjects. SYDNEY. Dr. Lang has sailed for England. A judgement for debt having been obtained against him by Mr. Wilkinson, Mr. Gilbert Wright, the solicitor in the case, extracted a promise from the Rev. gentleman that he would not leave the colony without his permission, and has published in the Sydney papers the whole of the correspondence, together with an account of the transaction, concluding his letter with these words:—"For the consideration, courtesy, forbearance—nay, even indulgence, offered to Dr. Lang in the prosecution by Mr. Wilkinson, he has given, in return, a forfeiture of his parole of honour, and a breach of his solemn promise." CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. Termination op the Kaffir War. —By letters and papers received on the 26th March, we are truly happy to learn that every prospect appeared, at their dates (28th Jan.) of a cessation of the Kaffir war. The Trans-Kei expedition had been successful beyond the expectations of Sir Harry Smith's warmest admirers. The two divisions under Colonels Mackinnon and Eyre had made dreadful havoc in Kreli's country, defeating the Kaffir's in every movement, and capturing about 30,000 head of cattle. The chiefs had sued for peace, and whilst the general orders still breathed defiance to the f nemy, and referred in contemptuous terms to the offers made by Sandilli and Rreli, it is apparent that peace will shortly be concluded on whatever terms Sir Harry chooses to dictate. — Bell's Life in Sydney.