Untitled

Otago Daily Times, Issue 81, 18 February 1862, Page 2

relatives have « right to redress ; and we willingly give our aid for that purpose. We trust that the Government will at once institute an inquiry into this case. A. Wonp says that there were several bystanders who can give evidence as to the manner of conducting the inquest. At the same, .time it must be renumbered thsif we have ris yet but one side of the question.— Sydney Empire, Jan. 17. -\ THE CONVICTS IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA. Archdeacon Brown of Western Australia, formerly chaplain to the. convict establishment iti that colony has sent an interesting letter to the Tinwx on the ■workina of the system of transportation. He quotes statistics to prove that the temporal interests of Western Australia have been greatly promoted by the introduction of convicts, while, so far, it cannot be said that the moral results of the system has been prejudicial : —Upon the convicts, themselves the effects of transportation under the sv.stem pursued here have been extremely beneficial. Foremost among the influences that operate for the exile's good is the con- • viction soon forced upon his mind of the futility of all attempts at escape. I have never heard of a single instance in which escape out of the colony had been effected. While his other penal restraints are mild and humane, his hopes are turned into - new channels and sustained by the assurance of a speedy release from close confinement, of profitable labor, and, with moderate industry and good conduct, of a comfortable independence. After a period of probation, he receives a ticket" of leave, and is at liberty to seek employment according to his tastes and qualifications. He knows before his release that, as a shepherd, he will earn from £25 to £10 per year, with ample rations ; as indoor servant, from £15 to £30; as outdoor, from 19s. to 255. weekly; by day labor, from 3s. 6d. to ss. according to his skill and industry ; &a a mechanic, from 7s. to Bs. daily. He also knows that the treatment of servants in tlm colony is anything but oppressive, that masters are. not acquainted with specialities in their servants' criminal career, and that there is nothing to prevent their rising in character, in self-respect, and in social position, but their own instability and infatuation. If under employers the ticket of leave holder's character be good, he is permitted to take land or pursue any lawful calling upon his own account. Western Australia is thus a prison roomy enough not to obtrude- its bars and bolts at every turn to the convict, secure enough, to tame, his spirit as well as to -prevent mischief to neighboring colonies^ and containing means of remunerative employment sufficiently varied," abundant and certain to kindle each prisoner's hopes after new character and honest independence} while he forgets his colonial incarceration. The marked success of the experiment is also due in a great degree toths. few temptations to crime that .cross the convict's path in this colony. Bushranging, even in its mildest form, is almost unknown; has never been successfully attempted.;! highway robbery has scarcely ever been attempted. Burglary: aiid 1 theft are not only kept under by the small booty that presents itself to the convict's eye or imagination,-but stolea property cannot be so easily secreted as in England, and the difficulty of disposing of it is. still greater. Human footsteps are also tracked by the native polica with a precision that bewilders the European spectator ; consequently iyery few crimes of the nature I have named could escape detection and punishment. The census of ISS& shows that. there were at that time 3,846 men of the, convict class in the colony. Of these, 1,173 were expirees and conditional pardon men, 1,666 held a ticket of leave, 1,007 were prisoners, including the men re-convicted in this country as well as those who were sentenced to penal servitude for the first time by a colonial judicature. Ths reader will readily perceive how large a proportion had already gaiued entire freedom, also how many had obtained full employment among the tickel of leave holders, since but 3 per centre?were left on the hand* of Grovernnieiit as sick, disabled, and unemployed. It serves further to indicate that when the convicts nave their'full liberty they do not so readily endeavor to make their way to the sister colonies. Notwithstanding all these favoring circumstances, God alone knows what rocks and shoals may lie in our course. Our dangers will chiefly arise from the ready access which these men can obtain to spirituous liquors ; out of the evils resulting from the great disproportion in the sexe3, the adult males being in ISo'J as seven to one of the adult females ; and from the obligation the settlers are often under of entrusting the edncation of their children to tutors of the convict class, —men, as a whole, though there are honorable exceptions, very unfit for such a post. Still, if. measures are adopted restricting, as far as may be compatible with the liberty of the subject, the at present almost unlimited sale of ardent spirits; if steps are speedily5 taken by the Imperial Government to equalise the sexes ; and if a sound scriptnral education be dealt out by the colonial government with no sparing hand to the young, through the medium of trained English masters, men of picked character, the coiony may, under God's bies3ing and help, escape all the dreaded evils, and long continue to off*? to England a riddance of a large.part of her criminals, while to them she afford* chances —certainties ijTthey please—of independence and reformation sucft as they could never find at home.1* J- . . ■ . The Cricket 'match between the Dunedin Cricket Club and the 70th Regiment takes place on Wednesday!' The wickets will be pitched at half-past ten o'clock ; and Messrs Jones, Bird, & Co. have undertaken to provide refreshments. We have to remind the members of the Young .Men's Christum Association that the quarterly meeting is now fast approaching, and that notice of any proposed alteration in the rule 9 must be given to-morrow evening. Taking the Popz's Word for it. —It is said that when the author of the JZtprit de Lois visited Rome, Pope; Benedict XIV. wished to mark the fact by some souvenir, and said to him, " I give' you permission to eat meat all your lifetime, and I extend the same indulgeuce to" all your family." Montesquieu was, of course, intensely obliged at being released fronvthe fasting orders of the Church, and bade adieu to his Holiness with feelings of gratitude. Shortly afterwards the dispensation was sent to him, and he was presented with a little note of fees, amounting to a rather considerable sum. Montoaquieu, astonished at this sacred impost, xaid, "I thank his Holiness for his kindness, but the Pope is so good a man that I •will take his bare word for it?'

February 13th, 1862.