A.—4.

1885. NEW ZEALAND.

CONFEDERATION AND ANNEXATION. (FURTHER PAPERS RELATING TO THE RECIDIVISTE BILL.)

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

No. 1. The Agent-General to the Peemiee. Sic, — 7, Westminster Chambers, London, S.W., 15th October, 1884. The French Chambers reassembled yesterday, when the Senate placed the Recidiviste Bill on the order of the day for its next sitting, subject to (sous reserve) the advice of the Finance Committee, to which the Bill had been referred at the end of last session, as stated in my letter of the 16th August (No. 384). To-morrow a Committee is to be named for the examination of M. Berenger's Bill for the prevention of relapse into crime. In the short debate that took place before placing the Eecidiviste Bill on the Order Paper for the premiere deliberation, the President of the Senate said that the discussion must not begin till the Finance Committee had reported. M. Schcelcher thereupon observed that, as the Government had sent a Commissioner (M. Leveille, author of the letters to which I called your attention last July) to French Guiana to examine the question of relegation, it would be better to wait for his report. The Minister of the Interior (M. Waldeck-Eousseau), however, insisted on placing the Bill on the Order Paper. It would be seen, he said, from the Bill, as it came up from the Senate Committee with M. de Verninac's report, that the Government had admitted there must be a special system, which would necessarily be the subject of the most minute and attentive examination ; that this inquiry entailed a long and complex study on the spot by the experienced gentleman to whom it had been committed ; but that there was no need to wait for a report on details in order to determine principles, especially as public opinion was becoming impatient at the delay, and as there were sure to be long debates in the Senate. M. Berenger said that, before they could discuss a Bill about relegation, they ought first to know what the place of relegation was to be; and that the long delay of more than a year which had already occurred was precisely because there was so much uncertainty, even now, about the place. New Caledonia had been spoken of, but every one had been obliged to recognize that the number of reoidivistes who could be sent there was very small, and that the island ought to be kept for great criminals; even, therefore, if New Caledonia would serve in some measure to attain the objects of this Bill, it was not the less necessary to find another place also, and there was no other place possible but Guiana. Now, a Commissioner in whom great confidence was felt was going to inquire into the fitness of Guiana; and what was the use of having one, if the law were now voted to which the inquiry was to apply. Either it was useful or it was not; if it was, then let them wait for it. The Minister of the Interior, in reply, again insisted on the Bill going on. As to the financial question, he said certainly the Finance Committee would have to intervene, but the financial results of the Bill might vary infinitely, according to what was decided. Some provisions might entail a given expense, while others might cost fifty times as much, depending on the classes of recidivistes created by the Bill and what was to be done with them. The Bill was not one which had to be accepted or rejected without more or less of amendment; and, although the Government would be glad to have the Finance Committee's advice, that did not prevent the Bill itself being debated. But the President of the Senate here intervened to point out that, as the Senate had referred the Bill to the Finance Committee, the debate could not be opened till their report had been laid on the table. Thereupon, subject to that point, the Bill was placed on the Order Paper. This short discussion seems already to promise, as I have long expected, plenty of difference of opinion when the debates really begin. I have, &c, The Hon. the Premier, Wellington. F. D. Bell. I—A. 4.