530 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1SI3, 



the)' are aware that the women 

 sentout areof the most abandoned 

 description, and that in many in- 

 stances they are likely to whet and 

 to encourage the vices of the men, 

 whilst but a small proportion will 

 make any step towards reforma- 

 tion ; but yet, with all their vices, 

 such women as these were the 

 mothers of a great part of the in- 

 habitants now existing in the co- 

 lony, and from this stock only can 

 a reasonable hope be held out of 

 rapid increase to the population ; 

 upon which increase, here, as in 

 all infant colonies, its growing 

 prosperity in great measure de- 

 pends. Let it be remembered too, 

 how much misery and vice are 

 likely to prevail in a society in 

 which the women bear no pro- 

 portion to the men ; in the colony, 

 at present, the number of men 

 compared to that of women, is as 

 two to one ; to this, in great mea- 

 sure, the prevalence of prostitution 

 is reasonably to be attributed ; but 

 increase that proportion, and the 

 temptation to abandoned vices will 

 also be increased, and the hopes of 

 establishing feelings of decency and 

 morality amongst the lower classes 

 will be still farther removed. 



The supply of women to the 

 colony must, however, be ma- 

 terially diminished by the propos- 

 ed system of employing convicts 

 in penitentiary houses ; and your 

 committee think this an addi- 

 tional reason for affording increas- 

 ed facilities to the wives of male 

 convicts, who may wish to ac- 

 company or follow their husbands 

 to New South Wales. This per- 

 mission is now seldom granted, 

 and that only to the wives of men 

 transported for life or for fourteen 

 years. It is, however, the most 



eligible way of providing the co^ 

 lony with women, and one which 

 may with very great advantage be 

 much extended. 



At the expiration of the time to 

 which the convicts have been sen- 

 tenced, their freedom is at once 

 obtained, and they are at liberty 

 either to return to this country, or 

 to settle in New South Wales; 

 should the latter be their choice, a 

 grant is made to the unmarried of 

 forty acres of land, and to the 

 married of something more for the 

 wife and each child: tools and 

 stock ( which they are not allowed to 

 alienate) are also given to them, 

 and for eighteen months they are 

 victualled from the government 

 stores. In this manner they have 

 an opportunity of establishing 

 themselves in independence, and, 

 by proper conduct, to regain a re- 

 spectable place in society ; and 

 such instances, your committee 

 are glad to learn, are not unfre- 

 quent. They also see with satis- 

 faction, that governor Macquarrie 

 adopts it as a principle, that long- 

 tried good conduct should leadi 

 man back to that rank in society 

 which he had forfeited, and do 

 away, in as far as the case will 

 admit, all retrospect of former bad 

 conduct ; this appears to him to be 

 the greatest " inducement that can 

 be held out towards the reforma- 

 tion of the manners of the inha- 

 bitants." In these principles your 

 committee cordially concur, and 

 are the more anxious to express 

 their opinion, as under a former go- 

 vernor, transports, whatever their 

 conduct might be, were in no in- 

 stance permitted to hold places of 

 trust and confidence, or even to 

 come to the Government House; 

 those advantages being, in his opi- 



