MISCELLANIES. 



531 



uion, not to be expected until 

 after-generations. 



The same advantages as are al- 

 lowed to convicts having served 

 their time, are given to those who 

 have been pardoned or emanci- 

 pated by the governor ; and your 

 committee do not wish to dismiss 

 the subject without making some 

 observations upon the power pos- 

 sessed by him of granting to con- 

 victs either the entire or partial 

 remission of their sentence, or 

 tickets of leave, by which they are 

 altogether relieved from its se- 

 verity. They do not see any 

 necessity for the governor's pos- 

 sessing a power to grant these 

 absolute or conditional pardons ; 

 it is a power liable to great abuse, 

 and which appears to have been 

 at times very much abused. It is 

 in evidence, that in some years 

 one hundred and fifty pardons 

 liave been granted ; that pardons 

 have been granted to convicts im- 

 mediately upon their arrival, with- 

 out reference to their characters or 

 merits ; and it appears rather to 

 liave, at times, beon made an in- 

 strument to gain popularity, than 

 the means of rewarding exemplary 

 conduct by a well-deserved exten- 

 sion of his Majesty's mercy. Your 

 committee therefore suggest, that 

 no pardon whatever, real or con- 

 ditional, be granted but through 

 the Secretary of State. This may 

 create a delay perhaps of a year, in 

 obtaining the pardon of any con- 

 vict, but that inconvenience will 

 not be great, for by granting to 

 him a ticket of leave, the convict 

 will in the mean time be entirely 

 relieved from the pressure of his 

 sentence. Upon the subject of 

 tickets of leave, your committee 

 feel, that the power of granting 



them ought to remain in full force 

 with the governor; but it is a 

 power which they would wish to 

 see sparingly and cautiously made 

 use of; and with this view they 

 recommend that an annual return 

 be made to the Secretary of State's 

 office, of the number of tickets of 

 leave issued in the year, with a 

 statement of the grounds upon 

 which each was granted. 



No difficulty appears to exist 

 amongst the major part of the men 

 who do not wish to remain in the 

 colony, of finding means to return 

 to this country. All but the aged 

 and infirm easily find employment 

 on board the ships visiting New 

 South Wales, and are allowed to 

 work their passage home; but 

 such facility is not afforded to the 

 women : they have no possible 

 method of leaving the colony but 

 by prostituting themselves on board 

 the ships whose masters may chuse 

 to receive them. They who are 

 sent to New South Wales, that their 

 former habits may be relinquish- 

 ed, cannot obtain a return to this 

 country, but by relapsing into that 

 mode of life, which with many has 

 been the first cause of all their 

 crimes and misfortunes. To those 

 who shrink from these means, or 

 are unable even thus to obtain a 

 passage for themselves, transporta- 

 tion for seven years is converted 

 into a banishment for life, and the 

 just and humane provisions of the 

 law, by which diflerent periods of 

 transportation are apportioned to 

 different degrees of crime, are ren- 

 dered entirely null : to see this 

 defect in the punishment re- 

 medied, is the anxious wish of 

 your committee ; and they trust 

 that means may be devised to fa- 

 cilitate the return of such women 



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