CONVICT DISCIPLINE. 509 



and pardon can only be obtained by comparative, 

 not absolute reformation. By tbe dispersion of 

 convicts, under the assignment system or otherwise, 

 the effects of evil communication will be guarded 

 against, and those of intercourse with the virtuous 

 and the honest substituted. 



I am not of course, as I have said, prepared here 

 even to sketch a new plan of convict discipline; but 

 I think that the suggestion I have made with refe- 

 rence to the employment of prisoners in the con- 

 struction of railroads, the capital to be supplied by 

 a private company, would afford a temporary relief 

 to the labour market, whilst it would confer a last- 

 ing benefit on the colony. During the diversion 

 thus created, time would be afforded for digesting a 

 plan of convict discipline, which should be consis- 

 tent with economy, with a due regard to the interests 

 of the settlers, and with the moral improvement of 

 the prisoners. 



I would also suggest another mode of employing 

 the probationers. They might be dispersed through 

 the islands in Bass Strait, and engaged in con- 

 structing the lighthouses which are so much wanted 

 there. Six years ago his Excellency Sir John 

 Franklin drew the attention of the Government of 

 New South Wales to the necessity existing for these 

 lighthouses. On this occasion a mass of evidence 

 was given before the Legislative Council as to which 

 would be the most eligible sites ; but up to this pe- 

 riod only two have been founded, both by the Tasma- 

 nian Government, one on the Chappell Isles, another 



