THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 139

Downing Street,
25th January, 1864.

Sir,—I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of your Despatches, of the numbers
and dates noted in the margin,* informing
me of the result of several partial engage-
ments which had taken place with the rebel-
lious Natives, and of their abandonment of
the position which they had taken up at
Meremere, on the Waikato river.

I have much pleasure in expressing to you
my satisfaction at the gallantry, zeal, and
endurance which have been shown by Her
Majesty's Troops, and by the Local Forces,
on the occasions referred to in your Des-
patches.

I have, &c., NEWCASTLE.
Governor Sir George Grey, K.C.B.,
&c., &c., &c.

Downing Street,
26th January, 1864.

Sir,—I beg to enclose for your information
a copy of a Despatch which I have addressed
to the Governors of New South Wales,
Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, and
Queensland, communicating the decision of
Her Majesty's Government with respect to
the question of Transportation and Penal
Servitude, so far as the Australian Continent
is concerned.

I have, &c., NEWCASTLE.
Governor Sir George Grey, K.C.В.
&c., &c., &c.

Downing Street,
January, 1864.

Sir,—It has become my duty to convey to
you the decision at which Her Majesty's
Government have arrived, with respect to
the Report of the Royal Commission ap-
pointed to enquire into the operation of the
Acts relating to Transportation and Penal
Servitude.

That Report has received from Her Ma-
jesty's Government the full and respectful
consideration to which the distinguished
position, the great ability, and the high
character of the Commissioners entitled it.

Of the general value of recommendations
proceeding (almost unanimously) from such
a body of public men, and founded upon a
long and laborious enquiry, it is not for me
to speak. I have only to deal with those
which refer to the question of Transportation,
and they may be shortly stated as follows :--

The Commissioners do not advise the
establishment of any new Penal Colony.
They recommend that all male Convicts who
are not disqualified for useful labour in a
Colony, should during the latter part of
their punishment be sent to Western Aus-
tralia; and they reckon that the number

• No. 145, 2nd November, 1863
  " 146, 2nd " 1863
  " 150, 2nd " 1863
  " 151, 6th " 1863

available for that purpose, in case their other
recommendation as to lengthening sentences
of penal servitude were adopted, would not
exceed 1,500 annually, and might not amount
to nearly so many.

It would be unfair to the Commissioners
to suppose that this proposal, which has
excited so much alarm in the Eastern Colo-
nies of Australia, was made by them in the
interests of the mother country alone. On
the contrary, they received the strongest
evidence as to the almost unanimous desire
of the free inhabitants of Western Australia
to receive an increased supply of Convict
labour, as well as of the singular adaptation
of that settlement for its reception; while
they were convinced by testimony, which
appeared to them sufficient, that there was
no reason to fear any considerable escape or
migration of Convicts or expirees to the
other Colonies, and no danger therefore of
an increased Transportation to one Colony
doing substantial injury to the others.

It is not needful for me to discuss the
number of the Convicts who may have made
their way to Melbourne or other ports; nor
the degree to which it would be hereafter
possible to absorb or retain a much larger
Convict and ex-Convict population within the
limits of Western Australia. It is enough
for me to inform you that Her Majesty's
Government have taken into careful con-
sideration the addresses which have reached
the Queen from the Eastern Colonies, which
from their origin, their earnestness, and their
loyalty they recognise as representing not
only the numbers, but also the property, the
intelligence, and the character of those com-
munities, and as expressing not mere popular
prejudice, but deep feelings and moral con-

They desire, indeed, distinctly to guard
themselves against giving any apparent sanc-
tion to the doctrine, which might seem to be
involved in these remonstrances, that the
settlers in certain portions of a vast territory
belonging to the Crown have any general
right to dictate what shall, or shall not, be
done throughout the whole of it.

But they are equally anxious, so far as
their duty to the mother country and the
interests and wishes of Her
Australian subjects. They have
determined, therefore, differing with regret
upon this important subject from the Royal
Commissioners, not to adopt their recom-
mendation with respect to Transportation to
Western Australia. Upon the other hand,
they are not prepared to comply with the
desire of some of the addresses which have
been received, that Transportation to that
Colony should be at once and altogether dis-
continued.

Such a change could not be made with
justice to those who have reasonably calcu-
lated upon a continuance of the policy under
which Her Majesty's Government some
years ago began to supply them with Con-