Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 1.djvu/552

 428 JAMES MARIA MATRA'S 1783 Sydney's obeennfttion. Report on gaola. Ooloniaatlon reoom* mended. Convicts should be sent out to form colonies. Transporta- tion to Africa. Expense of settlement in Africa. Cost of convicts at home. Two plans for uUlisinf^ convicts. indeed some epochs in a State when emigrations from it may be too numerous ; but then, from some calamitous and urgent pnblick cause, it must be unworthy of inhabitants. August 23rd, 1783. James M. Matra. When I conversed with Lord Sydney on this subject^ it wae observed that New South Wales would be a very proper r^on for the reception of criminals condemned to transportation. I believe that it will be found that in this idea good policy and humanity are united. It will here be very pertinent to my purpose to give an extract from the report of the committee appointed to consider the several returns relative to gaols. 1st Resolution : That the plan of establishing a colony or colo- nies in some distant part of the globe, and in newly <^scovered countries where the climate is healthy, and where the means of support are obtainable, is equally agreeable to the dictates of humanity and sound policy, and might prove in the result advan- tageous to navigation and commerce. 2nd Resolution : That it is the opinion of this committee that it might be of public utility if the laws which now direct and author- ise the transportation of certain convicts to his Majesty's colonies and plantations in North America, were made to authorise the same to any part of the globe that may be found expedient. Seven hundred and forty-six convicts were sent to Africa from the year 1775 to 1776. The concise account of them given into the committee exhibits an alarming expenditure of human life: three hundred and thirty-four died, two hundred and seventy-one deserted to no one knows where, and of the remainder no account could be given. Governor O'Hara, who had resided in Africa many years, was of opinion that British convicts could not for any time exist in that climate. The estimate of the expense given in by Mr. Roberts, necessary to establish a settlement there to receive them, amounted to £9,865 ; afterwards the annual charge to the public for each con- vict would be about £15 4s. Government pays annually to the contractor, for each convict who is employed in the hulks, £26 15s. lOd. The annual work of each man is valued at a third of the expense. I am informed that in some years more than a thousand felons are convicted, many of whom are under eighteen years of age. The charge to the public for these convicts has been increasing for the last seven or eight years, and I believe now amounts to more than £20,000 per annum. When the convicts were sent to America, they were sold for a servitude of seven years. A proposal has been made for the alteration of this mode resjjecting those sent to Africa, by con- demning them to some public work there. They were to be Digitized by Google