VAN DIEMEN'S LAND.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume II, Issue 119, 19 September 1846, Page 3

VAN DIEMEN'S LAND.

[From the Cornwall Chronicle, Aug. 5 & 12.] Hobart Town, Aug. 5. — The barque Lalla Rookh, from London 14th April, ar- i rived August Ist, with a general cargo.- -Despatches have been received to the latter end ot March. Lord Stanley's measures with reference to the grant of £24,000 annually to 'this colony, as a means of defrayment of gaol • and police expenditure, and the resumption of the land fund by the Home Government, have been carried into execution by Mr. Gladstone. This is a most signal proof of the confidence of the Home Government in the administra,tion of his Excellency Sir EardlyWilnviC The Spectator [Hobart Town] containi an extract from a despatch dated 14th March, in which Sir Eardley's conduct is spoken of ■in the most flattering terms. Among others -is ; the following :—" You njJJ.perctive that they !

i (the grant of £24,000, &c.) are founded very | much on the representations which you have 1 addressed to Lord Stanley in the course of the last two years relative to the financial embarrassments of Van Dieraen's Land, and the heavy burden on it by the present system of transportation." Mr. Gladstone, in. the same despatch, expresses his approval of the Governor's course in adjpurning the Legislature last year. — Courier,

Revenue and Expenditure o* xh* Colony. — The allowance of £24,000 per annum by the Home Government towards the payment of police, judicial, and gaol expenses incurred in this colony, it as liberal as could be expected by every reasonable man. According to the estimate of expenditure just published, we find the charge for the second quarter of 1846 as under:—

making £1 1,53*2 : 14 : 5 for the quarter, or at the rate of £46,130 : 17 : 8 a-year : thus the sum allowed is more than one-half of the entue expenditure ; and when it is calculated that the cost of the Court of Requests is included in the above amount of £11,532: 14:5, with which the convict population can have nothing whatever to do, and that even without the presence of prisoners in the colony the expensive portion of the various departments would be kept up to satisfy the monster Patrouage, it may be fairly estimated that the £24,000 per annum is equal to two-thirds of the necessary cost of surveillance for the prisoners. [From the Hobart Town Courier, Aug. 12.] Legislative Council. — Pursuant to adjournment, the Council assembled yesterday* There was a full meeting, with the exception of the Chief Justice (engaged in banco in the Supreme Court) and the Collector of Customs (absent in Sydney). The returns of which Mr. Allison gave notice of motion at the last sitting were laid on the table by the Colonial Secretary, with the exception of the most material information sought to be obtained — that of distinguishing in criminal proceeding* the expense of prosecuting the " bond" as compared with the " free." The returns were ordered to be printed. The return! .moved W by Mr.'O'Qonnor, with regard to the increase of public houses, were also laid on the table. The Bill to " regulate the Treatment of Insane Persons in certain cases" was read a third time and passed. A committee of five members was appointed to report on the Highways Bill. The Bill " for building and maintaining a Bridge over the River Derwent, at Bridgewater," and the Bill " to provide for the Lighting, Paving, and Cleansing of the City of Hobart Town, and for the appointment and election of Com? missioners," &c, were severally read a first time, and ordered for second readings this day, when the Council will meet at one o'clock* Main Road Act. — The draft of the "Act for the better Regulation and Maintenance of the Main Road from Hobart Town to Launcestoa" requires careful examination. It is one of those half-and-half kind of measured consequent upon, our anomalous position, half free half bond, which renders such legislative enactments at once weak add uncertain, yet arbitrary and oppressive.. Of such a nature as the last appear the clauses by which cattle found wandering on the highway may be impounded, but cannot be released by replevin. The main object of the act is the establish^ men; of tolls, so that a fund may be raised to pay for the^risonerlabour employed upon the road. We are still of opinion thai before any act of this kind is passed,, the main road ought to be perfected between the two' principal towni'and ports r of the' island, from which the Government derive, , ueaciy, every shilling of their ordinary, revenue, amounting Xo~ some £80,000 per annum. " ' ,

Police - Mounted Police Supreme Court Law Officers Court of Requests, Quarter Set* sions, and Clerks of Peace Sheriffs - - - Gaol* 4 #. d. 7,504 5. 4114 6 0 917 13 0 680 13 8 868 19 4 629 2 11 717 14 2