WESTERN AUSTRALIA AND TRANSPORTATION.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 6, 14 June 1864, Page 3

WESTERN AUSTRALIA AND TRANSPORTATION.

(From the SS Ai Register; May£ 4.) \ The Perth papers which have just; reached us contain some. particulars of an; interview which several of the colonists of; Western Australia recently had with thei Grovernor ofthe colony 1 on the subject' of j ; transportation. These gentlemen waited j : upon His Excellency in support of a I memorial .which they : liacl^ p^epar,ed, o andj ' which prayed for the discontmuance 'ofj transportation. 1 Their tiesi re \'\i appears, is; to get the present penal settlement j abolished, and >a' sanitarium established ; in its place:, But.the^jGrpyemor. ,Qbjec ; ts ! to the proposal, and. .suggests ; jtha.t. : the! colony might have a sanitarium as well as ; a penal settleinentY The neAyspapers,in; their reports of the interview; state that! " His Excellency commehcedby expressing; his disapproval of the memorial; whicli he believed would injure the-- colony, as ; regards transportation ;„ but he was not: unfriendly to the ; idea of asking for a| sanitarium." He therefore thought that . the colonists, instead of prayingY for a y discontinuance of transportation,, would; ' do well to express their regret that a: larger number of convicts was not to be; sent out ; and to request that, as a. set-off; to this disadvantage, the Home G-overri-. ment would cause a samtarimnito-be !: esta-. Wished. His Excellency also sought to show that greater benefits were at preserit derived from transportation than the, memorialists imagined, for the -actual ex-; penditure ofthe past year, - in hard cash,; was £98,000, whilst the colonial revenue' was only £57,000, so tliat £-41,000 of the money expended in the colony was pro-; vided by the Imperial Government. 'But these reasons did not convince the memorialists. Ono of them (Mr. Landor) urged tho necessity of an increased tide of free immigration. He said that all the free people were leaving the Colony, and tliat in a few years the settlers who remained would be left with nothing but a convict population. He also remarked that the advantage of convict expenditure was limited to a narrow circle, and that tbe colony generally was not benefited by it, whereas the establishment of a sanitarium would induce free immigration. The other memorialists spoke in terms equally noticeable. Mr. Phillips observed that the settlers were all reducing their establishments, and he was convinced that they would, as a body, sign a petition against transportation. Mr. Samson next spoke of the commercial depression which prevailed, stating that " all tlie storekeepers were insolvent, and that if any pressure was put upon them a general bankruptcy would ensue." This speaker also said ho was convinced that i lie eastern colonies would carry their point against transportation, and that therefore tlie Western A ustralians should at once ask for something more. " The convicts, he believed, had driven out tho free mechanics." In conclusion, Mr. Brokmau stated that thu colonists had had enough of convicts, " unless they could <jot them in Hrger numbers." Tho deputation then withdrew, but not before the Governor had informed them tliat ho could take no notico of the memorial, unless it wore signed by the settlers throughout the colony. Fromthe foregoing' statements it will be seen that even if the present memorial be not proceeded with, there are indications of a change in the opinions of the people of Western Australia, which will bring about important results. The Governor of the colony and the newspapers are not favourable to the discontinuance of transportation at present; and there are many of the settlers who take a similar view", for they. dread the withdrawal of the £-I*o,ooo annual expenditure which is now otained from the home G-overinent. But the statements made by Mr. Samson and the other memorialists cannot be overlooked. They represent Western Australia to be on the verge of bankruptcy, notwithstanding the aid which is obtained from the Imperial Treasury, and which will be quite insufficient by itself to prvent the downward tendency of the colony. Whether the novel remedy of establishing a sanitarium, and of getting invalids from India instead of convicts' from England, would give prosperity to the colony we have considerable doubt. But the object of the memorialists is to retain Imperial expenditure of some sort. They think that if they could do this, and at the same time get rid of their convicts, they would be in a position to make a fresh start, and would have some chance of in-duciuo-free immigrants to take their labour and tlieir capital to Western Australia. A short time ago there were no persons in the colony who would admit this. They were buoyed up with the hope of increased expenditure on the* penal establishments and a larger supply of convict labour. But there is now no longer any prospect of this, and some of the colonists, therefore, see that their only safety lies in a radical change of system.