MR. EDWARD WILSON AND THE TRANSPORTATION QUESTION.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 34, 18 August 1864, Page 7

MR. EDWARD WILSON AND THE TRANSPORTATION QUESTION.

"" " (From" the Sotjthlaxd Times, August 4.) ! Mb. ' Edward WiLSON,, . one of the proprietors of "_ the' Argus newspaper, is, as most of . our. readers are ;aware,' a gentleman who has > done very much to earn for himself "the, respect and friendship "of his " feUo-tf -colonists,. He has always been ready arid willing to .give both time and money, and generally to lend the' weight of his influence towards forwarding any scheme which appeared worthy of such support. All this and more we are prepared without" hesitation to grant him ; but whilst y doing so, -we by no means consider Him infallible; on the contrary, we have a "strong" opinion that liis interest in any project he may take in hand is very liable to degenerate "into fanaticism. He is, in short, fond of a hobby, and of riding it rather hard. One of those movements to which Mr. Edward Wilson has given the light of his countenance, is that for stopping the transportation of criminals to Western Australia ; and lately, influenced by the apparent apathy of others of the same way of thinking, he has addressed a lengthy letter to the paper of which he is part proprietor,' setting forth his views at great length. Now, the importation of a portion of the criminal population of Great Britain into any of the Australian Colonies, is what we are compelled to look at in the light of a great moral wrong, and so far our views coincide with those held by Mr. Edward Wilson, but with the means which he proposes adopting himself, and which he likewise recommends to the serious consideration of his friends and the public in order to attain the desired end, we entirely dissent. Mr. Wilson says he -has always been very strongly opposed to transportation — to making Australia a v common "sewer, as it were, for the refuse of British society ; and finding that the Home Government are still bent upon continuing the evil in the . face of: the expressed opinion, of the great body of, colonists, he is determined at once to adopt a novel Hue of action, and begin to re-ship expiree convicts to England. . "I. "'shall 1 begiri to send honie some of the "worst .specimens? of the expiree f . class "that . l can 'ihduce to go, arid .1/7 shall " continue to do so. as long as -I have the " means ■ to. do' "it with/a nd' r tbe "convict "istream-nflows - hitherward from_ Great ""Britain:" Itris wor thy'of Tremark that afci's; in -the- lilry^S thaFthe letter appears ; it is the Argus that comments upon it favorably m its leading 3 columns ; it is iri the Argus that the "crude effusions of a host of correspondents on. the subject find: a place ; and that. the Argus ,is ,.,at-leas.t in part tlie property/ of .Mr. .Edward Wil-; son. The 'great' majority /of_the _ news- 1 "papers which have" taken Notice of ; the7?scheme; ' "bavle done 7 so -only to; oppose it, and "we" are mclined to; think^Tthat ' i had7 ;. MtV- J -Wilson-' beeni in no -way cbhribcted- with the Argus I that journal wpuld/haye, adopted a diffe-j rent lme ;of '(^gutaent,/ 'a,M .aniiyed^at; drffere^cbncluSmn^' It is 'true that Mr. W^soN is .not, the editor.of .-the ,Argus,\ 'ant 1 " that " sasd views the} gentleman whp/occupies /that position arei supppsed r tp ( 'r,es^t ; : ; frpmfln^f pwn.;honest| convictions'; !bni] .'all things- considered, I ,^e r ,are,. inclined toTbelieve that^ pn<the adof^taybag transpprt'atibn by] sending back criminals to England, thej pen of the editpr 7 has, to a certain extent,! beenrguided/hy the.handjpf theprpprietor. j : -'-iT&:;peqple"of ' Ausfrali'a and New Zea- j viand; :f an/ii"he | ,piestian, 7althbughiiinr &• -lesser/ degree) j would bear in mind that the author'?Pfi this letter tpJthe:^y«sCis; : alsb the*", owner] of 'the 7^^,, :^ attach less] weight .to-.ntKe^iPpmipns ,of that f! j,p^rnal| on fnis s^jec^^th^ririliey; /-dii-ghtspthef wi'sb \ feel ihclinedto do. ' Lei Mr: Wilson's plan fjfcarid or fall on its .own merits, as put forward by a private; individual; but let it not be adopted as though seriously

.l'ecommoiided byine leadings jouttial' of A Let us seeV; thehY what\ this j Bcheme, is .worth 7when ; viewed in this' light. Transportation to Western, Aus- ! tralia may be regarded as one of: the great I questions of tbe day,, and if not settled ; to the satisfaction of the" group of Cblo- j nies whose interests "are most seriously affected by jit, the issue ; may be "fraught with far morb momentous results than 'can at present -be distinctly foreseen. 7 So- . much.;Mr." Wilson can perceive ; but he - appears tp -; forget: that,? being^;afnatibrial question, : it should be treated as such, and that it is, to. say the least of it, pre.sumptipus- .for> a /.-private 'individual to , i thrust, himself forward and/declare himself ready: to 'combat single-handed 5 with ■:■■ a: /diffieidty/'which should' be 'met- by ;the : sagaci% /of , a people: . He, says that , his plan should have been adopted in 1848;' but he 'forgets to remind us that that ! nbt over-scrupulous body -—-the/Victorian ; Assembly— have dealt with ■ -Ihe. matter. He forgets to mention that Mr. Kyte's proposition that a (certain .amount of the public money should be expended in exactly ■ the ihanner he how proposes, was ■met" /with scorn, as developing a line of policy degrading in itself, .arid -calculated, even should it prove successful, to stir up the angriest feelings between' the mother country and her dependencies at this; side of the world. 'I^6 Victorian Assembly will be "found to support this miserable attempt at retaliation for what is without doubt a great wrong to the colonies^ and a grievous blot on the fair-dealing and generosity of England. But Mr. Wilson sees nothing of this. The Assembly think the proposal what an American 'would be apt to term "mean." What does this man care for the Assembly ? He • will take the whole responsibility of the meanness on his own shoulders ! Tlie 'Assembly are of opinion that the attempt would tend to create a serious breach in the friendly relations which exist between the mother country and her dependencies. This wrong-brained champion of Colonial rights, does not recognise the situation, or is willing to risk the possibility of such a 'termination to his pet scheme. The Assembly think that the public money would be wasted, as far as the actual relief likely to be given to the Colony by any such measure as that proposed by Mr. Ktte ; but Mr. Wilson has so great faith in his own powers, both of pocket and influence, that he is prepared to step in where the representatives of the people have, after due deliberation, feared to tread. Mr. Wilson has started a hobbyhorse, and is apparently about to ride it full gallop wherever it may chose to lead him. The decision of the Assembly was endorsed by the majority of the colonists ; they were content tp suffer the present evil, rather than risk those greater ones which the carrying out of such a policy was likely to. entail. There are doubtless some few .sensible men who are of Mr. Wilson's way of . thinking, but the majority of,, his supporters in this matter have been/jufluenced by his wellknown character as an earnest worker for the good of his fellow-colonists, and led away by the opinions expressed in the columns of the Argus. There is another point from which to look at this scheme for ridding the Colonies of the bane of transportation, which we have not hitherto noticed, but which is well worthy of consideration. We can well understand that the limited number of expirees which it will be in the power of Mr. Wilson and his friends to send to England, will be : :iken by very many at home to be only a small sample of what the Colony of Victoria possesses a very large stock. If he success in ridding Australia of a few hundreds of her very worst class of criminals in the course of a year, as he proposes to do, should he be supported to any extent, we may rest assured that their ' old habits will remain with them. They robbed and murdered there, they will do the same in England, and the ' natural effect will be that free ' immigration to the shores of Australia | will receive a severe check. The evil of having a large criminal class in her midst will not be mended by sending home the worst specimens, to create an .exaggerated impression of Australian .depravity, and thereby deter the free emigrant from making his future home within _ her. borders. It cannot be contended that this argument is far-fetched. ?It,is one, which will commend itself to the judgment of anyone who knows with what horror the convict population is viewed in Great Britain.' Neither the capitalist hbr the .farm laborer will be influenced favorably .towards a Colony which is so over-burdeneed with criminals that she pays the passages, of such; -of them as she can: induce to go, in /'order to be rid of their: hated presence. ' Both one and the other will certainly prefer, when emigrating, to go to some spot where life and property are apparently more §ecure. We sincerely trust that Mr. Wilson's attempt may prove a miserable failure. . The colony which has suffered so much from the convict class should not leave power in-"the bands/ of a private^ citizen to! -damage Ther good . name/ by making out ;!her //.pbsition , worse that it, really! is. /TWe- dp not -believe: that MrJ -Wilson's novel emigration scheme would: 'succeed in its primary object— that '/of -inducing 'Great Britain 7 tp stay |he ; tide f of.transpprtation to the'shbres of Western . Xustralia^ but we ■ are convinced it' would acreate evils'* of greater magnitude. /It is: ..the' proposal of a ''man who; whatever' liis; 'goo/a. /qualities may// be- has one great /def ect Ihhjs character '—■ want, bf j udgment, ; Jand an r aptitude forrunning-into Extremes. , In no instance: has he displayed this more, than by his present proposed /action.' 7 .He is a member''bTitiiezlAnti^ Lpagu.(B: *be nas/placed/^hLms^elf /under oits0 its \ banners, 1 : andtwere/vhe, contenttto. do-his? duty as ah r active ajid^consciehtibus.^mem- } ber of body,;, he; w <fc'B%aK§ tSB/resp/ect^ people, -fchan^ sending;;Kp/me. expirees to Great Britain.} To 'the; Aiti-toansportation League we must look for the solution of this difficulty, md to the justice and good sense of the home authorities. The

colonist may ii^ye tp Tw'ait, but obhey had better do so than back up any such schem ; as that : of Mr. Edward Wilson.- 7. ; '