THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1880.

Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3480, 19 February 1880, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1880.

Oub ttlegrnms yesterday notified the facb of a number of convicts from New Caledonia having reached Auckland, their passages being paid by the French authorities in New Caledonia to our shores. A great deal of interest has been pxcited in .Auckland over the occurrence, and bot.h journals in thatrcily hate-ftri.icl.es upon the. subject.. ■ The Hemld if ■iompelleH to'gi'vp. a little ct'f «lit to .Sir Gforgp Gvay who foresKW tlmt such.-pvwtiis might happen, and who took steps to provide for such, circumstances, but in their i wisdon our legislators rejected the .suggestion of the late Premier. The. article referred to says :—" Events have justified Sir George in one particular. He introduced a bill into the Legislature to prevent convicts from foreign settlements entering the colony, and on the second reading he referred to the-determinafcion of the French Government to release large numbers of convicts in New Caledonia and other of their.Pacific possessions. The bill was not passed, and even if it had been, would probably have been reserved for the Queen's assent. We today have to regret that the colony has not had the benefit of Sir George Grey's foresight. A vessel has arrived at the Manukau, bringing twenty-five convicts from New Caledonia, some of whom are said to be Communists, and the remainder criminals of the usual type. Thus, the | evil which the late Premier would have prevented is upon us.. When the British Government sent convicts to Melbourne and the Cape of Good Hope, the people rore and plainly intimated their inten-.j tion of resisting their landing by force, j It would have been our duty to have evinced the same public spirit as was shown by the sister colonies, but the men have been landed, and all that remains to j us is to consider the steps that can be ) taken to deal with this insult to the colony —this nefarious foisting on us by the French authorities of criminals of whom they desire to be rid. We have placed 'on the statute-book a law which prohibits the introduction of convicts from Britain or any British possession v and, forsooth, we find ourselves in presence of the contamination of criminals sent here by a so called friendly power. We call upon the Government to do its duly, and disregarding the fact that there is no specific law, to act on the accepted principle of all nations—the unassailable axiom that " the safety of the ■ "people is the first law." The Star is equally outspoken upon the subject, and says:—" This unneigh,bourly outrage, which the Government of England dafe'not "perpetrate ori her colonies, must be vigorously.- resented. Are t relieved of liability to convict emigration from Great Britain ibnly to become, the^ receptacle of the crirriirfal scum of Europe? We trow not; and even if it be true that the delay in passing preve'n* talive measures in New South Wales was caused by the disinclination of Sir Hercules liobinson to move decisively in the matter, His Excellency will find that the.colonists of these islands who have no past history of criminal taint, will not stand any obstruction of those measures which the people will insist upon the legislature passing. It is intolerable that the state of the law should have made such a thing possible." ..

There can be no two opinions upon the matter, it cannot be borne that New Zealand should be turned into a convict settlement, a place where the illbehaved and the criminal class of other States should find shelter. We pride ourselves upon the superior class of our colonists, and notwithstanding that freeI dom to all.is guaranteed under bur flag, we are certainly not called upon to include convicts, nor allow the introduction of a class that may reasonably be expected to havp anything but a good effect upon our future prosperity. If there is no law at present in force, one of the first measures to be introduced in the next session of Parliament should be one to deal with the question, and until that time the Government should take every step to prevent the further importation of suoh a very un« desirable class of colonists.