THE PENAL ELEMENT IN NEW CALEDONIA.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1716, 21 June 1884, Page 4

THE PENAL ELEMENT IN NEW CALEDONIA.

The Paris Temps, speaking of the convict question in New Caledonia, says;-"Tho very natural idea of employing liberated convicts in agricultural labors or in tho mines is being moro and moro abandoned, and it was quite timo to reconsider the decree which preceded tho immigration of laborers from tho South Sea Islands into Now California. Tho liberated convict, liecustomed t > i o:civo his bread, his clothing, and his boots at tho bands of penal administration, entertains a marked ropugance to makirg up bis mind to work for his livelihood, In general ho prefers to lead tho life of a vagrant and to content himself with tho meagre rations doled out to him by tho Government, or, better still, to obtain a situation in somo liquor shop in Noumea. Tho hulks may bo a place of repression, but they never have been and never will bo a school of morality, As to tho recidivates whom it is proposed to send in such numbers to Noumea, under the delusive idea that they will work there, we may be perfectly certain that, they will merely augment tho number of malefactors already on 'the spot. It would be a thousand times better to enlarge for that purpose, the houses of correction in Prance than to embark these people foi' New Caledonia, It would cost much less, and would produce a much better result, to bring together rccidivisles and liberated ruffians who havo grown grey in prison, as to benevolently create an assemblaga of perverted beings, who will not only compromise the safety of the Colony, but will completely destroy the discipline already impaired i i tho penitentiaries," Writing upon tho same same subject, tho Neo C.iledonicn remarks "To eat, drink, sleep, and do uoth : ng-sucb is tho life led by the greater, part of tho liberated convicts established in Noumea, , , . Access to

tlio city lias been open for lome time pastto nil of them who tiro disposed to profit by it, the formalities necessary to be complied with for that purpose being n mere farco, and they pass from hand to hand so readily, as to bo scarcaly worth speaking of. We have ourselves seen liberes arriving from the interior penetrating into and sojourning in Noumea without any authority; and that, too, with such impunity that it appeared to he the easiest thing in the world."

After speaking of tho number of haunts of crime and debauchery which have sprung up in and around Noumea, of the largely increased consumption of fermented liquors, and the impossibility of finding ex-convicts who are willing to work, the 'Neo CalJ donien'proceed:-"With plenty of population and scarcely any production, there is consequently very little work going on. Buildings arc often left incomplete; but on the other hind, liquor shops aro always occupied, especially in certain quarters; so much eo, that one may assert tho business of a grog-seller to bo that in which a fortune is made most rapidly in Noumea. In a word, one feels tlm there is a cortain class of inhabitants m this city who do nothing, and who only live upon corruption, This state of tiling! is already prejudicial to the free society l>y tho number of misdeeds which result from it, Men must h ive tho means of maintaining thomselyca in this idleness, and where these are wanting they must l-;e found—to say nothin" of other passions which have to bo gratified, as exemplified by certain crimes upon children of a very tender age, which ought to have been prevented by denying such scoundrels access to the city; and unhappily similar facts are reproduced wherever the population begins to agglomerate. At Thio half tho liberated convicts do no work, At Bourail the laboring settlers are pillaged by foul parasites, who live in the most shameful promiscuous intercourse. Tho only serious romcdyfor these evils would ho to purpo tho country of this population by confining it to an island where it would be isolated without any possibility of itj mixing with tho free clement, and where ifc would bo consequently obliged to provide for its subsistence by labor and production."