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Tous las autres exemplaires originaux sont filmis en commenpant par la premiere page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'HIustration et en terminant par la derniire page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboies suivants apparaitra sur la derniire image de cheque microfiche, selon Ie cas: Ie symbols — ^ signifie "A SUIVNE", ie symbols V signifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc.. peuvent Atre fiimis A des taux de reduction diffArents. Lorsque Ie document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seui ciichA. ii est film* A partir de i'angie supirieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en bas. en prenant Ie nombre d'imagas nicessaire. Les diagrammes suivants iilustrent la mithode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 CbUectLo/v No. 531. Vol. XI.] JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS. [J^n. 23, 1863. lonntri of tjje Socielg of %xh. FEW AY, JANUARY 23, 1863. CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF EDUCA- TIONAL UNIONS IN CONNEXION WITH THE SOCIETY OF ARTS. The following circular, enclosing jjarticulars of the Examinations of the Central Committee (see the last page of the Society's Exomination Programme) has been issued to the Institutions : Society of Arts, John-street, Adeli>hi, London, W.C, 22nd January, 1863. Deab SrB, — I beg to call youi- special attention to the Elementary Examinations of the " Central Committee," of which I enclose paiiiculai's. These Examinations are intended principally for those who are not sufficiently advanced to be able to avail them- selves of the Final Examinations of the Society of Arts. In case of your having any Candidates, you will observe that application should be made to me for the requisite forms on or before the 2nd February. lam, dear sir, yours faithfully, P. LE NEVE FOSTER, Secretary to the Central Committee. SEVENTH ORDINARY MEETING. Wednesday, January 21, 1863. The Seventh Ordinary Meeting of the One Hundred and Ninth Session was held on Wed- nesday, the 21st inst., Sir Thomas Phillips, F.G.S., Chairman of the Council, in the chair. The following candidates were proposed for election as members of the Society : — Browne, William, jun. ••. {^tSc^SL^^'^' ^''''''- CoUyor, Charles Edwards. 150, Fencl.urch-street, E.C, Dawbarn, Richard Wood. Wisbech. ■ 13, Pembridge-place, Bayti- water, W. ■ Prestoln, near Bolton, Mau- \ Chester. Willis, James 42, Little Britain, E.C. MeiTy, William L. . Rivett, Joseph Adric . The following Candidates were balloted for and duly elected members of the Society : — Ell, George 366 & 368,Euston-road,N.W. Home, D. Milne, (Royall tt j i o i tit Horse Guards) .....;... j Hyde-park Bairacks, W. Tones, James W P V^f'^'^^ir r'" ""'J ^^' I I I I I Mark-lane, E.C. j Hewlett, Anthony Hare,.. Burlington arcade, W. Klaftonberger, Charles I. 157, Rejj .nt-street, W. Lainson, George 1, Henry-place, Clapham, S. Macadam, Stevenson, | ^'f^^f ?«" /he Royal Scot- Ph.D., F.R.S.E., F.C.s! \ *'*j^ ^'^'^ °^ '*■'''*' ^*^'"- Martin, William Henry... 64 & 65, Burlington-arcade, W. Matthews, Frank, jun. ... Driffield, Yorkshire. Nash, John Tullock P' ^\ Stephen's-road, Bays- l water, W. Pease, Joseph Whitwell. Woodlands, Darlington. Eoeser, &. Egan F"'<^y Chambers, Northum- " X berland-st., Strand, W.C. S»nds, Thos. C 7, Bishopgate- street, Leeds. Tucker, Prof. Raymond . Watkins, James Wiener, Charles Williams, George Joseph. Wellington College, Sand- hurst. ' Grammar and Commercial School, Deptford, S.E. 88, Ebury-street, Eaton- square, S.W. 17, Cavendish-place, Caven- dish-square, W. Wisfi Fiftn,.ia / Chandos Chambers, Bucking- VVise, J^ianus | ham-street, Adelphi, W.C. And as Honobary CoRBEsroNDino Membkbs: — Dammas, M Berlin. Dietrich, M Berlin. Stefi'eck, Professor Berlin, The Paper read was — CCNVICT LABOUR AND COLONISATION, WITH SUGGESTIONS FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A NEW PENAL SETTLEMENT IN THE JiajaSjySaJiAifcTERRITORIES. By a. K. Isbisteh, M.A., of the Middle Temple. The history of convict discipline and transportation is intimately connected with the growth and extension of the colonial empire of this country, and, consequently, with the spread of its Commerce, Arts, Manufactures, and Poli- tical Power. It is from this aspect, as coming legitimately within the province of this Society, that it is proposed in the present paper to discuss the important subject of con- vict labour and colonisation, a subject, at this moment, exciting a deep and general interest throughout the country. The law books tell us that exile was first introduced as a punishment in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, by Stat, 39 Eliz., c. 4, which enacted that " such rogues as were dangerons to the inferior people should be banished the realm." The statute in which the word transportation ia first used is Act 18 Car. 11., c. 3, which gives a power to the judges, at their discretion, either to execute or trans- port to America for life, the mosstroopers of Cumberland and Northumberland. Transportation was first brought into general use, as a punishment, in the year 1718, by Stat. 4 Geo. I., c. 11, continued by Stat. 6, Geo. I., c. 23, which allowed courts of law a discretionary power to orde" felons who were by law entitled to benefit of clergy, to be transported to the American plantations. Under these enactments persons were allowed to contract for the transportation of convicts to the colonies, with an interest in their labour for seven or fouitcen years, according to the period of the conviction. Tlie system of transporta- tion to the American colonies continued for fifty-six years, until the breaking out of the American Revolution in 1775. The convicts having accumulated greatly during tlie next few years, when the intercourse with America was clcsed, it became necessary to resort to some other expedient, and in tlie choice of "difficulties the system of the hulks was suggested, and first adopted under the authority of a Statute of 16 Geo. III. Various other ex- pedients were subsequently tried, such as the establish- ment of penitentiaries, and the employment of convicts in clearing and deepening the Thames and other rivers. These expedients proving, however, inefl'ectual to meet the evil, transportation was again revived in 1764, '-y Act 24 Geo. 111., c. 56. Aftersome unsuccessful attempv. a dispose of the convicts through the medium of contractors, in our settlements in Africa, Botany Bay , on the eastern coast of New South Wales, was, in the year 1 787, selected as a per- manent receptacle f'orcriminals, and an Act o f the Legislatue was passed authorising the establishment of a Court of Judi- cature, for the trial of offenders who should be transported there. The system of transportation to Australia thus in- augurated continued in operation, greatly to the advantage not only of the mother country, but of the colonies, urtQ the appointment of the Committee of tho House of Commons in 1837, commonly known as Sir William 185165 I?6c X IGO JOURNAL OP THE SOCIETY OF ARTS, January 23, 1863. Molesworth's Committee, wliich reported so strongly against tlio system, and its injurious operation in impeding the progreKS of free emigration, that the Government were forced to difcontinuo it. The abandonment of transporta- tion was strongly opposed at tiie time by the colony of New Soutli Wales, which may truly be said to have been itself the creation of convict labour ; but when, a short time afterwards, the Government attempted to re-introduce it, it was found that the .igitation set on foot in England had effected a conijileto revolution in the seniinn^nts of the colonists, who now refused to receive any more convicts from Britain. Attempts were then made to distribute them jartially among other colonies, but the Cape of Good Hope actually rebelled against the experiment. Its ex- ample was shortly afterwards followed by Van Dieman's Land, and, by 1853, Western Australia was the only colony willing to rcctivc convicts in small numbers. In that year transportation was tiiially abolislied as a judicial Kcntence, by the Act IC and 17 S'ict., e. O'.t, and " Penal Servitude" substituted in its place. Under tills system, criminals, as is well known, are subjected to tlircu distinct stages of rctbrmatory treatment. 1. A period of separate con(ine!iient in gaols adapted for that purpose in various parts of the kin,L;dom. 2. A period of associated labour, or penal servitude, in proportion to the kngtli of tlie sentence. 3. A period of modified freedom, on " Ticket- of-leave," at home or in the colonies. Western Australia being, as already mentioned, now the only colony available. It is not my intention to trace the various modifications which the system of penal servitude has undergone, or to investigate the causes which have led to its failure, for that it has fuled seems now to be admitted even bj' its warmest advocates. It is difficult, indeed, to conceive how a system could otherwise than fail, the essential principle of wliich is the annual disebarg", of some thousands of criminals, after their term of reformatory discipline has expired, upon a population whose social system they have outraged perhaps for a series of years — a population which will not receive them ; which will not employ them ; which has no place for them ; and where they arc consecpiently, and of necessity, cast back upon a fresh career of crime as the only means of preserving a wretched existence. Against this inexorable social law our model prisons, our penitentiaries, our reformatory efforts, liowevcr mei'itoiious, are powerless, for so long as these expedients fail in re-establishing the criminal as a useful citi'^cn at the end of his sentence, the great object for wdiich they were instituted remains unarcomplished, if, indeed, they are not, in reality, aggravating the evil they arc designed to eradicate, by easting forth annually on society the materials which, sooner or later, go to swell the ranks of that groat army of crime which is lecruiting so rapidly in our midst, and to which every year is con- tributing fresh additions. To remedy this evil, transportation appears to me to be the best system of punishment which has ever been de- vised, being, to (luote the words ofthe late Lord Chancellor Campbell, " a punishment very formidable in anticipation, yet comparatively mild in endurance, alTording the public the best security against repetition of the crime, and afford- ing the convict the best, perhaps the only, chance of re- formation." We all know what important results it has achieved in our American and Austi'alian colonics, where the labour of convicts, properly utilised and directed, has contribnled so largely towards opening up new and produc- tive sources of wealth for the mother eountiy, and laying the foundation of g cat and prosijerous communities, which are, at this day, amongst the largest consumers of our manu- factures, and among the chief supjwrls of our commercial pre-eminence and prosperity. There is no reason whatever why an experiment which has been already so successful should not be repeated. We have seen that for more than fifty years it worked successfully in America, when it was iiddenly arrested by the War of Independence. It was or a similar period equally successful in New South f \ Wales, and its discontinuance there, strongly opposed as wo have seen, in the first instance, by the colony itself, was, in reality, not the work of tlie colonists, but of Sir William Mok'swoith's Committee and a few active par- tisans in this country, who ajipear to have been mainly in- fluenced by the reports of the opeiation of the 'VNtcm under very anomalous and exceptional circumstanci in Norfolk Island. The eviiience given before the committee on that occasion, and the use to which Norfolk Island was tlien, and has since been, applied by the opponents of transportation, atlbrds a striking illustration ot what may be effected liy skilful and persevering agitation. Tlie horrors of this " pandemonuim" have invariably formed, and form to this day, the stock aigirment flung at the head of iiny luckless wight who advocates the establishment of a pen:\l settlement. As a writer in a recent nmnlier of the Tiima well observes, ■ To create a new penal settlement is, we are told, to civ;itc a ' Norfolk Island ;' and tlicrc are those wlio consider that the simple use of these two words disposes of a great question. Let us look lor a nionent at the facts. Disagreeable as the contemplation may be, it is necessary. Norfolk Island was the scat of nn establishment for the detention of convicts sent to the Australian colonies, and again con- victed in those colonics — the very quintessence of villany. Tliat the habitual life of such a community was one from which the imagination shrinks, is, no doubt, true enough ; and it sn happened that just then, an able aiy.l powerful party at home wi'szealous against transport- ation, and that party fotuid in the honors of Norfolk Island, narrated by some very clever witnesses in ' sen- sation ' evidence, just the material they wanted to act on the popular imagination. It never occurred to them to discriminate— or ratlier, it would not have suited their purpose to discriminate — between tne results of mis- management or other special circumstances, in Norfolk Island itself, and tlie miserable, but inovitalde, results, of every system of punishment by which criminals, un- der the full impulses of their wretched animal nature, are either herded together in gangs or buried in the in- action of penitentiaries. It is easy to talk of the honors of Norfolk Island ; but has any one ever dared to investigate those of Bciinuda, or Gibraltar, or even of Portland and Dartmoor '? Eas any one ever souglit to compare them with the mass of moral mi.sery engendered in our prisons under the ' solitary ' or the ' separate ' systems ? Nay, strange to say, have many of us reflected on the in- consistency of denouncing ' penal settlements,' and j'et encouraging the emigration of masses of Chi.ese or other labourers, all, or neaily all, male, to regions where it is supposed their labour may be profitable? I ought to apologize for dwelling at all on such subjects, but it is necessary a'' least to allude to them, in order that we may be fully sensilile of the humiliating but unavoidable truth that every system of secondary punishment presents but an aspect of misery from which, if we look at it separately and not in comparison with others, cur moral sense shrinks so as for the time to paialyze our judgment." Criminals must bo punished notwithstanding, and how this can best be accomplished so as to secure the two great objects of all preventive punishments — the protection of society and the permanent reformation of the offender — is the qncstion which we are now called upon to decide. I would willingly adil to these objects one which this Society may legitimately, in the interest of the public, take it.'S part in pronroting, namely, " that the punish- ment should, as far as possible, be of such a nature .as to render the criminal useful to society during its infliction." That transportation unites these thieu elements in a greater degree than any otiier mode of punishment will probably be admitted by all, and that it has not been at once adopted under the pressure of our present difficulties, arises no doubt mainly, if not entirely, from the reluc- tance which the Government must naturally feel to enter upon an undertaking, the success of which is dependent so entirely on the fluctudting opinions and interests of a Sf*' JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS, Jancahy 23, 1863. IGl ly (i|jfioaed as colony itself, 'ts, but of Sir un- active jiar- tn mainly in- ' sy.steni under .'(•s in Norfolk OMiniittco oil )11< Inland was opjioMents of ot what may on. vc invariably giinicnt flung itlvocates the a writer in a To oieato a tc a ' Norfolk at the simple ue.stion. Let cfMl)le as the orfolk Island detention of Ki again con- intL's:end him from his home and his family to toil as an outcast in the mines. * ' * * * "Through her system of deportation, Russia has thus been indebted to Siberia for the amelioration, both moral and political, of her own condition. She has made good citizens of myriads who in other countries would have been indirectly condemned, on their first conviction, to a life of ignominy and shame; and thus has she virtually achieved the miracle of reconciling the safety of the in- nocent, not merely with the impunity, but even with the prosperity of the guilty."* Rennie : Tbe peculiarity of tbe island is, that tbe prevailing winds are westerly, and the valleys generally run east and west. " 420. So that the valleys are worse than the hills ?— Mr. Rennie : Yes, they become funnels in fact. '* I am desirous of drawing attention through your columni to these iitcts, which seem to me to be fatal to the selectiia of the Falkland Islands as a penal settlement. A country ";aere neither a tree nor a blade of corn can be grown, and whet; the inhabitants must be fed from England, at a distance of 8,000 miles, is certainly not fit for any settlement either penal or free, and could only be kept up at a ruinous expense. — I am, &c., QEOGRAPIIICUS. " London, Dec. 29." • Overland Journey Round the World, by Sir Oeorgt Simj». ion, Governor of tht HudtonU Bay Company' t Territonti pp. 396, 442. London : Colbarn, 1847. * 162 JOURNAL OF THE SOOIEXr OP ARTS, Januauy 23, 186a. Nor, turning from its efl'ects on Hus^lii, to the direct benulitfl it liiiH buon tlie nicunN of conferring on Siberia, arc the results of this far-reaching and benuHeent Hystem of }X)licy — antici|)atiug rather tiian following, in all cases, the stepH wiiich have been taken to colonise the country —less worthy of notice. Notwithstanding the great extent oi this vast territoiy, the inhospitable cliaracter of the climate in which a large portion of it is vitiiated, and the phyxical diflicr'ties to lie encountered in traversing it, there is pcrliaps no part of it which is not virtually, as well as nominally, under the power of the Uussian Government. It is divided and sub- divided, and placed under the administration of governors, having a regular establishment of subordinate officers; and the constant communication of a regular post main- tains an intercourse beUveen St. Petersburg und every place jaiervening between it and the farthest fort of Kams- chatka. The influence of a controlling system is felt by the native tril)e,s, who subsist on the soil which their fore- fathers occupied before them ; and who, though it cannot bd said to what extent they have lost tlie nomadic cha- racter of their predecessors, are become a peaceable, and, more or less, agricultural people. The Government re- itrainsand regulates an increasing exile population, of whom (although individual cases of hardship must doubtless occur) we are told the general lot is as happy and prosperous as is eonsibtent with their unhappy condition. At the same time, the resources of the territoiy have been sedulously and effectually developed ; added to which, numerous im- j)ortant sources of a valuable foreign trade have been opened up. Of these it will be sufttcient to mention, as the most important branches, the fur trade, the trade in ivcry and leather, the intornaticnal traffic with China, and the mines and washeries of the Siberian and Uralian gold fields, whicli, as is well-known, now constitute one of the chief sources of tb.e revenue of the Uussian empire. And all this, it should be obsei'ved, has been going on simul- taneously with an annual influx of some thousands of convicts, continued for more than two centuries without internjission, and without any symptom of the system giving way or coming to an end. I have dwelt at this length on the example of Siberia, because it affords a -iractical illustration of the develop- ment and successful operation of a system 'vhich it appears to me might bo imitated witli advantage ii. n- own unoc- cupied possessions in North America. In \..e vast region surrounding Hudson's Bay, comprising an area ot nearly equal extent, we have a precise counterjjart of Siberia, and all the requisite conditions for an equally successful and compreliensive system of penal colonisation. We have in both teiritories a great trading company, monopolising the only important traffic, thatin furs ; but leaving the country, which they do not otherwise make use of, free to occui)ation and settieuient as it may be wanted. Situated nearly under the same latitude, and exposed to similar physical conditions, the climate of both regions is severe, but not unhealthy ; and the soil, though in large parts unpro- ductive, is in others well adapted for agiicultuval purposes. Within the last few yeare we have had, as respects the Hudson's Bay Territory, a most thorough and trustworthy investigation by a Committee of the House of Commons, of the character and resources of the country ; and in the valuable report presented by them to Parliainont, we have the most ample evidence that it possesses, as regards its climate and adaptation for settlement generally, all the requisites of a great and successful penal colony. I shall have occasion to show, as I proceed, that while, as com- pared with the corresponding districts of Northern Asia under the dominion of Russia, these territories afford the advantage of a readier access, namely, by sea, from the mother country, and an unrivalled .system of inland water- communication, they possess, at the same time, intrinsic resources at least adequate for the support and beneficial employment of a population, and the profitable investment of capital and labour. To these resources I shall .low proceed briefly to refer. A survey of the unoccupied tracts of Jiritish North America would present for notice five great natural regions : — (I.) The Columbian or Western Tenitory (comprising the greater part of the colony of British Columbia, with the adjacent districts) — a country of varied featiu-es, ex- tending f-'om the Bocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, and bounded severally on the north and south by the pos- sessions of Russia anci the United States. {2.) The Prairie Region, drained by the Saskatchewan, the Red River and their affluents, and extending from the Rocky Mountains eastward to tirie chain of Great LakeH, affording a continuous cf.mmunication by water from Canada to the Polar Sea in one direction, and, with some inteiTuptions, a similar communication westward with the Pacific Ocean, (3.) The Wooded Region, occupying the remaining sec- tion of the country, to the shores of Hudson's and James's Bays, having for its northern li. ait the highest feeders of the Churchill River, and continuous southward with the vast primeval forest so well known as the seat of thu lumber trade of Canada. (4.) The strip of sterile countiy familiarly known a? the " Barren Grounds," skirting the shores of the Polar Sea; and (6.) The Valley of the McKenzie and its tributaries, a well-wooded tract, situated north of the Prairie Region, and comprising the district between the Barren Grounds and the Russian settlements on the north-w^st coast. The general character of the different d rtricts will be sufficiently comprehended from this summary. Their united area cannot be con'ectly given ; it certainly exceeds three millions of squarfj miles ; it is probably not much under four. Excluding British Columbia, which, for the purposes of the present paper, may be omitted from our review, the most remarkable characteristic of the country east and north of the Rocky Mountains, consists in the numerous large rivers which traverse it. One of the most striking features connected with these rivers is the remarkable intorlockage of their waters, forming natural systems of water communication by means of which the country can bo traversed in every direction. Most of the rivers which drain what has been termed the " Wooded Region," have their outlets in or near James's Bay. One of the most import;>nt of these, on account of its situation, is the Jloose River and its afHuent, the Abbitibee. Both rise in lakes situated on the high ground between Canada and the Hudson's Bay territoiy, and being connected with the upi^er waters of the Michipicotton and Ottowa rivers (tlie former flowing into Lake Superior, and the latter into St. Lawrence,) are accordingly used as the most con- venient means of communication between lx)th countries, and are the most frequented roads from James's Bay to the great commercial town of Montreal. Another im- portant stream is Albany River, which affords a communi- cation by means of Engl'>h River and its tributaries and connected lakes, between James's Bay and Lake Winipeg. The Rupert River, which has its outlet at the bottom of James's Bay, and whose head wateiB are con- nected witli those of the Saguenay of Lower Canada, affords a similar communication in an opposite direction with the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which is thus connected with Hudson's Bay on the one hand, and with Lake Superior, Lake Winipeg, and the Saskatchewan on the other. All these routes are more or less in actual use by the voyagers of the Hudson's Bay Company, and, although iii their present condition they are unfit for the navigation of anything but small river craft and bateaux used in the fur trade, the existence of so many nieans of water- communication, all interlocking with each other, is an in- teresting feature which may bie turned to important ac- count hereafter in the future history of these countries. Lake Winipeg is the centre of another remarkable river system, whose numerous ramifications extend in every direction to the remotest parts of British North JOUaNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS, January 23, 1863. ir.:) ■ JWtish North great natural ory (compriHing Columbia, with sd features, ex- Paciflo Ocean, uth hy the pos- Saskatchewan, niHng from the f Great Lakes, ly water from ii'l, with some tward with the remaining seo- I's and James's hest feeders of ward with the le seat of thu irly known a? 9 of the Polar 3 tributaries, a 'rairie Region, irren Grounds 3st coast, stricts will be tnary. Their tftiiily exceeds bly not much le purposes of r review, the itiy east and ho numorouB most striking 3 remarkable al systems of 3 country can livers which tegion," have of the most ition, is the Both rise in Canada and ted with the ttowa rivers id the latter le most con- th countiies, nes's Bay to Another im- a communi- tributaries ,' and Lake utlet at the ere are con- 'cr Canada, te direction s connected with Lake van on the tual use by d, although navigation ax used in 8 of water- sr, is an in- portant ac- )untries, remarkable extend in tish North America. Tills iiilaiul sea, as it may appropriately be termed witii its systuni ot' associated lake basins — the Winipegoosis and the Miinitobah — receives at its nor- thern extroniity its largest tributary, the Saskatchewan. All Jio waters wliich descend from the eastern decli- vity of tlio llocky Mountains, between 4/ and 53 degree-, nortii laftude, unite in two large rivers the northcin md soutticrn branches of the Saskatchewan, liotii branches form a junction atioutloO miles Troni their souice, and after a coui'se of about 300 miles more, the united stream falls into Lake Winipeg, from which it again issues under the name of Nelson River, and after expanding several times in its course into lakes, finally empties itself into lludnon's Bay, near York Factory, it is nav'gablo for l)0ats from Rocky Mountain House, in longitude 115 dsg. west, to Lake Winipog, in longitude 98, upwards of 700 miles in a direct line, but by the actual course of the stream nearly double that distance. The north branch, whose sources are separated only by " a short poitage" from those of McKenzie and Frazer Rivers (flowiig re- spectively into the Northern and Pacific Ooean-i, is navigable from Fort Edmonton downward, without a single portage alike for boats and canoes. The upward navigation is, however, interrupted by a formidable rapid at the entrance of the river into Lake Winipeg, where boats, although they can descend without unloading, are unable to stem the force of the current in ascending, and have, therefore, to be transported over a portage more than a mile in length. The south branch is quite free from interruption, and is upon, the whole, a still finer stream than the northern. The whole river from its rise in the Rocky Mountains to its embouchure in Hudson's Bay is about 1,600 miles in length. The intercourse Iwtween Lake Winipeg and Hudson's Bay is chiefly carried on by means of a chain of small lakes and rivers, uniting in York River, which runs nearly parallel with the Sas- katchewan or Nelson, the two rivers falling into the sea nearly together. On the tongue of land between their mouths is situated York Factory, the principal port in Hudson's Bay. and the emporium of the Hudson's Bay Company's trade. Another large stream exceeding the Saskatchewan in length, in volume, and in the extent of territory drained by its tributaries, is the McKenzie, rising like it in the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, and fk)wing after a course of about 2,500 miles in a generally north and north-western direction into the Polar Sea, in lat. 68 deg. 30m. N., and long. 135 deg. W. The head waters of the McKenzi'3 not only closely approach those of the Saskatchewan, but also those of the Columbia and Fraser Rivers, flowing through British Columbia into the Pacific, so that here again we have one of those remarkable inter- lockages of river systems even among the crests of the Rocky Mountains, which form so characteristic a feature of the physical geography of this portion of the continent of North America. There is a direct communication by means of a series of rivers and lakes which strike off fi'om its northern extremity between Lake Winipeg and tlie McKenzie on the one hand, and, as already stated, between the same lake and York Factory on the other, by means of the York River, thus affording a direct water communication through the Interior of the continent be- tween Hudson's Bay and the Polar Sea. It is along this route, navigable throughout for boats, that the inland traffic of the Hudson's Bay Company is carried on, and by means of which supplies are forwarded from post to post without difficulty, fro"^ the emporium at York to the remotest stations on the McKenzie. Here along a continuous waterway of between four and five thousand miles in extent, we have a country admi- rably adapted for a comprehensive scheme of penal colo- nisation — land certainly not of the first quality, and the less likely on that account to attract voluntary emigi'a- tion, but susceptible of cultivation, and well adapted in many places for pasturage and the rearing of stock ; timber in inexhaustible quantity and suitable for all the require- ments of settlement ; river.-' and lakes abounding,' in fish of the best quality ; and, lastly, a climate severe luit bealtliy, and as proved by the experience of the servants of the Hudson's Bay Company, wlio have occupied tlie i-oiintry for nearly two centurie-i, congenial totiio Euro|ic;iii lonsti- tutioii.* In such a country, where the choice lies between labour and want, enforced residence wonlil "f itsclt have all the force of a deterrent punishment, with out re- sorting to the artificial expedients and restraints i es- sary in more fwoiu'cd regions. A narrow verge of si-itln- ment on the l)anksof a rapid streaTu,with an inipenctrable forest on either side, rendering escape hopeless except with the certainty of perishing in the wilderness* prosentH so many facilities for guanling the convicts wliicli might be settled there, tliat not only would the expense of a costly guard be in a great measure dispensed with, but atteinpt.s at ei-cape would probably be but lew, and when made easily defeated. They could only be made in one way, that is by the river, and as the direc- tion of both the York and the McKenzie is atoay from civilisation, the difficulty of escape is greatly increased, and rendered, indeed, practically insurmountable. To escape down either of these rivets to the icy seas in which they empty themselves would be simply to invito destruction ; and, on the other hand, to ascend and drag a boat up an impetuous river, interrupted liy numerous portages, rapids, and waterfalls, is a feat physically impracticable to an unaided individual, and possible of accomplisiiinent only by the union and organisation of many. The Russian system of planting a convict down on a piece of ground with such assistance in the way of agricultural implements and stock as to give him a fair start for life, would, in such a country as Australia, be simply a premium upon crime. But in the country we arc now considering it might be done with- out injury, for, shut out as the exile would be from all inter- course with civilised society, and guarded by bitter blasts, the most favourable view could not picture his lot as aught but hard. For the worst class of criminals, and for re- fractory or re-convicted felons, there would be the " hard labour"of road-making, clearing the portages and obstruc- tions to navigation, and, lastly, as in Russia, and in the state of New York, for incorrigible offenders, working in mines. To the well-conducted, on the other hand, might be held out the hope of being removed to the milder climate and tlio more fertile country around Lake Winipeg, between which and the bleak shores of Hudson'.s Bay, or the Polar Sea, a chain of settlements might be established, affording all the gradations between a country where wheat grows luxuriantly, and one where potatoes and garden vegetables can be raised only with difficulty — in other words, between a position of comfort and ease and a life of penury and hard- ship. As a further incentive to good conduct, this class, too, might, as in Russia, be allowed to marry, or to bring their wives and families, if already married, along with them, and thereby blot out one of the darkest stains in the convict system of England. This is not the time nor the place to enter into the details of the organisation of the scheme I have here very briefly and imperfectly sketched. The principle on which it rests is simple and intelligible, and it has this at least in its favour, that it has been tried elsewhere, and is at this moment in successful operation, while our own system has notoriously and avowedly failed. This ought to be sufficient of itself to induce us to give it, at least, a fair trial. The locality recommended for the experiment is open to no valid objection, so far as I am aware, and has, on the other hand, many undeniable advantages in hs favour. * The limits of the present paper will not allow of bo full a detail of the mineral and agricultural resources of this part of the country, for tbe support and beneficial employment of a population, as could be wished. Ibe reader is referred to another paper, in this Jouriial,hy tbe present writer (published March 1, 1861), in which this part of the subject is discussed •t great length. '•kL, ^•ss 164 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS, January 23, 1863. JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS, January li:{, IBM. 1(55 3J Am i;oiii|WV'(l with Aiistniliii, tho b'alklands, aiitl other isl^uiilH ill tho I'acilii' \vhic:li hiivo biicii suggostcd, Hud- sou's Hay, whii.di is within ten days' stuam of England, inuy 1)0 sjiiil to lio at oiii' voiy door, anil although uivcshIMu dmin-- a iVnv inoiitliH only in thu yoar, this is an advan- tagd latiiii' tliaii otliurwisi;, as i-onvicts once scttlivl in tin; I'oiiiitiv will 111' prcL'ludi'.d from all possibility of csimiic — ■ having on oiiu siili.' an ii:o-('ni;innliuiod s'-a, iiniuai'ticahlt! for- navigation dining tho givator part ot tho year, and on th" (itlii;r an iniiiassablo wildoriiess of many thousand sipiaro iniliis in rxti'iit, cutting oil' all intoicouisci with tho s.-iiii'Miciits on tho s(jiith and wost. It is, in fact, a givat iialnial prison, m.irkid hy tho hand of nature for a poiial srtilcMieut, and capalili! of absorbing in its vast area the I'liininal poimlation of jsngland for ceatinios to ooino. As regards thu Hudson's liay Comp«ny, that body has cxprcssoil its wiiliiigiiuss boforo a rocont Coinniittoe of till, llonsoof (Joininoiis to surrender any portion of the territory under its jiirisdietionwhieh may bo required for pnb- | lieolijeets. Theeoinpaiiy's lioenseofoxelusivo trade expired i in 1 8o',l, and the Duko of Newcastle, with wise foresight ' for tho publie interests, has declined up to this time to i renew it. | Tho few scattered remnants of the aboriginal population I now existing in the part of tho country proposed for set- i tlement eaii readily bo removed, and with groat advantage [ to themselves, to the lied Uiver Colony, where thai e is at the presotit time a tlourisliing Indian settlement, eom- poseortatioii was oxpirwl ? Tliero wns no iiu-ans of \>\o- viUiiin loi' tlidir lutiin! I'Oiii'i! of lift', aiiJ tlicy (.oulil hanlly ln^ i'atul>IihliL>il in liuilKun'H Jiay tu fann tliu laiiil. I'lco cdlonihts hail an oliji'ction to the omploy- mcnt of liliuiatfil tonvints, and tliuir oliji'ct had ahvayH licen to obtain paid laliouicis of r. diircicnt ulas.-t, whilHt to tliu convict lilionroi', an lio !iad hcfore icniarkdd, tht'io wa.s hnt littU; induccnnfiit to work, lIo would only add, that in tho ovuiit of a ictnin to tlm Nvstuin of transiiortation of oiiniinal ollcndcix, attention Hhonld, in his o|iinion, lnj directed to juovidinf,' them with tho means ol' iutnro oxihtcnco, and oi' leading a fe- foi'imd life after ''leir fcntence.i were ex|iired. Mr. W. IIawils said ho w.ts sino no apology was nc- ccssiuy fiom the nnthorof this paper for having introduced the \niy important wnhject of convict colonisation to tho iittentiiin of this Society, for ho did not know anj' l)ody of men whatever who were moro interested in tlic proper administration of the ]icnal laws of tho country than tlie incmhers of tho Society of Arts. They iiad j property exposed in every way, and at all times, to tlio do- ] prcdations of tho thief; their personal safety was specially in danger from tlie necessity whicli business enforced upon thorn uf being out at all times and in all manner of places, and therefore those present nnist consider this a very proper paper to lie submitted to them, and one in wiiich they must all feel the greatent imssiblo interest. Tho arguments used by My. Isbister w ere based upon two as.suinptions ; first, that tho present convict system had entirely failed ; and, se- condly, that the only course now open to the country was a retni n to transportation, in order to disposo of our crimi- nal population. He demnrrod to lirth these propositions. He said tliat other treatment than transportation had not (JO entirely failed, and thoy had ainplo evii'ionce before them that, under proper care and discipline, and under tlie administration of proper jersons, there were means of treating tho criminal population in such a manner as to place all notorious anil dangerous eriminals beyond tho ]ialo of society, and only to release those who, after a season of severe penal servitude, liad proved themselves able and willing to earn an honest liveliliood, after their period of confinement had passed. If it were the fact that those means were practically in existence, then the expense of transporting tho ciiminal population, and all the moral evils attending it, to a place .•iuch as had been deseribod to them tliat evening, and recommeiuled to them by com- paring it with Siberia, was unnecessary, and he believed it would bo against tho feelings, the incjiidiees, and the na- tural instincts of the country that they should endeavour to create a settlement upon Ihitish territory upon the prin- ciple adopted by Russia in establishing the great penal colony of Siberia. He believed they iiad only to look carefully at tho working of the penal system now in force in Ireland to bo satisfied that if the same amount of Cinergy and talent were applied to that of England, tho ?ame, oi nearly the same, results would follow. In Ire- land tlie criminal population was steadily decreasing. AVhen released fiom prison after tho full period of incar- ceration, they found that the great mas- wore absorbed and employed, and tlicrc was even a demand at the prisons for those who had worked out their sentences; but the vcveiTo was the case in England. Why, then, diil this difTerencc exist between Ireland and England ? First, he believed, because there was not that conviction in tho minds of those in authority in l^igland of the Roundness of the principles established" and practically carried out in Ireland, which was absolutely necessary to insure success. Moreover, our prisons were conducted upon no fixed ^irineiplos of penal discipline, but were all more or less subject to the opinions, feelings, and perhaps the some- what capricious exercise of their powers by tho local magis- trates, and were not governed by one inflexible rule, which ought to apply to every prison, and ho enforced against every person who deserved to be confined for a long period, as having thereby proved himself unfit to be Ht liberty. In Ireland the .system ot penal servitude had sueeeodcd ; in England it manifestly had to a grerit extent failed ; in the one case it proved !;ooil, in tiie other bad. In tho one case, the ciiminal population was turned loose iip'in society after short imprisonments, again to jioi petrato otiier and moro aggravated ilepredatioiiH ; in tlio other case, long impiisonments and otlier ehoeks upon tho piisoiier adordcd him an op|)oitiinity of showing his improved character, and his desire to abandon his evil habits, and to g.uu an honest livelihood. The great ob- ject should be to witlidiaw our criminal population in tho earlier stages of ciimo from socic'ty. That was tlio conrsi! which tho statesman ninl iihilaiithiojiist would ])ur8ue, and not by neglect of our jiauper or poor eliildren, to leave them to lie educated in ei ime, and tluMi to beeonio fit subjects for transpoitation. We ought, in the first plice, to look to the means of preventing this erimiiial iiopulation glowing iij), but as that could not bo wholly pievented, we ought to treat all thes'i who had bi'cn in custody many times as persons dangeious to society, and lock thomuii; and if that was not suflirieiit, they ought to endure soiiu! bodily iiunishni'iit. They ought to feel .hat which thoy had iiitlictcd upon the iniioeent jiart of tho population. He- held that we li.id no light to throw into our colonics tho rofu^i.' jiopulation of the mother country, or to detoriorato tin; niorals of our eolonist.s by placing amongst them hundredsand thonsandsof tho vilest of our criminal population, so as to reduce in a great degree tho moral standard of the colony to which we sent them. Kut they had been referred, in the paper, to America and New South Wales as eviib'nees of the suc- cess of the transportation system, but he would ask, were there no evidences to tho contrary? was tho sncces.s, as tested by results, so entiroly complete'.' It was now nearly 100 yea's since they ceased to transi)ort criminals to America, and ho would ask whether thoy might not trace many of tho worst phases of tho American cha- racter to tho seeds that were sown by tlie thousands and lens of thousands of our ciiminal population who were sent to that country '? Might we not infer that thit criminal population had reproduced in another generation many of their vices ; and was not the deterioration in many respects of the Anglo-Saxon race in America fairly attribntablo to this vicious element ? They could not be insensible to tho dillerenco between that race and the jiopnlation from which they had sprung, and of which wo were so proud in this country, and all those who studied the eharaotcv of our Australian colonies would see, with regret, tendencies to the same vices in those colonies which had been the recipients of our convicts that tlioy ."aw in America, arising from the transportatinn for half a ccnturv of our criminal population to that country. He said there was every possible reason why they should not transport their criminals, but keep them here under proper regidations, ami enforce obedience to tho laws of this conn- try, and if the ciiminal, after ample warning and punish- ment, still remained disobedient to them, then he should br held in custody, if necessary, for life. By what means, then, was this to be done? They could trace a portion of tho evils of the present time to tho altered criminal legis- lature of the last few years. I5y an Act of only recent standing, criminals who had been convicted five or six times, could, by obedience to prison discipline, obtain tho remission of a great part of their .sentence, without afford- ing any evidence whatever of iiieir power to resist temp- tations to crime when out of prison, or tho commission of similar offences to those for which they had already suf- fered. A criminal convicted and imprisoned many times before, might commit a series of smaller offences, or even grave ofTences, to which he might plead guilty before tho sitting magistrate, and might be adjudged for each of such crimes a few weeks' imprisonment, and bo let out again improved in crime by his prison associations, and ready at once to fall back again into a fresh career of villiany. On the other hand, if a man's previous eonvictioni were properly considered at the time of his punishment, (and no criminal ought to be aentenoed afresh, no matter, : c n> "HI "iliv. JJ.IIJi.'J Wft'.-.v'JifllUii'JJMW JOUUNAL OP THE SOCIETY OF AllT.S, Januauv 2:), 180:!. 107 to a ffruat extent 1 (111- other li.vl. vuN (iinu'tl lijino ain to [x!! |iotiato i; ill the otliei' lei'kH II] mil the of uliowinj,' hin haiulon his evil The gicnt oli- 1 population in That was tho tlirojiist woiiM ■ poor fliildioii, thon to lipconio 1 the, (hstpliiee, iiial population iilly pievcnted, 'I'n in custody i<'ty, and lock thuy ought to Oll^ilt to fl'Ol iMi'ciit part of light to throw [if tlio motliiu' ir colonists by ids of the vilest CO in a groat which wo sent tho pajici', to •OS of tlie Mic- Liiild ask, wore ;lie success, as It was now port criminals • they might American ch.T- thousands and on who were t that criminal ition many of many icspccts ittributalilo to insensible to piilation from -ore so proud tlie cliaractcr with regret, ilonics whicli t they saw in lalf a ccnturv y. Ho said • should not under proper iof thiscoun- and pimisli- en he should what means, B a portion of ■iminal legis- ■ only recent d five or six e, obtain tho thout aflbrd- I resist tenip- )mmission of already suf- niany times ices, or even y before tho each of such et out again and ready at of villiany. •ictioDi were lent, (and no natter. :o:n- I pirativi'ly S|ie;iking, how trilling the crime with whi'h lio w.is char^jod, without diij consideration of his former oiVciiccs) it ought not to be within the power of any one magistniti', or evrn of magistratoH in potty sessions, to .send such an olVondor to [iris ii for a sliort pi'rlol, but lu) should lie ol)lig(!d to h<\ I tho casu to tlio assises or til,' sessions to III! tried by a jiii'y> ■'*'"1 'I'o .I'l'l?;" should then aiiportion a si^ntcnce, not for the oll'cneo imino- di.uely eominittc'd, but for that and his former crimes, j which proved him to bo an incorrigible criniiiirtl, and a j man unfit to lie at large, and who, therefore, ought to li! coiilinod lor a longer period thin would bo adjudged I'or the simple crime for which ho was then being t ■';veiy governor of prisons should bo guidod, without tho j malt 'r being left to tho caprice of a single oflirier. They ! iei|iiired, also, that a eommitting rigistrato should care- ' fully consider, not only the crime for which tho prisoner j was brought before him, but tho number of times ho had been convicted. Thn.i, instead of remission of sentence | following from mere good conduct in prison, decided upon by i iv.ison oilieois upon feeling rather than upon facts, it should ! follow from that and tho amount of woi k tho prisoner had done, and the money ho had thereby earned — not work re>tiicted by prison liours, but every man detorminod to! work for a remission of his sentence, should have the op- ! portunity of working longer hours, and thus of proving industrious habi' i, and what ho earned by his industry , should form a imiu, not to be given iv(;r to iiim in money | on his release from prison, to go back 'o his former asso- ' ciafui.iH, lint to aid him in emigrating to anotiier country, I eacli man choosing for himself tho country ho would go | ti:i. Tho released prisoner would then take his dopavtnro ' tVoiii his native country as a free emigrant, holding a tes- timonial of a character earned by a long period of labour [ and industiy, obtained under most trying circumstances. 1 Upon tho present system, however, they introduced the I element of hope for a remission of sentence from a mere I external and, it might be, hypocritical observance of cer- ! Iain forms and ceremonies wiiicli there was no means of properly testing so as to know whether it sprang from tho iieart, or was only a sham put on whilst in prison, the criminal being well aware that if he went through certain formal observances, and pleased his ofiicors, he •would obtain a remis-ion of his sentence. i\[r. UonEUT Dawhaiin', as a country magistrate, wished to state that tho fact was not, as mentioned by Mr.Hawes, tliat one inagistrato decided cases of the nature he had referred to, for in petty sessions the cases were adjudicated always by two magistrates, and very frequently by more. In London those (unctions wore performed by one stipen- dary magistrate alone. There were three points of view from which this (piestion ought to bo regarded. IJlrst, the conviction and sentence of the criminal ; next, the mode of carrying out tlie sentence ; and thirdly, tho re- sult of tho corrective influence of tlie administration of justice. Although justice was retributive, the Christian man neglected his duty if he did not l'^ok to the future improvement of those who came under its influence. The primary object of punishment in this country ■was to eileot tho reformation of the criminal. In 1853 a great change came over the practice of the law in the abolition of transportation to penal colonies abroad, and the substitution of penal servitude in the home prisons. Judges at assizes, and magistrates in quarter sessions, sentenced convicted prisoners to terms of penal servitude varying from three to four years, and ten yeais only in cases of extreme atrocity. The introduction of penal servitude at home gave rise to a system of prison discipline by which it was hoped to effect an earlier re- ilamation of those who had fallen into iiabits of vii;e, and they had iieard from .Mr. Ilawes the manner in which tho system had worked in Ireland ; anil in reference to tho eomduding remarks of that gentleman, ho would state that when ho was at Mottray, in Tours, he was very miieli struck with tho fact that thoehaplainof tho prison (it lieing a (Jatholio eountiy, ho was also tho confessor) never inter- fered with the carrying out of tho sentence on the prisoners, and he thought that would bo a eonaidoriiblo improvement in this country. In relation to the od'octs of penal servi- tude, Mr. Dawbarn expressed his opinion that, as fir as his experioneo in agricultural districts went, they had not lii;eu generally of an unsatisfactory character, aii'l he knew of several instances in which persons releasoil from penal ser- vitude had beeomo useful members of so ;ioty. Iliippily, in the rural (list riets,thoy wore nearly exempt from tlio-io eases of desperate atrocity and violence which had recontly oc- curreil in tho metropolis, and which were always found to be more prevalent in largo towns. lie thought it his duty, as one eonnectcd with tho administration of justice in tho rural districts, to make these few observations in reforetn'o to what had falbin t'rom tho last speaker. i\Ir. P. L. Si.M.MONDs said ho must dill'or entirely from tho opinion laid down by Jlr. Hawes, that the policy of, or necessity for, transportation, and tho nature of tho treat- ment of our criminal population at home, as dwelt on so much by tli i it speaker, was a right and proper one tobe discussed be"" otho members of a .society whoso ob- jects wore sot forili to bo tho Promotion of Arts, Miniifae- tures, and Cc 'in rce. The discussion of this phasj of tho subject w'.s more (it'odforthomootingsof the Social Science Congress, or some judicial .Lssombly. But under tlie title of Mr. Isbister's jiapor it might, in its colonising aspect, bo taken up Ly the members. Ho had listened .it- tentivoly to the address of Mr. Isbister, but ho must siiy he could not fall in with tho very sanguine views of that gentleman as to tho suitability of tho Hudson's 13ay ter- ritoriea for tho location of convict labour. There appeared to him many objections, among the most prominent of which were that no profitable result could ensue from employing convicts there. They could not bo, as in other cases, the pioneers of civilization in clearing forests, form- ing roads, bridges, and other public works, unless they could be turned to the formation of a convenient overland track of communication and resting posts for the great highway required through our North American possessions to thoikitish Columbia gold fields and the Pacific shore. Mr. Isbister had told tnem little or nothing of the indi- genous or available resources of the territory. There was no fuel to be obtained, and the woody regions were very limited. Where was the precise spot where the convicts were to be located ? Was it to be the " Barren grounds" of which he had spoken, York Factory, or tho Valley of the Saskatchewan ? It was all very well to point on tho map to the vast extent of territory, stretching over thou- sands of miles, studded with rivers and lakes, and to speak of its admirable capabilities as a prison, but the convicts must bo fed and sheltered, and guarded, and employed in some way. Were they to be taken into the service of tho Hudson's Bay Company as hunters and fishers, or to be- come squattere, as suggested, with their wives and families, hoi-ses, and cattle in tho bleak vyilds of North Ame- rica, where their own energies would certainly not enable them to raise sufficient to support life? The climate would forbid them raising anything for their own support, and all supplies would have to be introduced, like themselves, at great cost. Again, they had heard not a word as to the expense of transport and maintenance of the convict settle- ment. It was easy to speak of a short sea-passage of only ten days or a fortnight to Hudson's Bay, but this was the smallest part of the entire expense. Allusion had been made to Siberia as fumbhing a useful precedent. Labour in the mines was pointed out as occupation for the crimi- nals, but what mineral resources were to be found in the Hudson's Bay Company's hunting countries? Was t anticipated that a new gold-field would be discovered Ji,*i '^^^ 168 JOURNAL OP THE SOCIETY OP ARTS, January 23, 1863. 4 there for tin; especial benefit of the most hardcDed of our criminals? Mr. Isbister had argued that it was impossible to escape from such a country. But surely ho must know that what Arctic travellers anil the Company's hunteis could do, alone and unaided, a deteiuiined man, seeking his liberty, and with the woods andriveisat his command, couk! as easily do, travelling towards the settled districti ; and co supiwse a sufficient guard could bo maintained in Huch a country was prepos- teious. It was veiy questionable, also, whether the Ued Elver settlers, the Canadians who were so dcirous of carrying their frontier further north, or the Ameiicans, would bo favourable to the introduction of a permanent i convict .settlement there. He was by no means an advo- | cate for tran.s| ortation, if any more effectual means of j repressing aggravated critic could be found ; but he i thought that there were nany more suitable spots, such as British Honduras, the parts of Western Africa lately pointed out by Capt. Burton, the Falkland Islands, and other localities, to which the deportation of convicts might be more advantageously directed. In making these few observations he had no desire to depreciate the industry and zeal of Mr. Isbister in biinging a country with which he had long been intimately identified before their notice. Mr. G. W. IIastinos begged to offer a few observations upon this paper, and would endeavour to keep as closely as possible to the subject treated of, and avoid the wider question of the details of the treatment of convicts in this country. At the same time, it was hardly possible to deal with a paper which advocated penal settlement for convicts without considering in some measure what the treatment of the convicts themselves ought to be ; because, unless it was first shown to be desirable to send convicts to penal settlements, it was idle to argue as to any pai'- ticular place being suitable for such an object. He niust say, with all respect to the author of the paper, that whatever might be the knowledge he possessed of the Hudson's Bay territory, and however interesting the infor- mation he had conveyed respecting it might be, yet it was evident that he was not so well acquainted with the treatment of criminals in this country, with the legis- lation that had taken place upon it, or with the oiHcial inquiries which had been made concerning it. With some boldness, he thought, Mr. Isbister had cast upon so eminent a statesman as Sir Wm. Molesworth, and those who were associated with him on the committee of 1837, the inuendo of having been agitators to prevent the trans- portation of convicts to Australia. Mr. Isbister begged to state that the passage alluded to was a quotation from a writer in the Times newspaper. Mr. IlAsriNGs went on to remark that any one who had read the evidence given before the Transportation Conmiittee, and also the evidence given long before that committee made the report upon which the government came to a decision on this question, must come to the conclusion that that decision was a sound one. Mr. Isbister had t<'ld them it would be desirable to establish a penal colony in Hudson's Bay because it so closely resembled the Eussiau penal settlement of Siberia. But there were several important differences between the two cases. In the first place, Siberia abutted upon the territory of RuBsia proper, and therefore could be colonised by others than convicts from the population ot Russia; and besides, a great portion ot the convicts sent there were not of the cla^ usually sent to our j)enal colonies. He imagined Mr. Isbister would hardly propose that when Lord Derby came into power he should consign the opposition to the Hudson's Bay settlement, or that the Whigs shoul*^ deal in a similar manner with the Tories, but that course was the one adopted in Russia. A large portion of the present population of Siberia was de- scended from the best familiesof Russia and Poland, and pos- sessed some of tlie most vigorous blood that was to be found in those countries. The diflference was essential for these reasons. The great curse of a criminal convict population was the difficulty of dealing with them on account of their weak moral and physical organisation. Tho groat majo- rity of tlie convict population were fit for nothing. They were weak mentally and bodily, and of depraved habits, and out of such material it was impossible to found a flourish- ing colony ; and ho ventured to say their learned chair- man, or any other man who had gone on circuit, or had been judicially broiiglit into contact with the criminal population, wouM bear out the truth of this statement. To tell them tliat a class of people of tha^ descrip- tion could be sent into a severe climate like that of Hud- son's Bay, asamcansof colonisiition, was to ignore all tho experience that had been obtained on the subject of transportation. If they referred to the speech of Sir George Grey in tlio House of Commons, in 1!S57, when he introduced the Bill for penal servitude, they would find that he then stat(;il that one of the eiiiof dilHiuilLic;s tiiey had to grapiile with was, that tho great majority of per- sons sentenced to transportation were not tit to be trans- ported at all, and tliat it was useless to send them out to penal colonies, if that were the caso when convicts were sent to tho mild climate of Australia, what would be the state ot things if they sent them to a climate like that of the Hudson's Bay territory ? It would be impos- sible to send them tiiere in the hope that they could work hard, retain their health, or be of any service to the community. He thought that of itself was suffi- cient objection against making a penal settlement of Hud- son's Bay. But there was another objection against it. Mr. Isbister had said no one who was not entirely unacquainted with the geography of North America would suppose that the convicts could ever make their way into Canada and tho United States. He thought that was rather a rash assertion, because it was given in evidence before Ihe Transportation Com- mittee, that a considerable portion of the convicts of Western Australia did somehow or other drift through into the other colonies of Australia, and the greet oppo- sition of the colonists of Victoria — who never had any convicts sent to them — was, not that it was proposed to send convicts there, but that they ohould be sent to any portion of the Australian colonics, on the ground that they would be sure to find their way there, and they did not see why England should inflict upon them a popu- lation which she would not keep herself. Upon tho subject of transportation itself he would say that there was a largo portion of convicts to whom it never could apply ; and when they were sent out, the benefit which was expected to this country did not result ; we did not get rid of them. When they talked of send- ing convicts to Siberia, the Russian government sent them there for life ; and if it was supposed that the House of Com- mons was prepared to pass, and the Government to sanction, an Act for transporting every person convicted of an offence for life, there might be some reason in the argument for sending convicts to a iwnal settlement. But they were not generally sent for life. An immense proportion were only for seven years ; fifteen was considered a severe sen- tence, and convicts were continually coming back to this coufitry, not only those whose sentences were expired, but also those whose sentences were not expired. He was him- self comparatively young at thobar,but he had seen convicts tried for returning before the expiration of theii sentence. The fact was, transportation to penal colonies did not answer the end for which it was established. It would not rid us of our criminal population if it was renewed to-morrow. Instead of reaping the advantage of getting rid of them, we should find them in a few years nearly as troublesome as they were at the present moment. Ho objected to the whole system of penal settlements, and he would toll them why. In the first place a penal settle- ment, in the strict sense of the term, was nothing more than a large prison some thousands of miles distant. It was nothing but what thoy might have in this country under much better supervision, under the eye of the press, the best possible machinery for keeping officials to their duty ; and, in of keepir there wal they hadi and' unlel which if supply ti Any onel Transpoif Norfolk ments, carrying| to tho upon tlJ easier fa where Id labour iJ was to sa was indu that wot| wanted a livelilJ where tl labour, i it were I mmim JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS, Jancauy 2.j, 1&C3 , 1G9 account of thoir ['ho groat niajo- nothing. Tlioy aveil liahits, and bund a flouiisli- ir learned chair- 1 circuit, or had li the ciiriiinal this statement. i that desorip. CO that of IIiul- i) ignore all the tlic SUlljuct of Npecch of ijir l>So7, when he ley would Knd iffii:uUi(;3 thev lajority of per- t to be trans- 1 them out to vhen convicts a, what would a climate like )uld be inipos- )0 that they of any service tself was suflS- Jment of Hud- iction against ho was not )hy of North iivicts could United States, ion, because it U'tation Coai- le convicts of drift through le great oppo- Bver had any s proposed to e sent to any iind that they they did not oni a popu- Upon the Id say that lom it never t, the benefit 't result; we ced of send- nt sent them ouseofCom- it to sanction, of an otfenca irgument for it they were jortioa were I severe sen- back to this expired, but 3e was hiui- leen convicts ill sentence. ies did not . It would i'as renewed J of getting rs nearly as iment. Ho nts, and he enal settle- thing more listant. It intiy under ) press, the iheir duty ; and, in the next place, it was a much more expensive way of keeping up a great prison than at home. First of all there was the expense of sending the convicts ont ; then they had to send soldiers as guards and people as warders, and unless they made penal settlements self- supporting — which had never yet been done — they would have to supply them, if not with food, with most other necessaries. Any one who looked to the evidence given befure the Transportation Committee, and saw the expense of the Nori'otk Island and Van Dieman's Land penal establish- ments, would understand what price must bo paid for carrying out the transportation system. With regard to tiie question what was to be done with the convict upon the expiration of his sentence, it was of course easier for him to obtain a livelihood in a country wlicre labour was in demand, than at home, where the labour market was already glutted. What they wanted was to set the convict free in a community where there was independent capital and a demand for labour, and that would never be the case in penal colonies. If they wanted localities in which liberated convicts could obtain a livelihood, let them not be penal colonies, but places where there was capital to oncouiage the employment of labour, and there were such colonies in abundance ; and if it were not for the absurd system of forcing our criminal population upon reluctant communities, he believed Australia and thi Capo of Good Hope would have been ready to receive them as colonists. Western Australia now took a number of convicts every year from Ireland, it being understood that only the promising characters were sent, and not those whose reformation was hopeless. For tile reasons he had stated he was strongly opposed to penal colonisation. It would not answer the purpose sought, and if repeated would again prove a failure. He calleJ upon tiiis Society, as upon all other similar bodies in the country, to face the difliculty of dealing with this question in a manly spirit, and not to be led away by a temporary jtanic into measures of error or injustice they would hereafter regret. Let them look at the weak points of the present system, and endeavour to remedy them to the best of their ability, and he was quite sure as efficient means would be found in this country of grappling with crime as it was possible to find in any other quarter of the globe. Mr. .Tons DiTxos thought it somewhat imfortunatethat this question should have been discussed this evening almost entirely in relation to one particular aspect of it. It was seldom that he had to differ from his frieud Mr. Hawes, but he did so on this matter, inasmuch as he (Mr. Dillon) did not consider that the system of penal colonisation had entirely failed ; and with reference to the system pursued in Ireland, of which Mr. Hawes had spoken in such high terms, ho did not see that crime had been repressed there in any greater degree than it had been in England. For his own iiart, he was ver' much inclined to the system of reformatoiies for criminals — especially for the more juvenile class of offenders. He trusted he was not mo.-e hardhearted than his friend on this question, but ^ i apprehended the object of criminal law was the punisument of the ctiminal, whilst the phi- lanthropist iooke.^ also for reformatory results from the administration of the law. Th*) forms of indictment, the charges given by judges to the jury, as well as their addresses to the prisoners previously to passing sentence, tended to show that the object of the law was the punish- ment of the offender, and to deter others from crime ; but he should be happv to see the reformatoiy influence exer- cised as far as possible. Mr. Taylob would make one remark v.ith regard to the difference alluded to by Mr. Hawes between the cases of Eiiglish and Irish convicts. He had been in New South Wale ■, and having had several convicts in his employ, his own experience was, that the Irish were nmch more tractable serxants than the English ; and when tlie former found that there was a strong power at hand to control them, they were more submissive to their lot than the latter. He thought that would partly account for the discrepancy of the results between the English and Irish convict systemg. Ho might add that tiie majo- rity of the Irish convicts were from the lower classes, who were inured to hard work, and they, for the most part, worked better than the class of convicts usually sent from London and other large cities. The great object should be to take the best jiossible steps to prevent the develop- ment of crime in youthful offenders, and save them from growing up to be garotters and murderers. He thought it well became the philanthropic members of this Society to give this subject their attention with a view to prevent the development of crime. Mr. IsBisTER, having been called upon by the chairman to reply, obseired that he agreed with one of the speakers that the discussion had somewhat wandered from the object of the paper, which was not so much to show the best mode of punishing criminals, but — on the assumption that the common sense of the public had by a large ma- jority out of door-;, if not in that room, pronounced in favour of transportation, — to point out a territory which appeared to him well suited for carrying out, in a, much more complete and permanent manner than had yet been attempted, a comprehensive scheme of penal colonization. It seemed to be forgotten by most of the speakers that transportation was not even yet an obsolete punishment. He must repeat what had been stated in the paper, that after a criminal had passed through the reformatory stage of his punishment in England, it was open to the Govern- ment to discharge him on a ticket of leave either at home or in the colonies. Western Australia being unhappily now the only colony available for the purjKtse. The committees of the House of Commons and of the House of Lords, which sat in 1856, had recommended, to quote the language of one of their reports, a "wmtinuation of the sentence of transportation so far as Her Majesty's dominions may afford safe and proper facilities for that purpose;" and they seemed, so far as he could gather from an examination of the evidence, to lament tlie want of other suitable places to which convicts might be sent, as Western Australia appeared to be capable of absorbing so small a number, it was from a desire to meet this want that he had brought before the Society the claims of a territory where a new experiment might be made under circumstances which held out greater prospects of success than had hithei to attended our efforts in other quarters. The subject was so wide a one that it was quite impossible, within the limits of a pai^er to be read and discussed in a single evening, to go into minute details of plans as respected the modes of dealing witii the convicts when they reached their destination, the expense of maintaining them, the cost of their supervision and guard, or the resources of each particular district in that immense area of country. These details would form more fittingly sub- jects for future consideration. For the present he would merely observe, that whether we kept our convicts at home, or sent them abroad, whether we sent tiiem to Hudson's Bay or to Australia, or to some otiier colony, they would equally require guards, maintenance, and supervision, involving necessarily a heavy expense. He did not profess to find a place whero these could bo dispensed with, but he was prepared to maintain that the expense in the Hudson's Bay territory would be le« what transportation to Australia had been, — the pioneer of free emigration. But against this we should have to balance the advantage that if free emigrants would not be at- tracted in large numbers to Hudson's Bay to benefit by the labour of the convicts, neither would they, as in Australia, be able to upset, at any time they pleased, our whole system of penal legislation ; and tliat we should have liere what we had always desired but had never been able to secure, a permanent penal colony instead of a temporary one. As for the objections which had been urged that tiiore would be no means of disposing of the convicts after their term of sentence had expired, that they would be attracted by the prospect of grants of land, that there would be no great object of national utility to which their labour could be applied, &c., &e. ; there was no answer he could give so effectual as the example he had pointed out, of a great and successful penal colony subsisting for the last two centuries, and likely to do so for as many more, where pre- cisely the same class of difficulties had no doubt arisen, and, as they all knew, had been successfully overcome. There was the thing done, and no arguments he could use would bo a more effectual linswer to these objections than that. He had in his former paper pointed out an object of very gieat national importance, namely, the opening up of a communication between Canada and British Co.dmbia, by which our possessions in North America, on the Atlantic and the Pacific, might be more intimately united and consolidated ; and here, therefore, not to mention any others, there was a great national undertaking of undoubted utility, in which all the dis- posable convict labour we had might be absorbed for many years to come. The Chairman said it was now his pleasing duty to ask them to authorise him to return their thanks to Mr. Isbister for his valuable paper. He would only trouble them with one or two ob8er\'ation8 on the sulyect under discussion. Mr. Isbister seemed to have thouglit that his paper did not involve the question of penal servitude at home ; but it appeared to him (the Chairman) that it did so, and he thought Mr. Ilawes wab quite in order in seeking to show that, inasmuch as he regarded transporta- tion as unnecessary, it was useless to look out for another colony to which convicts should he sent, and that they could be satisfactorily disposed of at home. Whether that opinion was correct or not, it was not now necessary to inquire; but he thought Mr. Hawes was fairly justified in saying that the punishment at home had failed in pro- ducing the results which had been hoped from it. He could not say that secondary punishment at home had been ef- fectual ; he thought it had failed in the large majority of cases. Whether that was owing to the imperfect manner in which it was carried out, the imperfections of local ad- ministration, or a misconception of the means whereby punishment could be made effectual at home, he could not say ; but he differed from his friend Mr. Hawes in the conti*st he had drawn between the English and tire Irish systeras. He thought tho Irish system dealt with a different class of criminals to those in England. It dealt with rural criminals to a large extent — persons not brought up in the atmosphere of large towns, born and educated iu crime. That could not generally be said of Irish criminals, but could lai-gely he said of the English criminals ; therefore, the discipline which had been found effectual in the one case, might fail in the other, and that might account in a great measure for the difference of results in England and Ireland. This was in itself one of the most important questions that could be submitted to an English audience. It was only during a very few years that penal servitude had been tried in this country, and that criminals had been dis- charged after certain periods of imprisonment ; yet they saw in that shor' space of time tha condition of the crimi- nal population had become greatly worse ; that the large towns were more dangerous, and that the present punish- ments had not been found to be a " terror to evil doers." He had himself occasionally to do with the administration of justice, and only the previous week a woman was brought before him who had been in prison no fewer than fifteen times. She was then convicted of two larcenies. What was to be done in such a case? She must either be sent to penal sor\ntude or to the House of Correc- tion again, and that man must bo of a very sanguine temperament who thought a peiwn who had I been in prison fifteen times would be reclaimed on the Lteenth desire of Sison, anil id diet ontrageousi get into 01 not settle Ae discipll mode in wl might ha\l Tiiuch migl k»& of latl itoal in thi( pfcthy to» Means of| SI wou feared I Kb had to [ nuch to III Mmc this I Society wa Irought tH propose a The vol 53. 'pomryone. As for lat there would be iftei' tlieii' term of i be attracted by lero would be no their labour could er lie could give so 3d out, of a great for the last two ' more, where pre- 1 no doubt arisen, ssfully overfjome. fuments he couW these objections er pointed out an >ce, namely, the een Canada and essions in North ic, might be more 1 here, therefore, a great national tiich all the dia- be absorbed for pleasing duty to sir tlianks to Mr. uld only trouble he subject under thought that his 3nal servitude at man) that it did lite in order in irded transporta- : out for another t, and thftt they Dme. Whether t now necessary as fairly justified td failed in pro- omit. He could lie had been ef- irge majority of iperfect manner ions of local ad- means whereby home, he could Mr. Hawes in Snglish and the item dealt with England. It It — persons not owns, born and lally be said of a( the English ich had been t fail in the jreat measure Ireland. This questions that ■ It was only iide had been had been dis- ent : yet they 1 of the erirai- that the large resent punish- evil doers." dministration a was brought than fifteen snies. What must either e of Correc- of a very Jon who had aimed on the JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS, Janoaky 23, 1863. 171 dJRteentli occasion. Ue had been told that the great Ssiie of such criminals was to get int.) a Government Sison, and lie was infortnoil by the Chairman of the iildlesex Sessions last week that their warders had been (mtrageously assaulted by prisoners whose object was to get into one of the Government penal prisons. That did not settle the question, of course, because he was aware fhe discipline of prisoMH might be improper, and from the node in which the criminals were treated such a result Blight have followed. It was a Bubiv,ot upon which very much might be said. The criminal law of the country iMd of late years been greatly humanised ; they had to ibal in the present day with a large amount of sj^m- pttliy towards criminals, and the man who devised the Means of making secondary punishments most eflec- iMtl would confer a great benefit on humanity. He feared if this could not be done recourse would again Ito had to the punishment of death, a measure which was much to be deprecated. He thought that at the present time this subject was of special interest, and that (he Society was particularly indebted to Mr, Isbister for having Ivought the question so ably before them. He begged to piopuse a vote of thanks to Mr. Isbister. The vote of thanks having been passed, P The Secretary announced that on Wedneeday evening next, the 28th inst., a Paper by Mr. T. A- Masey, " On the Best Means of Establishing Electrical Communication between Great Britain iind America," would be read. On this evening M\ R. Grove, Esq., Q.C., F.R.S., will preside. I AWARDS OF MERIT AT INTERNA- TIONAL EXHIBITIONS. ( Continued from page 152.) In August last the Council of the Society of Arts issued a letter, inviting the opinion of the Jurors, the Commissioners for the Colonies and for Foreign countries, and the principal Exhi- bitors at the International Exhibition, on the question of Awards of Merit in connection with International Exhibitions; and requesting re- plies to the questions given below, with the in- tention of embodying the answers in a public report. AWARDS OF JURIES 1. — Are you of opinion that Awards for Merit, by medals or otherwise, in International Exl.ibitions, are de- sirable ? 2, — State the reasons for your opinion. 3 — Oiiglit Works of Fine Art and Designs to be ex- cluded from the awards ? 4. — Can you suggest any better method than the ap- poiutinent of jurors for making the awards ? 5 — Can you suggest any improvement in the constitu- tion or proceedings of the juries ? 6. — Is any appeal from the decision of the juries desir- able? 7 — If you think awards undesirable, can you suggest any other means by which meritorious productions may be brought to the notice of the public ? 8.— llave you any further suggestions to offer on the subject ? The following is a summary of the replies re- ceived. The figures attached to the replies cor- respond with those of the questions : — Septimus Piesse (Piesse and Ijubin), Exhibitor, Class IVd. 1. Highly desirable. 2. Men at all times and iu all countries, of eveiy class and grade, delight in honour and awards. Degrees of M.A., D.D., &a., are awards to merit. In the army rewards are given for merit, and vary in value from the corporal's stripe to the field- marshal's baton ; so also in the navy, from a first-class boy to the admiral. In political economy it is a rule to reward merit with power and rank. The church gives rewards to meri- torious disciples, from a living to a bisliopric. In fact our whole actions of life are to work for and receive reward, not in this life only, for we are promised it hereafter. 8. Yes. 4. No, provided (a) that jurors are not pressed to give opinion upon subjects beyond their capacitjf ; hence care- ful subdivision of articles is very necessaiy. (6) That no jury consist of less than nine or more than thirteen. 5. The chairman of the jury should be appointed by her Majesty's Commissioners ; of the remainder, one-half should be exhibitors, the other half non-exhibitors ; all to be nominees of exhibitors, the chairman excepted. 6. The jurors appointed should represent as manufacturers or pei-sons of known ability, the class of goods submitted to their examination ; such jury should be known as the trade jury. 7. There should be a juiy of each class, having an independent and higher function than the trade jury, and denominated the class jury. The class jury should consist of one-half professioTial men ; the other half merchants, or manufacturers o;' the articles under their jurisdiction. The professional half should be ap- pointed by her Majesty's Commissioners ; the remainder bj the trade jury. The principal functions of the class jury should be to form a court of appeal for dissatisfied exhibitors in reference to award of space, &c. Class juries should have the power of awarding the second order of merit. Tliere should be four orders of award or merit. (a) Chevalier, or other title for life, with pecuniary gift when desirable, received direct from the crown, (b) Gold " hoop " award, given by her Majesty's Cf iumissioners, under the advice ot the class jury, (c) Silver 'hoop" award under advice of trade juiy, but the gift of cL^ss jury, (d) Bronze " hoop," or trade jury award. Chooses a " iioop" as emblematical of eternity and a distinguishing badge of honour for civilians — medals, crosses, clasps, &c., being already employed as decorations for otiier qualities of merit. Each " hoop" should bear an appropriate inscription. To point out four exhibitors in the present instance (1862) as fit recipients for these awards names — H. Bessemer, for his pneumatic steel and iron manufacture — a Cheva- lier; M. Carr6, for his ice-producers — gold "hoop"; — Young, for his paradin; — Perkin, for his coal dye — silver " hoop" ; J. ilorgan, for his printing-block pro- ducing machine — bronze " hoop." All these persons re- ceive medals of equal value in the present Exhibition. 8. All articles of a similar kind or manufacture should be placed together, come from what country they may. The primary division of space should not be geographical but commercial ; it is ab"urd to see toilet soap and reaping hooks side by side because they come from I'russia, or tobacco-pipes, and pianofortes in juxtaiwsition, as both of Austrian work. Trade courts should be first formed and then subject to geographical division ; we should then find in the Ceramic Court Roman pottery, English pottery, Dresden (lottery, Sevres pottery, &c., &c., i&c, and be able to comiare tlieni. Processes should be allotted space in the nave and transept on each siile. Machinery should be absolutely divided into machinery at rest, machinery in motion, steam ; machinery in motion, electrical ; ma- chineiy in motion, treddle or foot ; machinery in motion, spring. Carriages on wheels, when used for passengers of all denominations, rail or road, should be placed together. A distinct sjiace on the ground plan should be left to divide every class so as clearly to show the jurisdiction of the class jurors and the materials of the class. All organs in the galleries ; all bells hung up alov't ; no water- fountains wittiin the buildings, but in courtyards, &e. ; no trade trophies out of their class space. William Pole, F.R.S., Juror and Reporter, Class XVI. — Does not answer the queries separately, as a UT,Uf, kfi 172 JOURNAL OP THE SOCIETY OF ARTS, January 23, 186ii. general ansrt'er best expresses his views on the subject. Cannot thii-k that any awards are necessary as regards the interests of the exhibitors, believing that they are sufficiency rewarded by the facilities for exhibition, which ci:'inot fail to bring their merits before the public in a way euiiiicntly calculated to be honourable and useful to tlieni. L nder the system of medals, if they are few in number, and intended to confer great distinction, it is not easy to exclude altogetlier the effects of interest and partizanship in the decisions; judgment often bccumcs dillicult ; and the awards are seldom accepted with satis- faction. On the other hand, if the medals are very numerous they convey no real distinction, their effect being rather to damage tlie minority who are omitted than to benefit the majority who are rewarded. But, assuming that the awards might bo abolished altogetlier as regards the exliibitui's, conceives that, when the Exhibition has a national character, the authorities have a dr.ty to perform as regards the public, which should lead to some expres- sion of opinion on the objects brought together. The ob- ject of such I'-xhibitions is, as the writer takes it, not so much to accommodate exhibitors (in wh'!"h case they would only lie huge bazaars), as to spread geiieial information on the state and progress of the arts aiul manufactures ; and since the ideas derivable from any individual inspection of such a gigantic collection must necessarily be very limited, the public may reasonably expect to be put in possession of some official account of the contents and re- sults of the Exhibition, forming a critical and descriptive summing up, so to speak, of the whole, which should be prepared in an authoritative way, by parties competent to the task, and independent altogether of the exhibitors themselves. Tiiis object might Iw sufficiently attained by a scries of official reports analogous to the present jury reports, but having no reference to anj' awards to exhibitors. If such reports were drawn by competent parties, with due care, judgment, and impartiality, they would answer every public requirement, while all the dif- ficulties of medals, and all the cumbrous and uncertain means for effecting their awards, would be done away. This plan would carry with it, collaterally, a real " ho- noi'iable mention" of any merits shown, which would doubtless be of advantage to tlie meritorious exhibitor, but which would be less liable to dishonest abuse for mere puffing purposes than a direct formal award. The appointment of tlrj parties to make tliese reports would, of course, require much care. The exhibition would be divided into classes, as at present, and a committee of about three well qualified pei'sons, to arrange the report for each class, would suffice. But the writer hr.s a strong opinioii that they should be fairly paid for tlie time they devote to the work, and fully reimbursed for their expenses, without which he cannot conceive that the efficient services of competent men could be secured, or the responsibility thrown on them which they ought to bear. The system of honoraiy, irre- sponsible juries does not work well. The British jurors appointed for the Exhibition of 1862 were, in most cases, gentlemen much occupied in business, whose time was of so great value, that, however desirous to fulfil their duties as jurymen, they could scarcely be expected to subject themselves to the heavy pecuniary tax, both by loss of time and expenses out of pocket, which const int attend- ance for two or three months would have en. ailed upon them ; hence the attendance of British jurors was generally irregular, and the awards fell chieflv into the hands of the foreign members, who, being hc^e ex- pressly for (he purposes of the Exliibition, were able to devote to it their whole time and attention. Sees no reaEon wliy woiks ot art and designs might not be re- ported on in the way he proposes. Thinks also that ex- hibitors who feel themselves aggrieved by any official announcement, whether of awards or in the shape of a report, should have the power of remonstrating, first to the adjudging body, and ultimately, if necessarj', to some higher authority, but if the reporters were paid and re- t •• sponsibU as proposed to make them, this would foiiiJ the best guarantee for the fairnoss of tlieir proceediiigr'. Lord I'oBT.MAN, Juror, Class IIIa.— 1. No. 2. K.Npo-| rience as a juror. G. Certainly not. 7. More space, t That the whole subject should bo carefully discussed Ini experienced and unprejudiced men. E. IIawuon I'owuR, Commissioner for Ceylon. — 1 and 2.| As far as Euroiiean Exhibitions are involved, awards, &l- in International Exhibitions, are out of place, end (luitcl unnecessary, and tlie community at large can liardlyf require (even if juries do tiicir duty) landmarks of tlii-| character to guide them ; yet, as regards an Asiati' colony, such as Ceylon, lie thinks tliat such awards, far as native exhibitors are concerned, arc of u^e and sliouldl be continued, llonoraiy distinctions are mucli covctctil by natives ; at some future period such adventitioii-l stimulus may be unnecessary, and may be abandoned with! advanttige. 3. Should be excluded. 4. The jury ma-I chincry of the present International Exhibition, it wouM appear, is faulty — giving as an illustration the following fact : — The Government of Ceylon directed that tlicl agronomical map of that important colony should be prc-l pared in the colony, iiiul sent to England for tho| Exhibition ; this scivice was iiio.^t admirably pcrlbrmcd by Captain C. Simm, B.E., the Surveyor General oil Ceylon, and his Departmental Staff, and aflbrds a com-! plete history of thr present state of the colony in reference to cultivation, roads, &c., &c. The map is much admircii by the jmblic, and admitted to be one of the best in tlie I I'.xliibition— certainly the best that has been sent froni| any of the colonies — but its existence has been entirely ignored by the jury ; their attention has been invited in I tlie omission, but up to the present time without ell'cet. 5. If awards formcrit are to be continued to native exhibitors j from colonics and from tlie continent of India, it would be ] desirable that at least one member of tiie jury should be remunerated for his services; this would ensure ducat-! teation and regularity — gratuitous services especially arc, as a general rule, inadequately performed. (5. In cases I of omission, or misconception of the facts, an appeal should i exist to tile Commissioners, with the view of requiring the reconsideration by the jury. J. PiiESTwrtii, F.R.S., Juror and Ileporter, Class Illo, Remarks chiefly based upon the experience gained as juror at the present" Exhibition in Class 3, Section C — Wines and Spirits. 1. Awards for merit by medals, &c., are not desirable. 2. Firstly, the incompleteness and haste of the inquiry. JuUien, in his " Topographic dcs Vignobles," enumerates 2,900 growths of wine, a number, no doubt, considerably increased since that time (1822). We have no means of knowing the number of proprietors in each area, but it must, in most cases, be very large. Taking even 20, we should have CS,000 proprietors, wlio may hold in stock the growth of one or more vintage,-;, and whom it may suit, as was found often to be the case, to exhibit samples of eoveiv.l; in some caser. .as many as 20 sorts. Supposing two to be selected by eadi exhi- bitor, the number of specimens that might be brought for- ward in more complete competition would be 11G,000, The number of growers actually exhibiting on this occa- sion is about 1 ,500,* and the number of samples to bo examined may amount to about 0,000, which, large as it is, represents but partially the great interests coiiceined. If, again, in each class or district the exhibitors included the principal producers, the jurors might form an approxi- mate estimate of the relative value of their samples, but the series is never complete. Sometimes no f rst or even second-rate house exhibits, and there is then a tendency for the awards to fall on produce which in fair open market would not be considered deserving of any distinc- tion. Instances a case in which one important district is represented by only 20 exhibitors out of probably 200 houses, and amongst these 20 there is not one leading * In spirit! and liqueurs there are about 1,100 exhibitors. t