II - TRANSPORTATION

Summary

The report of the Committee of the House of Commons on transportation, to which reference has already been made, raised the whole question of the treatment of convicts in the penal settlements, and directed the indignant attention of Great Britain to the harshness of the system, and the need for a speedy change. Blame was freely attributed to the Colonial Office, but that office, owing to its anomalous position, could not justly be held responsible. After the separation of the department of the Colonies from that of Home affairs, the control of the convicts in the penal colonies had rested nominally with the Secretary of State for the Colonies; but it had been the practice to refer any question raised by the government of a penal settlement, either as to any particular convict or as to the treatment of convicts generally, to the Secretary of State for the Home Department, and his answers to such questions invariably formed the basis upon which the Colonial Secretary grounded his replies. This division of the administration between two ministers was very unsatisfactory in its result. The Home Secretary declined the attempt to control the conduct of officers with whom he did not correspond and who were not subject to his authority; while the Colonial Secretary, in the same manner, declined to direct or initiate measures on a subject affecting British, rather than Colonial, interests.