Some Aspects of the History of Transportation and Immigration In

SOME ASPECTS OF THE HISTORY OF TRANSPORTATION and IMMIGRATION in VAN DIEMEN'S LAND 1824-1855 A thesis to,be submitted for the degree of Master of Arts in the University of Tasmania BARBARA M. RICHMOND B.A. (Hons.) 'April 1956 CONTENTS CHAPTER Page I THE COLONIAL OFFICE - An Introduction 1 II CONVICT AND CAPITALIST 28 III FREE LABOUR FOR A PENAL COLONY 75 IV FROM ONE SELECT COMMITTEE TO ANOTHER 118 V THE CHANGE IN CONVICT MANAGEMENT 154 VI A COLONY IN DISTRESS 19 9 VII TOWARDS ABOLITION 24 6 VIII THE SEARCH FOR A LABOUR SUPPLY 293 CONCLUSION 32 6 APPENDICES "Att SECRETARIES OF STATE FOR WAR AND COLONIES 1824-1855 STATISTICS 1825-1836 iii "V" STATISTICS 1837-1846 STATISTICS 18474851 vii “Eu STATISTICS 1851-1855 ix "F" LIST OF SOURCE MATERIAL x CHAPTER _I THE COLONIAL :OFFICE An Introduction This chapter has no claim to deal exhaustively with the several influences on British colonial policy during the period l82445, nor to analyse minutely the machinery designed to administer that policy. It seemed necessary, however, to consider in a general sense some of the factors determining British policy before passing to a particular study of its application in transportation and immigration to Van Diemen's Land. Trends in British Colonial Folic First, it is important to remember the comparative disinterest with which colonies were regarded in England during most of the period of this study. The American Revolution, and Adam Smith's doctrines of free trade had delivered decisive blows to the old colonial theory, to the concept of an empire accumulated for its commercial value, based on monopoly and secured by political dominion. Adam Smith pointed to the defection and loss of the American colonies as the necessary consequence of this mistaken idea. His doctrines of free trade did not, of course, immediately gain the day; the Corn Laws were not repealed until 1846. But the loss of the thirteen colonies exploded the mercantilist concept of empire, and for a time no positive theory replaced it. The political economists of the English classical school, the followers of Bentham and James Mill, saw colonies as burdens on their mother country. The eventual loss of those Britain already held seemed to them inevitable, and to engage in further colonization would be a mere waste of capital better used at home. The British public regarded colonies with supreme indifference. Wakefield's ideas of systematic colonization aroused interest and enthusiasm among some young politicians, mainly radicals, but his theory was by no means of general interest. Debates in the Houses of Parliament on issues of great significance to the colonies were generally poorly attended. In 1846 when unhappy Van Diemen's Land's plea for redress of her many wrongs was put before the Commons, one member called the attention of the Speaker to the lack of a quorums. It was race day at Epsom. The prophet of the new Imperialism, Edward Gibbon Wakefield, was debarred from active public life for an early crime for which he had served a sentence in Newgate. Around him, however, gathered a small group, mainly politicians and civil servants who have since (1) Hansard, Third Series, Vol.86, pp.1288. 26/5/1846. .3. become known as the Colonial Reformers. The most distinguished of his associates were, perhaps, Sir William Molesworth, who actively advocated Wakefield's doctrines in the House of Commons, and a fellow member, the eloquent Charles Buller. What then were the doctrines put forward by the Colonial Reformers? This is not the place for an exhaustive presentation of the theories of systematic colonization to which whole books have been devoted by competent historians. Those theories were devised at a time when England was beset by economic problems as a result of the dislocation of the Napoleonic Wars and of that long and painful process of economic change known as the Industrial Revolution. The unemployment and pauperization of large numbers of the English labouring class had already gained wide acceptance for the theories of Malthus that the population of England was excessive and might be profitably drained off. Wakefield saw the causes of contemporary economic problems in an excessive population and the lack of an adequate field for capital investment. On the other hand, the colonies, especially those in Australasia, urgently needed labour, and their abundance of unsettled land would supply a practically unlimited field for capital invegtment. Wakefield's solution to the economic ills of both colony and mother country was a revision of the system of disposal of colonial land. It must no longer be freely and indiscriminately granted away, but sold at a price *sufficient" to keep up an adequate and continuous supply of labour by preventing labourers from becoming land owners too easily and too soon. The fund accumulated could best be used to help relieve the mother country by the emigration of her surplus population. Wakefield's theory was not in all respect original. Sale of colonial lands had been suggested before, and assisted emigration schemes to Canada were afoot in the twenties. However, Wakefield developed a complete economic, political and social theory of colonization and to that extent his work was original. He argued that by a process of systematic colonization the colonies would become extensions of the old society of the mother country, societies of free Englishmen, from whom it would be impossible for long to withhold self- government. The Colonial Reformers maintained that the grant of self- government to the colonies would be quite consistent with Imperial unity. Wakefield and Charles Buller accompanied Lord Durham to Canada in 1838 and assisted- him in the wfriting of his famous Report. This small group, however enthusiastic and knowledgeable in colonial affairs, was not entrusted with the direction of British colonial policy. That lay in the hands of the Colonial Office, which came in for the bitter criticism of these colonial enthusiasts. Wakefield called it a bureaucratic institution in a free country and claimed that the system of colonial administration developed by the Colonial Office denied to colonists the fundamental rights of English.. men. Buller mocked the whole colonial department, the undersized permanent official of the black hat and brief-case who was "Mr. Mother.. Country", the true controller of England's imperial destiny, even the .5. dusty green baize on the tables in the waiting..rooms or the "sighing- rooms", where disgruntled widows claiming pensions, deposed governors, recalled judges, ruined merchants, petitioners of all descriptions waited and sighed together. But this was the institution which Wakefield and his followers had to sway if they were to give any new direction to, or inspire any fresh enthusiasm in British colonial policy. They were fortunate in converting to their cause the young Viscount Howick, later Earl Grey, then Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies. It was through his influence with his chief, Lord Goderich, that the first concrete success for systematic colonization was achieved. In 1831 the system of granting colonial lands was abolished in Australian colonies. Henceforth lands were to be sold at a minimum upset price of 5/... an acre. A scheme of assisted emigration from the proceeds of the land sales was also introduced. The systematic colonists did not rest there. Wakefield was not content with the price fixed by the 1831 regulations. His representations influenced a Select Committee which, in 1836, recommended that the price should be raised, and that the system of sale be embodied in an Act of Parliament. Their report also advised that all land and emigration arrangements should be placed under a central Land Board. In 1840 Russell appointed such a Board; colonization was becoming more systematic. In 1842 Stanley introduced and carried an Act giving Parliament the power to alter colonial land laws. The foundation of .6- South Australia was an experiment directly inspired by Wakefield's system; so too was the colonization of New Zealand. Wakefield's plan had presupposed the existence of a labour shortage and large areas of unalienated land in the Australian colonies. It was therefore complicated in its application to Van Diemen's Land, for much of the best land in that small island had been granted before (1) the 1831 regulations. The price fixed by the Waste Lands Act of 1842 proved far too high. Transported convicts provided a cheap labour force and apart from the need for some more skilled artisans and young women servants, the supply from that source was adequate until the gold discoveries attracted large numbers of the labouring class to the main- (2) land. Free men could not compete with convicts in the labour market. Frequently new immigrants to Van Diemen's Land complained of the low wage level and the difficulty in finding employment, and even before gold was discovered in Victoria, the new mainland settlements attracted free labour from the island. Convict transportation obviously operated against the smooth working of systematic colonization, arid for that reason was strongly opposed by the Wakefield school. Fort the purpose of this study, the influence of the Colonial Reformers on transportation policy is of special importance. Sir William Molesworth was the chairman of a Select Committee on Transportation in 1837 which numbered among its members Charles Buller, Lord Howick and many others interested in (1) Act 5 and 6 Vic. C.36. (2) The labour shortage in 1839.41 was the result of a temporary boom. -7 - colonial reform. He wrote the Report, as a direct result of which transportation to New South Wales was abolished in 1840. Van Diemen's Land, as will be shown, fared differently, but when opposition developed in the colony itself, the colonists were sure of the ready and able support of the Colonial Reformers.

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