(44) A return of the public money expended in Arctic expeditions was called for. It appears that since the peace, or from the year 1815 to the present, £428,782 have been expended in Arctic expeditions.
(45) Mr. Alderman Sydney said—“that convicts had ceased to be sent to Norfolk Island or New South Wales for a considerable time, and he understood that Lord Grey had been influenced on the question by the perusal of a pamphlet which abounded with information of a most convincing character.”—Times.
(46) Yes! to the value of its resources we now seem indeed to be awakened. Earl Grey, in his despatch (dated 17th November, 1848,) to Lieutenant-General Sir John Harvey, Lieutenant-Governor of Halifax, says (after speaking of the final Report of Major Robinson on the formation of the Halifax and Quebec Railway)—“I have perused this able document with the interest and attention it so well merits; and I have to convey to you the assurance of Her Majesty’s Government that we fully appreciate the importance of the proposed undertaking, and entertain no doubt of the great advantages that would result not only to the provinces interested in the work, but to the empire at large, from the construction of such a Railway.” Again, his Lordship speaks of this Railway as “a great national line of communication,” and yet on the 4th August, 1848, was issued the following letter from the Treasury Chambers:—
“Sir,—With reference to your letter of the 18th ult. relative to the expenses incurred in the survey of the proposed Line of Railroad between Halifax and Quebec, I am directed by the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury to request that you will move Earl Grey to instruct the several officers in charge of the Governments of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, to cause the proportion of the Railroad survey expenses to be defrayed by each province, to be paid into the commissariat chests on the respective stations.
“I have, &c.
(Signed) C. E. Trevelyan.”
“H. Merivale, Esq., &c. &c.”
(47) “We cannot afford to spend £50 a year on a convict at home: let him be sent to a colony where his labour is absolutely necessary, and where, though by his good conduct and his industry he may finally attain a decent subsistence, yet where he will be unable to acquire affluence, and which he will be prevented from leaving for a happier or a richer shore: this will be punishment without sentimentalism, and without vindictiveness.”—The Times, 19th February, 1849.
“As it is obvious that we must either retain our convicts at home or send them abroad, and the latter can only be accomplished by transportation to a colony, it is obvious (especially after the results of the last experiments) that we must either found a new colony, as in 1783, or adopt the French system, which has nothing certainly to recommend it.”—Globe, 17th February, 1849.