mended for removal to Van Die men's Land, with probationary passes, and that the rest be transferred to the probationary gang.

Those convicts who are not in a fit state of health to be transported are recommended for removal to an invalid hulk, at Woolwich; and it is proposed that these prisoners shall be periodically examined by competent medical men, in order that such as are so far recovered as to be fit to undertake the voyage, may be sent to the penal colonies, under their original sentences.

All female convicts under sentence of transportation, who are in a fit state of health to be transported, are sent to Van Diemen's Land, where a female penitentiary, with a well-selected and efficient staff of female officers, sent from this country, has recently been established.

In order to dispose of the convicts who are admitted to Millbank prison in the most prompt manner, in accordance with the system which has been described, the inspectors carefully examine the prisoners individually, and the documents received with them; and transmit to the Secretary of State every fortnight lists containing full particulars respecting the prisoners received during that time, and recommending the mode in which they should be disposed of, either to Parkhurst or Pentonville prisons, Norfolk Island, Van Diemen's Land, or the invalid hulk at Woolwich. By these means the proper selection of convicts for their respective destinations is made with accuracy and facility.

As the prisoners become sufficiently numerous to fill a transport vessel, convict ships are

taken up by the Admiralty for their conveyance to the penal colonies; and from the period at which the Millbank Prison Act came into operation (in the commencement of July last) up to the present time, the convict ships have taken their departure with the greatest regularity, even throughout the whole of the winter. By these means the sentence of transportation passed by the Court has, in most instances, been almost immediately carried into execution; the general deterring influence of that mode of punishment has been increased and rendered more efficacious; while the serious evils and inconveniences which formerly arose from the letting loose of convicts after terms of imprisonment in the General Penitentiary or in the hulks, are remedied to a very great extent. The value of these remedies may be estimated by a review of the evils which they are calculated to remove, which affect both the liberated convict, and society at large. The convict is no longer inevitably impelled or lured back to crime, by being again thrown among his old associates, and exposed anew to temptations to which his more depraved habits give additional force; nor does his tainted character, closing against him the path to honest employment, almost compel him, as under the former system, to seek for subsistence by renewed depredations. On the other hand, society is protected from the return of one of the most mischievous classes of its members, who are almost compelled to live by plunder, and will seek to indemnify themselves for what they consider the harshness of their penal treatment by fresh acts of violence or of fraud, committed with greater

recklessness or greater dexterity, instructed as they have been in the ways of crime by their associates in punishment.

The prompt removal to the penal colonies of convicts under sentence of transportation not only prevents their return to crime at home, but is the means of saving the expense entailed by the imprisonment and trial of those who are recommitted, and who, under the old system, constituted a very numerous class.

Another advantage attending the speedy embarkation of the great body of convicts for the penal colonies is the suppression of the hulks, which are to be broken up, according as the convicts confined in them complete their terms of imprisonment, the Secretary of State having determined that no new prisoners shall be sent thither. The suppression of the hulk system is a most important improvement in the penal system of this country. From the necessary association of the convicts, and the impossibility of maintaining a proper superintendence over them, the most serious contamination constantly took place; while the lightness of the convicts' labour, their good clothing, ample diet, and general comfort, not only divested the discipline, to a great extent, of a salutary deterring influence, but, from the publicity of these facts, necessarily suggested to beholders an unfavourable comparison between the condition of the convict and that of the honest labourer. Moreover, the constant exposure of the convict to the public gaze, in a place to which numerous visitors are daily resorting, and by which multitudes are passing and repassing, has an inevitable tendency to harden the con

vict more and more, and to deaden those moral perceptions upon which the penal discipline has its strongest hold.

Nor should the important fact be overlooked, that the labour hitherto performed in the arsenals. and dockyards by persons so obviously unfit, in a moral point of view, to be so employed, will henceforth be assigned to the honest labourer-a consideration which will have its just weight at a time when the general supply of labour is so redundant, and the difficulty of finding work for our unemployed population is so great. Besides, by the suppression of the hulks a considerable saving will, in the end, be effected in dispensing with the entire cost of the establishment, the salaries and emoluments of its numerous officers, together with the expense attending the fittings and repairs of the ships. Such are some of the incalculable advantages attending the suppression of the hulk system, and of the establishment of that system by which it is now about to be superseded.

There is another advantage attending the new system for the disposal of prisoners under sentence of transportation. The convict ships now, in all cases, receive the prisoners on board at Woolwich; and by the regular periodical transmission of the convicts, in one body, and at one time, to one point of embarkation, the inconvenience, delay, and expense attending their reception in small numbers from the various prisons of the country are avoided, and the convict-vessel at once proceeds on her course, without calling at any of the ports in the channel to complete her complement by drafts of prisoners from the hulks which

are there stationed; by these means her voyage was formerly much delayed, the expenses were increased, and the dangers of the navigation of the Channel greatly augmented. Whilst referring to this part of the subject the inspectors have much satisfaction in stating that great improvements have recently been made in the fittings of convict ships. Under the old system, four and sometimes five prisoners slept together in one sleepingberth. The prison-deck was so dark, that work and instruction were impossible; whilst the most unrestrained and demoralizing intercourse, in darkness and utter idleness took place during the whole voyage. The sleeping berths being fixtures, it was impossible to clear the prison-deck for the purpose of cleansing it; in consequence of this, it was not unfrequently infested with vermin before the ship had got clear of the Channel. The Lords of the Admiralty, having had their attention called to these circumstances by the Secretary of State, have taken effectual measures to obviate these evils; and, under an excellent plan which they have recently adopted, the convict-ship is now fitted up in such a manner that, during the day, there are tables and seats for the convicts, in messes of eight together; and at night, each prisoner has a separate sleeping-berth. All the berths are moveable, so that the prisondeck can with ease be thoroughly cleansed. Illuminators have been

introduced on each side of the deck, extending the whole length of the ship, so that sufficient light is thrown into the prison-deck to enable the prisoners to read, write, or work. These new arrangements have the further advantage of securing the ship from being overcrowded, as was formerly the case. Thus health, cleanliness, order, and discipline, are greatly promoted, and suitable instruction and employment are rendered practicable.

In furtherance of these improved arrangements, the inspectors are authorized by the Secretary of State, to place a select library, composed of a few useful volumes, on board each convictship, for the use of the prisoners during the voyage; and these books, on the arrival of the ship at Van Diemen's Land, are transferred to the convict stations to form libraries for the convicts throughout the penal colonies. Elementary lessons in reading, writing, and arithmetic are also provided, so that schools can be organized, and instruction carried on during the voyage. It may be likewise mentioned, that arrangements are in progress for supplying the convicts with work on their passage.

The following table gives the particulars of the disposal of the prisoners under sentence of transportatation in the Millbank Prison, from the 1st July, 1843, to 31st July, 1813.

liberation, unable to obtain, or unfitted to pursue, an honest employment, returns too often into society only to pollute its morals and disturb its peace.

The failure of the discipline enforced at the late Penitentiary for the purposes of correction or reform, and the unhealthy effects of confinement for long periods in that prison, rendered its continuance, as a Penitentiary, no longer desirable. The hulks notoriously vitiated the less criminal, and hardened the confirmed offender; and if the measures now under review had only effected the abolition of those establishments, the advantages resulting to society would be of no ordinary magnitude.

Large numbers of convicts are no longer detained for lengthened periods; but vessels are despatched to the penal settlements at all seasons of the year, and thus the punishment of the offender closely follows on his sentence. The convict-ship, as hitherto fitted, has afforded the utmost temptation for the commission of the grossest crimes; but by improved arrangements great facilities are afforded for the good order, industry, and instruction of the prisoners on their passage; and the revolting practice of placing five male convicts together in one berth at night has been superseded by a plan by which each man has a separate sleeping-place. By the adoption of other measures, transportation has not only been rendered more efficacious by the certainty of its infliction, but its penalties have been graduated and apportioned to offenders according to their several degrees of guilt. By the examination and selection of the convicts at Millbank, the

better disposed are sent to a prison the most favourable to their reformation; the criminal boy is subjected to an imprisonment the best adapted to his moral welfare; and by the formation of the Millbank Juvenile Ward, youth of more advanced years-offenders for whom no due provison has hitherto been made-are admitted to a participation in the benefits of a reformatory discipline.

These improvements in the convict system have been effected during the last twelve months; and the inspectors feel justified in stating that a reform involving benefits more unquestionable, more important as respects the moral, religious, and physical condition of the convict, more interesting to humanity, or more advantageous to the community at large, has seldom been accomplished in so short a period.

The inspectors have thus briefly described the appropriation of the Millbank Prison, and shown how much that appropriation conduces to the efficiency of the new system of convict discipline in the penal colonies; having also pointed out some of the advantages resulting from that system, they now proceed to report upon the several subjects required to be noticed by the eleventh section of the Millbank Prison Act :-

State of the Buildings.

The buildings, generally, are in good repair. Considerable alterations in the buildings, and additions to them, have necessarily been made, in order to adapt the prison to its new destination, and to provide suitable accomodation for the increased number of prisoners committed to it, as well as for the greater number of officers.