Page:Handbook of Western Australia.djvu/107

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Native Schools.
93

was afforded by the results of the Protestant School established at Albany; and the Church of England and Roman Catholic Orphanages, now in active operation in Perth, and at Subiaco in the neighborhood, unite in the same testimony. The results of the penal establishment at Rottnest, already noticed, might also be adduced in evidence; but this is not so conclusive, the work there being done under compulsion.

In 1848 Sir George, then Captain Grey, submitted a memorial to the Imperial Government in accordance with these facts, which was adopted and forwarded to the Colonial Governments for their direction, and had considerable influence on the treatment of the natives in West Australia. In 1871 a Select Committee of the Legislative Council reported, as desirable, that grants of land should be made to aboriginal natives, recommended by the Principal of any Native Industrial Institution, on condition that such land should not be sold, transferred, or let, without the consent of the Governor, and that it might be resumed by him if not improved or cultivated for three consecutive years; and in 1875 an Act was passed giving power to the Principals of such Institutions to act as trustees of orphan native children or others entrusted to them by their natural guardians.

The opinion of those in charge of the Institutions at New Norcia and Albany (since transferred to Perth) are to be found in the reports made by them, which were published with the Council Papers for 1871.

Bishop Salvado says that the natives are generally not capable of continuous hard work, either corporeal or mental, and that he considers condemnation to hard labor condemnation to death; he found it necessary to combine both, giving three hours daily to bodily, three to mental labor in the school, and the rest of the day to