should be increased, and be elected by the free settlers. One resolution impugned the "ability, experience, and discretion" of the Government, and was tantamount to a want of confidence motion. Others severely criticised the Publichouse Licensing Act because it introduced class legislation; because it attacked the reformatory system of convictism; because it would be inoperative in that legislation never would be able to put down drunkenness; because it interfered with vested rights; and because it gave too much personal power to the Governor, and tended to create and legalise a monopoly. Then the action of the Governor in interfering with magistrates was censured, and finally, other "objectionable proceedings of the Government" were reviewed and condemned.
It was desired that the resolutions should be forwarded to the Secretary for the Colonies. A committee was appointed to form a deputation to the Governor, and consisted of Messrs E. Hamersley, R. Habgood, M Dyett, S.S. Parker, J. H. Monger, G. W. Leake, S. E. Burges, and C. Wittenoom. The special object of the deputation was to request Governor Kennedy to suspend the operations of the Publicans' Ordinance until Her Majesty's pleasure was known. When the interview was obtained, a long discussion took place, but one effort of the deputation was abortive.
The resolutions were forwarded to the Secretary for the Colonies, and a despatch thereon was received in 1857. Mr. Labouchere promised that the provisions affecting conditional-pardon men in the Publichouse Licensing Act "may be reconsidered." In other respects he, almost without exception, approved of the ordinance. As to Representative Government, Her Majesty's Government was not prepared to advise the introduction of elective members into the Legislative Council. The other subjects embodied in the resolutions had, said Mr. Labouchere, been disposed of in former correspondence, or were such as he considered should be left to the discretion of the local Government to deal with.
That Governor Kennedy was not without supporters had been proved in the interim. Shortly after the meeting a letter was received from Messrs. S. P. Phillips, J. M. Dempster, W. Chidlow, and thirteen other gentlemen at Toodyay, tentatively disapproving of the public meeting and other criticisms upon the Governor. In reply, Mr. F. P. Barlee, on behalf of His Excellency, confessed that differences of opinion were bound to occur, and that he was anxious to obtain the views of the people when expressed in temperate language.
Evidently to testify his conviction that the presence of non-official members in the Legislative Council was powerless for good, Mr. L. Samson resigned his position in October, 1856; in September, 1858, Mr. M. W. Clifton followed his example. In March, 1859, Mr. Samson was reappointed. Mr. J. W. Hardey was appointed a non-official member in March, 1855, and Mr. S. P. Phillips and Mr. E. Hamersley in March, 1857. A further reference was made in December, 1858, to Representative Government. In October, 1860, Messrs. Hamersley, Hardey, and Samson spoke on the same matter in the Legislative Council. Mr. Samson held that the absence of non-official members in that body would be for all practical purposes "as beneficial as their presence." No alteration was made in the Licensing Act for some time. The Registrar-General estimated in 1859 the annual consumption of liquids to be:—Spirits, 21,096 gallons; wine, 6,552 gallons; and beer and cider, 96,860 gallons. Independent of these he averred that large quantities of colonial wine and colonial beer were consumed. By his statistics, the individual consumption was enormous.
The last subject of direct reference to convicts lay in repeated requests that they should be more numerously introduced. Colonists had tasted of the sweets of convictism, and they did not yet desire to stop the influx. Rather were they unnecessarily solicitous and anxious on the matter. Governor Fitzgerald said, in giving evidence in 1856, that when colonists got very rich they might object to receive convicts. That was not likely to be for twenty years, he thought. In June, 1857, Governor Kennedy told Legislative Councillors that an increased number of convicts would give an additional impetus to progress, and officials were constantly speaking on the same theme.
The House of Lords Committee, in their report, recommended the establishment of a convict settlement in North Australia, especially at the head of the Gulf of Carpentaria and in adjacent islands. Of all the colonies the report affirmed that Western Australia seemed to offer the only field for the continuance of transportation, where it had been carried on with advantage both to colonists and convicts until within the preceding few months, when a change was made in the selection of convicts from home—incorrigibles were transported who should have been kept in England. It was essential to revert without delay to the former system in this respect.
This decision was not sufficiently conclusive for colonists. At a meeting held in Perth in February, 1858, it was proposed to request "Lord Canning to transport to Western Australia the mutinous Sepoys, together with a sufficient guard." Such a morbid love of men shunned by most people was calculated to become unhealthy, and happily for the credit of the meeting the motion was lost. The Inquirer spoke plainly:—"In this instance the naked truth, that it is money alone that we desire, is made patent to all." Apparently the greed of money was so great that these supporters would, like Faust, sell their souls so that they might get their desire.
From August, 1859, until February, 1861, only one convict was introduced. This fact tended to heighten the concern of the people that transportation was soon to cease. The subject was discussed with interest throughout the colony, and a fear seized colonists. In May, 1860, a memorial was circulated praying for more convicts. The newspapers observed with dismay that the "introduction of forced labour has ceased," and pointed to the apathy in public works, and the lack of labour for private employ, as the unfortunate symptoms thereof. Several resolutions were submitted to the Legislative Council in December and passed. They affirmed the desire of colonists for a renewed influx of convicts. During the debate Mr. Samson alleged that a member of the House of Commons was paid several hundred pounds a year to try and stop transportation to Western Australia. The Colonial Secretary complained that there were not sufficient convicts on public works to absorb the appropriation. Governor Kennedy assured members that he would dilate on the importance of the resolutions when communicating thereon with Her Majesty's Government.
The long debate on the land laws was also continued. More publicity was now given in England to the need for alterations in the Western Australian Land laws. The various witnesses before the Committee of the House of Lords suggested that the minimum price of Crown lands should be reduced, and in the
