No. 39, Judicial
30 November 1858
Sir,
Several murders having been committed in British Columbia, by white men engaged in mining pursuits, and it having been foundexpensiveManuscript image expensive, not only to bring them to trial, which has nevertheless been in every case accomplished, but also impossible to carry out the sentence of the law in cases where criminals are sentenced to transportation for life, for the reason that there is no penal settlement within reach, and that I have no means of forming a settlement for that purpose on this coast.
I am therefore much perplexed about the disposal of convicts of that class, and wish to learn if HerMajesty'sManuscript image Majesty's Government will permit their removal to any penal settlement in Australia, and how the expense of their removal is to be defrayed. 1
I have etc.
James Douglas
Governor
Minutes by CO staff
Manuscript image
ABd 31 Jany
This despatch has accidentally remained unanswered. The reply however rests on the general established practice of the Country. It is that no British Colony remains available for the reception of offenders sentenced to Penal Servitude or Transportation in any places out of the United Kingdom and that the only resourse available for their punishment is imprisonment with hard labor in the Country where their offences are committed.
TFE 29 July
C J 29
N 1-8
Other documents included in the file
Manuscript image
Draft reply, Newcastle to Douglas, No. 10, 5 August 1859.
Footnotes
  1. = sentence for transportation Cf. footnote in Douglas to Lytton, 12 October 1858, No. 3, 12721, CO 60/1, p. 213.
People in this document

Blackwood, Arthur Johnstone

Carnarvon, Earl

Douglas, James

Elliot, Thomas Frederick

Lytton, Edward George Earle Bulwer

Pelham-Clinton, Henry Pelham Fiennes

Places in this document

British Columbia

Vancouver Island

Victoria