The formation of a penal colony to the northward, is an event of the utmost importance to the colonists of Cooksland, as in all likelihood it will afford them, for many years to come, an eligible market for their agricultural produce, and an outlet for their superabundant stock. Supposing, then, that a permanent boundary should be fixed for both colonies, within a degree or two of Cape Capricorn, I would recommend that a boundary line for the new colony to the westward, should be drawn wherever the natural features of the country should render it desirable to run such a line, as nearly as possible to the meridian of the south-eastern angle of the gulf, and that the whole of the peninsula to Cape York should be included in the new colony; the greater extent of which from north to south would compensate for its comparatively small extent from east to west. From the recent expedition of Dr. Leichhardt, it has been ascertained that there is a large extent of pastoral country of the first quality in this peninsula; and taking into consideration the comparative mildness of its climate, notwithstanding its low latitude, its adaptation, as an intertropical country, to the agricultural productions of the East and West Indies, and its command of the Pacific on the one hand, and the Gulf of Carpentaria on the other, its prospects as a British colony are unquestionably peculiarly favourable.*

There is only one other recommendation which I would take the liberty to offer in connexion with this subject, and it is this: I would subject the whole of the convicts to a certain period of penitentiary discipline in England, in proportion to the length of their respective periods of sentence, and give them all, with the exception of the more atrocious criminals, conditional

* In a Lecture delivered in the School of Arts in Sydney, on the 18th August, 1846, by Dr. Leichhardt, that gentleman observes that "if a settlement is to be established on the east coast, it ought to be at the mouth of the Burdekin, which I suppose to be at Cape Upstart, on the southern extremity of Halifax Bay," between 18° and 19° S.

freedom, subject to the strict surveillance of the Colonial Police, on their arrival in the new colony. This arrangement would greatly simplify the transportation system; while, I am confident, it would greatly promote its efficiency and prodigiously diminish its expense. Those who should abuse this indulgence could easily be deprived of it, and worked in chain-gangs or double irons as heretofore. Such a change of system would doubtless imply the opening up of the new colony to free immigration from the first, and afford employment and virtual superintendence to the conditionally pardoned. And, fortunately, there is no inducement required to be held out by the Government to effect such an immigration. The fact that there is a large extent of pastoral country in the portion of the peninsula already explored, will speedily attract numerous Colonial Squatters to the new colony from Cooksland and New South Wales, with their flocks of sheep and their herds of cattle; and this will gradually absorb a large portion of the available labour of the new colony, on terms alike beneficial to the employer and the employed.*

* It is somewhat remarkable that these suggestions, which were written at sea, in the Great Southern Pacific Ocean, in July, 1846, should indicate the very system to be carried out by Her Majesty's present Government; with the exception of a period of hard labour at Public Works, (of a larger or shorter duration according to the sentence of the criminal,) which, it appears, is to be interposed between the solitary confinement in the first instance, and the subsequent exile of the criminal. I confess I would prefer having the period of solitary confinement lengthened, and the labour at Public Works in England dispensed with altogether. There is a great deal of squeamishness in this country on the subject of solitary confinement, and its alleged baneful effects on the intellect of the criminal. If it were unaccompanied with labour of any kind, solitary confinement might have such effects; but with the accompaniment of regular employment -from which, moreover, the convict is allowed to derive some personal advantage in the shape of an allowance for surplus work beyond a regular set task, which is carried to his account against the period of his liberation-I cannot see how or why it should have the effects imputed to it as necessarily leading to insanity. I ascertained, for my own satisfaction, that in actual practice it had

The two localities in Moreton Bay, to which I have already referred, as presenting eligible sites for the fu

no such effects in the United States; the number of cases of insanity under the solitary system in that country not being greater than in penal establishments under any other system. And I am satisfied, from my own inquiries and observation, that there is no species of punishment so reformatory. I was locked-in successively, at my own request, in four or five of the convict cells in the Penitentiary of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, in the city of Philadelphia, in the year 1840, to see the system in actual operation, and to converse on the subject with the convicts themselves; and I put the question as to the tendency to insanity to a medical officer of the establishment, and was referred to the medical statistics of the Institution to judge for myself. The opinion of the convicts themselves was highly in favour of its reformatory character; and I am confident, that any good effects that might be anticipated from it in this country, in regard to the character and habits of the criminals, would be very much neutralized by a subsequent period of hard labour on Public Works in Great Britain. Let the period of solitary confinement, accompanied with the species of labour which may be practicable under such a system, be lengthened considerably, and let the convict be sent out by all means direct to the colonies of his future exile from the prison of his solitary confinement.

When Earl Grey announced his proposals on this subject, in the month of March last, certain of the Peers, from a sort of squeamishness of a different kind, proposed that the future convicts, to be treated in this way, should be sent out in ships carrying emigrants; forgetting that emigrants, even of the humblest class, would reasonably object to any such arrangement, and that the forcing of such persons upon them as fellow-passengers, which would soon come to be discovered, would unquestionably damage the cause of emigration to an incalculable degree. No; let the convicts be sent out in their proper character, as convicts who have suffered their punishment in part, and have had the rest remitted, and let their freedom be given them only on their arrival in the land of their future exile. With an extensive contemporaneous free emigration, these persons would easily be absorbed by the colonial population, without detriment to the general morals of the community; and as there will be unlimited employment afforded for agricultural labourers in Cooksland, and in the country still farther to the northward, there would be little difficulty in disposing of a comparatively large prison population in this way. The remarks in the text would still be applicable in regard to that portion of the exiles that might relapse into their former habits of criminality; but under a well-regulated system of the kind proposed, I do not suppose that the number of such relapses would be great.

ture port of the territory of Cooksland, are Cleveland Point, between the mouths of the Brisbane and Logan Rivers, and Toorbal, in Bribie's Island Passage, close to the North Entrance of the bay. Cleveland Point is perfectly sheltered from all winds but the North, to which, however, it lies open through the northern entrance of the bay; but it very rarely blows violently from that quarter, and even if it should, there is an island in the bay called Peel's Island, about three miles distant to the eastward, to which vessels could easily run from the Point, in the event of a northerly gale, and under the lee of which they would be completely sheltered from that quarter. Cleveland Point is also within thirty miles of Ipswich, the head of the navigation of the Bremer River, the principal tributary of the Brisbane, which again is only thirty-eight miles to Cunningham's Gap, the only practicable passage across the Coast Range to the splendid tract of table-land to the westward, called Darling Downs, the whole of the intervening country from the Point to the base of the mountains being nearly a dead level. But there is a great extent of shallow water at the Point, which would render a large expenditure for carrying out the necessary embankments to the edge of the deep water indispensable. Besides, Cleveland Point is distant not less than thirty miles from the north entrance of the bay; and the navigation is rather intricate from the number of islands, sandbanks, and shoals along the channel. In a series of Memoranda, drawn up at my request by Mr. Andrew Petrie, one of the Scotch mechanics who emigrated to New South Wales, per the Stirling Castle, in the year 1831, and for many years Superintendent of Government Works at Moreton Bay, Cleveland Point is described in the following manner:-"A commercial town was proposed within a mile of this Point. There is a natural jetty of rocks; and by forming a pier of wood or stone, about a quarter of a mile, small vessels could take in and discharge cargo. Ships can lie at anchor in four to six fathom water, good holding ground. A tram-road could be formed with very little expense

C

from the proposed site of the town to the pier-head. There is an abundant supply of fresh water within half a mile of the proposed town. A considerable portion of land adjacent to the Point, and the intervening country from the mouth of the Brisbane to the Logan River, including the whole extent of country that is now occupied by the Government herds, is suitable for small farms. The ground is well adapted for the cultivation of wheat, maize, potatoes, tobacco, the vine and the pine-apple, all kinds of vegetables, also the cotton and the coffee plant."

On the other hand, Toorbal* is close to the North Entrance of Moreton Bay, and is therefore easily accessible for vessels either from the northward or the southward of the Bay. Bribie's Island Passage, of which it forms the western point at the entrance, was discovered in 1799, by Captain Flinders, who, supposing it a river, called it Pumice-Stone River, from the quantity of pumice-stones found on its banks. It is referred to in the following terms by Mr. Uniacke, in his Observations, already quoted: "On Saturday the 29th November, (1823,) we anchored in Pumice-Stone River, Moreton Bay, within 150 yards of the shore, in the very place where Captain Flinders had anchored twenty-two years before, on discovering the harbour." "Pumice

Stone River," observes Mr Oxley, in his Report to his Excellency Sir Thomas Brisbane, 10th Jan. 1824, "affords good anchorage for vessels not drawing more than twelve feet water. The best channel is close to the mainland. There is plenty of fresh water in the vicinity of Point Skirmish, [at the southern extremity of Bribie's Island,] and though the soil is poor and sandy, the country is covered with good timber. Among other species the Callitris Australis is most abundant. It grows close to the shore, and can be procured of considerable size, adapted to most of the purposes required in building." "Toorbal Point," says Mr. Andrew Petrie, "is situated near the northern entrance of the Bay.

*The native name.