If such a measure would have been expedient in America, surely it would be tenfold more so in New South Wales!
Foreigners from the south of Europe would introduce the culture of the vine and the olive, would rear the silkworm, and prepare various sorts of dried fruit; for all of which occupations the soil and climate of Moreton Bay are peculiarly adapted, but which are all foreign to the habits and pursuits of the natives of the British isles. It should also be borne in mind, that from the mere difference of their language, emigrants from the continent of Europe, and especially from the German states, would be much less likely to be contaminated by association with the liberated or emancipated convicts, than natives of the mother country, while their virtuous example would be equally efficient in promoting the reformation of the convicts. It may be urged, indeed, that employing the funds of the colony for carrying out emigrants from the continent of Europe, instead of from Great Britain and Ireland, would be exceedingly unwise, as it would be diverting these funds from their proper object, and diminishing the means of carrying off the superabundant population of the United Kingdom. It is not proposed, however, to supersede emigration from Great Britain and Ireland, by recommending a limited emigration from the continent of Europe,
