portation system could be effectually reformed, and indefinitely extended in the Australian territory?
I should be sorry to insinuate, however, that His Majesty's government could possibly be indifferent to the moral welfare of the colonists of Australia. There are positive proofs to the contrary in the liberal and enlightened measures, of which the Right Honourable the present Secretary of State for the Colonies has recently sanctioned the enactment in New South Wales, for ensuring the intellectual advancement of the colonists, by means of numerous and well-organized schools, and for promoting their moral and spiritual welfare through the regular dispensation of the ordinances of religion. But in the multiplicity of engagements that uniformly solicit the attention of the high officers of the Crown, it is possible that the moral welfare of the colonists of Australia, in as far as the bearing and operation of the transportation system are concerned, may have hitherto been overlooked or neglected. Besides, His Majesty's government have never yet had the whole case of the colonists, in reference to the transportation system, laid fairly before them; as is evident from the paltry amount and the inferior character of the information detailed in evidence before the parliamentary committee on secondary
