Sir George Grey brought in on Thursday night his Bill
to amend the laws relating to penal servitude, chiefly in the direction advised by the Royal Commission. The new powers proposed to be taken by the Government are ample for the purposes the reformers have in view ; but it is obvious enough that Sir George Grey is not yet prepared to use them in any coherent and systematic way. The Government do not propose to extend the emigration to Western Australia, on the very simple ground that they are afraid of exasperating the Eastern Australian colonies, but they "protest" against the protest of those colonies—a great and effective step. They will also prohibit the convicts from leaving Western Australia till after the full expiration of their sentence. They will increase the minimum time for penal servitude from three to five years, instead of seven as proposed by the Commissioners, and will "not at present" make any alteration in the conditions under which a remission of sentence is granted, but Sir George Grey confessed he should like to make the remission of sentence absolute, if public opinion would only allow him. But if a licence be revoked for a new crime, the Government proposes (very justly) to make the holder work out first the whole remainder of his previous sentence that was not passed in prison, and then work out any new sentence which his fresh crime may have brought down upon him.
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