The Times of Saturday last publishes a very interesting account
of the appointment by the Emperor of Russia of a Special Commission, under the presidency of the Minister of Justice," to consider without delay the question of either abolishing or limiting all forms of exile and deportation to Siberia. The Commission is to inquire into (1) the substitu- tion of some other kind of punishment for that of deportation by Courts of Justice ; (2) the abolition or restriction of administrative exile of peasants and artisans by the com- munal authorities ; (3) the reorganisation of the system of hard labour and subsequent settlement ; (4) the improvement of the condition of the exiles now in Siberia ; (5) the reform of the institutions controlling the transportation and distri- bution of the exiles ; (6) the establishment of compulsory labour for the benefit of the community as a preventive and penal measure ; and (7) the pecuniary means necessary for carrying these measures into effect. The initiation of such a reform as this is another proof of . the Emperor's humanity and good sense, and of his wise and far-seeing desire to make Siberia, not a penal dustbin where human rubbish is "shot," but one of the lands of the future. Colonisation by criminals is one of the surest ways of retard- ing the growth of a country whose need is development.
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