ective. It supposes the existence in the breasts of criminals of a
principle of action, and a desire of improvement and of a change in their
condition sufficiently powerful to enable them to resist the temptations
to vice held out by habitual intercourse with the depraved. No doubt
there are individuals to be found, even among those who have incurred the
penalty of banishment from their native country, of firm character and
strong sympathy for virtue; but the majority must of course consist of
men almost incapable of resisting momentary impulses, of weak or
perverted understandings, of strong animal passions, naturally or from
habit averse to what is good, and prone to that which is bad. In such
cases association must inevitably be pernicious; and pardon can only be
obtained by comparative, not absolute reformation. By the dispersion of
convicts, under the assignment system or otherwise, the effects of evil
communication will be guarded against, and those of intercourse with the
virtuous and the honest substituted.

I am not of course, as I have said, prepared here even to sketch a new
plan of convict discipline; but I think that the suggestion I have made
with reference to the employment of prisoners in the construction of
railroads, the capital to be supplied by a private company, would afford
a temporary relief to the labour market, whilst it would confer a lasting
benefit on the colony. During the diversion thus created, time would be
afforded for digesting a plan of convict discipline, which should be
consistent with economy, with a due regard to the interests of the
settlers, and with the moral improvement of the prisoners.

LIGHTHOUSES IN BASS STRAIT.

I would also suggest another mode of employing the probationers. They
might be dispersed through the islands in Bass Strait, and engaged in
constructing the lighthouses which are so much wanted there. Six years
ago his Excellency Sir John Franklin drew the attention of the Government
of New South Wales to the necessity existing for these lighthouses. On
this occasion a mass of evidence was given before the Legislative Council
as to which would be the most eligible sites; but up to this period only
two have been founded, both by the Tasmanian Government, one on the
Chappell Isles, another in Banks Strait. The important ones for the
eastern and western entrances of the Strait have been neglected, although
the fullest information was obtained on the subject. Opinions