June, 1855, he sailed for England in the Rapid. Addresses of gratitude and good wishes were presented. In England, where a piece of plate was given him on behalf of residents, he was as earnest an advocate and appraiser of local affairs as the colonists could desire.
Mr. Arthur E. Kennedy succeeded him. On 20th July he arrived in the ship Avalanche at Fremantle. The usual addresses of welcome and congratulation were tendered. Governor Fitzgerald had the heartiness of the sailor; Governor Kennedy had the courtesy and immovable dignity of the aristocrat. Governor Fitzgerald was a man after the heart of the rough countryman; Governor Kennedy ruled on stricter lines.
While Governor Fitzgerald was in the colony the Secretary of State, with doubtful wisdom and in a somewhat parsimonious spirit, advised the concentration of convicts about Fremantle. It was part of the policy of Captain Henderson to distribute them as evenly as possible over the settled districts so as to at once obviate that contaminating influence so inseparable from communing together, and to allow every district to reap equal benefits from their labour. He recognised that by dispersing convicts there was less likelihood of their reverting to old habits; that one of the first principles of reformation was removal from temptation and corruption. He also sought to satisfy the demands of settlers. Governor Fitzgerald quite agreed with this principle from a moral, economical, and disciplinarian point of view. In a despatch dated 19th March, 1855, he tells the Secretary of State that "the system has hitherto worked satisfactorily," and adds that he was obliged to state, in justice to his successor, that "if the rural depot system be abandoned his difficulties will not be few in having to contend with the complaints of a discontented community occasioned by the abandonment of a system which has worked so well for the interests of all, for the adoption of one that will tend to stay any further attempt at a development of the resources of the colony, and in a total cessation of improvement in the general lines of communication throughout the colony."
Governor Kennedy did not at first deem it wise to alter the policy of his predecessor. Of the depot which had been established at Port Gregory, he wrote in October, 1855:—"A premature withdrawal would inflict much private hardship and possibly create public embarrassment by closing the door to future extensive convict employment."
The Albany depot was closed in 1855. During six months in that year only two men were hired out, twelve got employment on their own account, and six were returned from private service. In 1856 Captain Henderson visited England and gave evidence before the Committee of the Lords on convicts. Captain Wray was Acting Comptroller General in his absence, and finally, after several despatches from England, he and Governor Kennedy concurred that to reduce convict expenditure and to secure efficient surveillance of convicts their numbers should be centralised at Perth and Fremantle. At this time scores of ticket-of-leave men were being sent to country depots whence they were hired out to settlers. In the depot the Convict Establishment bore their keep; it did not maintain them in idleness, for, while awaiting employment, they were engaged on public works or road parties.
In 1856 when it was made known that it was proposed to close hiring depots complaints arose from settlers in the York and other eastern districts. The Governor was memorialised by York residents and in January, 1857, he replied that the expense of superintendence in depots was larger than the advantages obtained from them warranted. He hoped that those settlers who would suffer from removals would recognise that rather than maintain these ticket-of-leave men in comparative idleness in hiring depots it would be better to remove them to Guildford, where they would be employed in useful and necessary works. The hiring depots were almost closed, greatly to the chagrin of residents in country districts. They could not see the wisdom of closing them after excellent buildings, such as depots, commissariat stores, and officers' quarters, had been erected at a heavy expenditure to the English Government; in short, they considered that such a policy would entail a loss instead of a gain. When Captain Henderson returned the old system was largely reverted to.
A disagreement took place in 1855 as to gaol and police expenditure for reconvicted ticket-of-leave and conditional-pardon men. Under the agreement come to in earlier years the Imperial Government was to pay two-thirds of this charge. The Secretary of Sate considered that the local expenditure was too high and quite unjustifiable comparable with the small population. The Colonial Government in 1855 placed the sum at nearly £10,000; the Imperial Government said £9,000 was quite enough, and refused to pay more than £6,000 as their proportion. Colonists were annoyed, and held meetings at Perth, Fremantle, York, and other centres in September. They drew up a memorial to the Imperial Government on the matter, and included in it other grievances. The memorialists set forth that they understood the proportion of these expenses to be borne by the Imperial Treasury was not a fixed sum, but two-thirds of the whole expenditure incurred. They pointed out that the Imperial Government had profited by the erection of an extensive prison, and depots, storehouses, and officers' dwellings in various parts of the colony to the value, perhaps, of £200,000, and that colonists looked in vain for roads, bridges, and other public works which they so fondly expected. They objected to ships landing, almost exclusively, ticket-of-leave men, and cited the case of the Sea Park in April, 1854, which conveyed but one "bona fide convict" in a passenger list of 304 felons. They asserted that they never begged for shiploads of ticket-of-leave men, but for convicts to be employed on public works and for free emigrants as a counterpoise.
In transmitting this memorial Governor Kennedy expressed, in his despatch, the belief that the contribution of the Imperial Government towards the support of the police was most liberal. He thought, also, that the local finances should be charged with the cost of building a hospital "twice the size needed for the requirements of the colony." He agreed, however, that convict labour had not been employed to the best advantage. He had, he said, discovered evidence of mismanagement and undue expenditure in the Police Department.
Mr. Labouchere was now Secretary of State, and in his reply to the memorial he adduces arguments to justify the course taken by his Government. In a colony of only 10,000 people, he wrote, £9,000 ought to be ample for police purposes. He considered £6,000 sufficient for the English proportion, and threateningly added that, "if you vote more it will be at the cost of the colony." In Western Australia the cost of police per head of convicts had been £3; in Tasmania it was not more than £1. Turning to that clause of the memorial referring to free emigrants, he said that up to 31st December, 1855, the Commissioners of Emigration had despatched 2,310 emigrants, which,
