392 THE COMMISSIONEB'S REPOET. 1788-1888 The first of these objections — ^which was described by the Commissioner as " the principal and most popnlar '* of all — ^was so forcible that nothing could be urged in reply to it ; and he was consequently obliged to recomm^id the Appoint- appointment of an Attorney-General, " whose dnty it should Attorney, be to reccive all depositions from the magistrates, to prepare jj^m^ indictments, and to conduct prosecutions/' As to the other members of the Court, the Commissioner was not at all clear that the military jury could be replaced by a better one. While admitting that several of the officers " are frequently too young for that duty," he maintained that ^^ the character^ Superior qualifications, and sentiments of the higher ranks of officers raiutary are Superior to those of the best selected juries in England^ ,and greatly bo to those who might be selected for such a dnty in New South Wales " — ^p. 36 ; and after a lengthy discussion of the subject, he arrived at the conclusion that " the period is not yet arrived at which the system of trial by jury can be safely or advantageously introduced into the
- civil and criminal proceedings of the colony " — p. 40.
It was on the recommendations contained in this Report that the Government framed the Act of 1823, giving the colonists the forms of English procedure, but still with- chaiBcter holdiug the Bubstancc. Bigge^s Report appears to have Report. been written mainly for the purpose of providing -the Government with certain specific reasons for continuing the system of which the colonists complained so often and so persistently. When, for instance, he stated that the military jurors in the colony were superior to the best selected jurors in England, he knew that no one in that country would listen to such an argument in support of a proposal to substitute military juries there for the existing system. If it was no argument in England, it was none that the total number of inhabitants in the colony in 1820 was 23,939 ; of whom 1,307 persona had come free ; 1,495 had been bom in the colony ; 159 had been absolutely pardoned ; 962 had been conditionally pardoned ; 3»253 were free by servitude and expiration of sentence ; 1,422 held tickets of leave ; 9,451 were convicts ; 5,668 were children ; and 220 were serving on board colonial vessels. Digitized by Google
