PERPLEXING CIRCUMSTANCES. 243 "On the morning of the day specified, to the no small astonishment of those persons, who thought that the prisoners would not be allowed to land, crowds of the colonists found their way on board the Cornwall, and were actually contending with each other who should have the priority in selecting the men whom they wished to engage. The greater number were, in a short time, hired and conveyed from the ship, in charge of the parties who had engaged them." The petition of the colonists was granted, notwithstanding this rush upon the Cornwall for convict labour, but, as if to show what different views may be taken of the same subject, a petition was forwarded, about the same time, from Western Australia, for "the advantage so long enjoyed by Van Diemen's Land, by which it had become a prosperous country in an incredibly short period." What does the mother country do under these contradictory and perplexing circumstances? 244 MOTHER AND DAUGHTERS. Just what any mother would do under analogous circumstances. "Mamma," said the younger daughter of Mrs. Smith, "you will be sorry to hear that Charlotte has refused Mr. Black." Mrs. Smith was very sorry. "But if you have no objection, he has proposed for me." "I have no objection in life, my child; you may please yourselves; but I think your elder sister a great fool to refuse so good an offer." The last convict ship sailed for Van Diemen's Land in 1852. The first batch of convicts was sent to Western Australia soon after. CHAPTER XXI. TERMS OF IMPRISONMENT IN ENGLAND AND SER VICE ON TICKET-OF-LEAVE IN THE COLONIES. THE following are the shortest periods of confinement in English prisons, to which convicts were subjected before transportation. A prisoner with a sentence of 7 years, was confined in an English prison 2 years. 246 TERMS OF IMPRISONMENT. The shortest periods during which they served, on ticket-of-leave in the colonies, before receiving a conditional pardon, were For a prisoner of 7 years, before conditional pardon 11⁄2 years. For a prisoner of 7 years, in England and Colonies 3 years. ticket-of-leave men were allowed to go out to their husbands, the Government paying half the expense. The following regulations for ticket-of-leave holders were in operation in Western Australia in 1850: TICKET-OF-LEAVE REGULATIONS. 247 TICKET-OF-LEAVE HOLDERS IN PRIVATE SERVICE. Extracts from the Regulations for Holders of Tickets-of-Leave in Western Australia, 1850. "1. All tickets-of-leave are issued for particular districts, named in the tickets-of-leave; or passports are allowed to enable the holders to remain in the service of their masters beyond the boundaries of their district. ticket-of-leave is "Every man holding a required, within seven days after his arrival in his district, to report himself, either personally or in writing, to the nearest resident magistrate, for the information of the comptroller-general, giving his name, the ship he arrived in, his master or employer, his trade or calling, or his mode of maintaining himself, and his rate of wages; and, also, to do so between the 1st and 14th January, and the 1st and 14th of June in each year, to the nearest resident magistrate. "3. Every ticket-of-leave holder is required to report to the comptroller-general every change of |