t be
remembered that there are from 20,000 to 30,000 men spread throughout
the country, whose increasing offences require that some signal examples
should be made. I am sorry to say that crime has increased amongst this
class very considerably within the last two or three years.' After
dwelling upon the absolute necessity that the executive should rigidly
carry out the sentences of the court, he added, 'I am sorry to say that
within the last two or three sessions some twenty or thirty cases of
this description (cutting and wounding) have been tried in this court,
as great a number as were formerly tried in two or three years, and also
of a more aggravated character.'"--Ibid.

"The evidence of Mr. James Arnold Wheeler, the superintendent of the St.
Mary's Pass station, exposed some of the beauties of the system. A
hawker was robbed within about a mile of the station under very
aggravated circumstances, by men in the dress of probationers. It was,
of course, important to ascertain who was absent from the station at
that particular period, and Mr. Wheeler stated that he could not tell,
as all the third class had liberty to roam about within hearing of the
bell, about half a mile in any direction from the establishment. When
asked by the judge what prevented the men from going further if they
pleased? he replied, nothing, provided they returned at a certain hour.'
His honor shook his head in silence."--_Examiner_, 1846.

"During the trial of John Burdett in the supreme court, on the 2nd
instant, for robbery, the prosecutor, an old man between 60 and 70,
swore that he had been robbed (his property taken) seven times since
last Christmas; that his bed, rug, and blanket had been taken from his
hut; that he lived a mile and a-half from Oyster Cove probation station;
that he was reduced to such straits that he now depends on his
neighbours for a little bread to eat; that the superintendent's lady had
given him a rug and a blanket, but he had nothing but straw to sleep
upon. There is only an open four-rail fence outside the station to
confine the prisoners after they are let out of their sleeping cells.
Mr. Justice Montagu commented, with indignation, upon the total want of
restraint upon the probationers, and of protection to the poor settlers
in the neighbourhood of the station; and expressed, in feeling terms,
his sympathy for the prosecutor's distress and losses, and kindly
declared that, if the old man would prepare a petit