ls. He stated that the executive
council were equally benefited by the wasteful expenditure, either in
their own persons or those of their official brethren, and that every
colonist had an interest in the multiplication of bills on the British
treasury. To prevent these abuses, the convict estimates were
thenceforth to be prepared by the colonial secretary, the
comptroller-general, and the commissariat officer, subject to the
approval of the secretary of state.

The management of the prisoners being confided to the judgment of the
governor, Lord Stanley deemed the chief cause of its many changes, and
its subservience to colonial prosperity. The deference of the ministers
to this discretion he attributed to the unwillingness of the home office
to interfere with a functionary in correspondence with the colonial
office, and the reluctance of the secretary for the colonies to guide a
penal system designed for interests exclusively imperial. Thus, he
stated, the governor was practically independent, and had strong
inducements to render the labor of convicts subservient to colonial
wealth, and to disregard the great design--the prevention of crime in
Great Britain. He declared that all schemes of convict management were
of colonial origin, and all contemplated local interests as their main
object. To prevent these devices he proposed to retain in the
colonial-office the exclusive management of the details of
transportation.[239]

Among the items of convict expense was a charge of L164,000 for rations.
This Lord Stanley considered an extravagant outlay. He deemed it highly
improper that in a country where all the means of subsistence existed in
such abundance with an unlimited supply of manual labor, this charge
should remain. He however feared that while the convicts were permitted
to labor on works of colonial utility the local authorities would always
find means to increase the charges for their subsistence (Feb. 28, '43).
The treasury concurred in this view, and requested that explicit
instructions might be given to Wilmot and the comptroller-general to
prevent the employment of labor for the colonial benefit, and to devote
their utmost efforts to raise the food on the waste lands of the colony.

The convict department attempted agriculture, and they selected for the
experiment cold, damp, and barren soils. Gardens of a few acres occupied
a thousand men: the cleared land was utterly worthless. Garden seeds
were brought