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THE ABORIGINES OE AUSTRALIA. 41 they saw resulting from this line of conduct to plead not guilty' were punished likewise, they became per fectly confounded; further, the natives not being tried by their own people, but by those likely to be prejudiced against them, and relying chiefly upon an ignorant interpreter, he recommends counsel to be provided for them. The preventives to their civilization Captain G-rey sums up as follows :—The irregular demand for their labour, the inadequate payment they often receive for it, not being able to comprehend the variable value of labour regulated by the skill required. He then proceeds to point out the difficulty of instructing the aboriginal population, showing that it can scarce be expected that individuals would undertake the task; and even if they did, the natives would only be employed in the most menial offices, and that in forming native institutions, and these could be only local and partial; he therefore proposes a scale of remuneration to all who may undertake to instruct these people, arguing that as the expense of introducing labour is already provided for, this plan would occasion but little additional expense in obtaining labour, while a fresh good would arise out of it in converting those who would be otherwise hostile and useless into good subjects. The disposal of these remunerations to be subject to the following restrictions:— A deposition before a Magistrate, a certificate from the Government of the District, and a further certificate from the Protector of the Aborigines, as to the residence and attainments of the natives employed, and on whose behalf remuneration has been applied for; thus civilization would proceed (Capt. Grey observes) upon an extensive scale, not being confined to mere institutions or isolated attempts. In densely peopled districts the natives may be collected together, but in the more thinly inhabited districts, as this may be attended with danger, the employment should be of a description not to congregate. Capt. Grey concludes by observing that some of these plans have been already brought into operation in Western Australia; and further, that in the selection of work for these people it must be of a description suitable to their unsettled habits, possessing variety, such as opening out new roads and clearing old ones, some of the party being engaged hunting and fishing so as to provide food for the others ; and as remuneration to the natives for these labours, &c., he proposes that any native being constantly employed for three years at the house of a settler should receive a grant of land in the district of which he may be a resident, also a sum of money to be laid out in the stocking of the same; that rewards should be given to those natives who may be content to live with one wife, and who would register the birth of their children ; and that some competent person should be employed to instruct some of the native youths so as to fit them for interpreters in Courts of law. Many of these observations of Capt. Grey are deserving of attention, and, as Lord John Eussell in a despatch to Sir George Gipps suggests, appear fit for adoption, subject to such modifications as the varying circumstances of the Colony may suggest; but they have never been acted upon: expense over rules every other consideration.