Such a harsh, and in too many cases unjust, method of dealing with them, drove the convicts to the commission of fresh offences, or even crimes, and, in desperation at the wrongs to which they were exposed, they not merely neglected utterly the interests of their temporary masters, but in many cases, impelled by a fierce thirst for vengeance, they burned house and property over his head at the harvest time! The chronic alarm and anxiety of the colony during a long period was not however traceable to the principle of the system itself, but to the method in which it was worked by self-seeking natives, greedy of gain. No sooner had the most glaring of the evils been rectified, and by means of a powerful government law and order resumed their wonted sway, ere the young colony began to make most unexpected strides in developing its capabilities, and both in the unfolding of its natural resources and in its trade and commerce ere long attracted the attention, not merely of England and her manufacturers, but of all Europe. In 1840 New South Wales ceased to be a convict settlement, at which period there were 130,856 souls in the colony, 26,967 of whom were convicts. In 1857, when the last census was taken, there were in all 305,487, of whom 171,673 were males, and 133,814 females, who inhabited 41,479 houses, 1725 huts, 50 waggons, and 75 ships, and subsisted chiefly by pasture and agriculture. The morality of this population diffused over 321,579 square miles has greatly improved, thanks to the unlimited freedom of individual power to develope itself, and the opportunities afforded for leading an independent, comfortable life, and in the interests of Truth we must add, that in no part of Europe would any one be left so unfettered to travel about alone and unarmed, or require less precautions, as in this once penal colony. The number of criminal cases of all sorts in the colony during the last ten years, during which the population has increased from 189,600 to 266,189, is as follows:-- 1848 ... 445 accused, of whom were executed 4 1849 ... 534 -- -- -- 4 1850 ... 555 -- -- -- 4 1851 ... 574 -- -- -- 2 1852 ... 527 -- -- -- 5 1853 ... 604 -- -- -- 2 1854 ... 637 -- -- -- 6 1855 ... 526 -- (one of these a woman) 5 1856 ... 461 -- -- -- 0 1857 ... 395 -- -- -- 4 One must not forget to take into account that by far the larger portion of the population are recruited from the lower class, as measured by education. On the whole we may assume that of the 305,487 souls, 30,000 men and 20,000 women _can neither read nor write_.