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RESEARCHED BY PETER KILLACKEY
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In his report on the state of agriculture and trade, Royal Commisioner J.T. BIGGE was glowing in his praise of Williams and in his enthusiasm for New Zealand hemp.
John Thomas Bigge had left England as Royal Commissioner to report on the progress of the Colony of New South Wales. There had been periodic reviews of the colony before in 1798 and 1812, but the Bigge Royal Commision was the most extensive review of the colony of New South Wales conducted so far.
The main terms of Bigge's commision were to examine the effectiveness of transportation as a deterrent to lawbreakers, but he was also to investigate "all the laws regulations and usages of the settlement" Notably those affecting civil administration and the management of convicts, and he was required to report on the development of agriculture and trade.
Bigge's mission was to report on the raison d'etre of New South Wales; Was it to be a commercial colony or a jail? If it was a jail, how should it be administered? If it was to be a commercial colony, what should it produce?
Matra's 1784 plan had yolked together commercial and penal motives for the establishment of the settlement of New South Wales, but ultimately these jails were incompatable. As commerce and the prosperity of the colony progressed, the deterrent value of the threat of transportation to New South Wales was diminished.
On the other hand, as long as New South Wales remained a penitentiary, the settlement of free settlers was hindered because they had to submit to the regulations of what was essentially a giant prison. As long as New South Wales remained a prison, the British government had to pay its way; and the only way to lessen the cost of this settlement was to develop it as a commercial colony.
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