528 



ANNUAL REGISTEK, IS13. 



transport, general orders are issued 

 for the returns of the number of 

 men wanted, with the land held 

 in cultivation by each settler. The 

 trade, age, character, and capacity 

 of the convicts are, as far as pos- 

 sible, investigated ; the artificers 

 are in general reserved for the 

 service of government, and as 

 many of the others as may be 

 wanted. Persons who have been 

 in a higher situation of life have 

 tickets of leave given to them, 

 by which they have liberty to 

 provide for themselves, and are 

 exempt from all compulsory labour; 

 similar tickets are given to men 

 unused to active employment, as 

 goldsmiths and others ; the re- 

 mainder are distributed amongst 

 the settlers as servants and la- 

 bourers. The convicts in the ser- 

 vice of government are divided 

 into gangs — every gang has an 

 overseer, and every two or three 

 gangs a superintendant ; these are 

 frequently chosen from amongst 

 those convicts who best conduct 

 themselves. They work from six 

 in the morning till three in the 

 afternoon, and the remainder of 

 the day is allowed them, to be 

 spent either in amusement or pro- 

 fitable labour for themselves. They 

 are clothed, fed, and for the most 

 part lodged by government ; and 

 though in the early periods of the 

 colony, inconvenience and distress 

 may have arisen from the irre- 

 gularity of supply from this coun- 

 try, latterly the food and clothing 

 have been good, and generally 

 speaking in sufficient abundance. 

 Should the conviftts misconduct 

 themselves at their work, the 

 superintendents have no power of 

 inflicting punishment, but are for 

 that purpose obliged to take them 



before a magistrate; the sitting 

 magistrate oi" the week at Sydney 

 may order a punishment of twenty- 

 five lashes ; a regular bench, which 

 consists, at least, of three, may 

 order as many as three hundred ; 

 and in the distant parts of the 

 colony, a single magistrate has the 

 same power with the bench at 

 Sydney ; but a heavy punishment 

 is not executed without the pre- 

 vious approbation of the governor. 

 Another mode of correction, and 

 that which your committee would 

 recommend to be preferred, in as 

 many cases as possible, is, to sen- 

 tence the culprit to work for a 

 certain number of days in the gaol 

 gang : he is here obliged to labour 

 at some public work in irons, from 

 six in the morning to six at night, 

 and no hours are allowed to him 

 for profit or amusement. The 

 convicts distributed amongst the 

 settlers are clothed, supported, 

 and lodged by them ; they work 

 either by the task or for the same 

 number of hours as the govern- 

 ment convicts; and when their 

 set labour is finished, are allowed 

 to work on their own account. 

 The master has no power over 

 them of corporal punishment, and 

 this can only be inflicted by 

 the interference of a magistrate; 

 even if the master be a magistrate 

 himself, he can order no punish- 

 ment to his own servant, but must 

 have recourse to another ma- 

 gistrate. If the servant feels him- 

 self ill-used by his master, he has 

 power of complaining to a magi- 

 strate, who will, if the complaint 

 be well-founded, deprive the mas- 

 ter of his servant. It is so much 

 the interest of the settlers to keep 

 their servants in good health, and 

 to attend to their conduct, that 



