Prison fare on board. 



NEW SOUTH WALES. 



Evils of the system. 



127 



is barricadoed near the main-mast, abaft of which 

 all the arms and accoutrements of the guard and 

 vessel are kept. The master and officers are 

 usually lodged in the poop-cabin. The prisoners 

 are habituated to the discipline of the ship, on 

 board the hulks, before leaving England. The 

 usual, and most effectual, punishment for misbe- 

 haviour is to place the culprit in a narrow box on 

 deck, in which he is compelled to stand erect. 

 This punishment is said to be effectual in reducing 

 the most refractory male convicts to order, but it 

 was not found so efficacious in the female convict- 

 ship ; for, when put in the box, they would bawl 

 so loudly, and use their tongues so freely, that it 

 was found necessary to increase the punishment 

 by placing a cistern of water on the top of the 

 box. This was turned over upon those who per- 

 sist in using their tongues, and acted on the occu- 

 pant as a shower-bath, the cooling effect of which 

 was always and quickly efficacious in quieting 

 them. I was informed that more than two such 

 showers were never required to subdue the most 

 turbulent. 



I was struck with the ruddy, healthy, and ath- 

 letic looks of the young convicts that were ar- 

 riving, and from their deportment and counte- 

 nances I should hardly have been inclined to 

 believe that they had been the perpetrators of 

 heinous crimes. 



I am not at all surprised that many of the set- 

 tlers of the colony should be opposed to the change 

 in the assignment system ; for when such a fine 

 body of men is seen, the reason is easily under- 

 stood, as the possession of such strong and hale 

 persons to all intents and purposes as slaves, and 

 at the expense of their maintenance alone, must be 

 very lucrative to those requiring labourers. I am, 

 on the other hand, at a loss to conceive how the 

 assignment system can be looked upon in any other 

 light than as a great evil, which must bo abolished 

 if it be designed to make the inhabitants of New 

 South Wales a moral community, and to reform 

 the convicts. It acts most unequally on the par- 

 ties, and is a barrier to the reformation that 

 the punishment of transportation is intended to 

 effect. 



The convicts on arriving are sent to the barracks 

 at Sydney. The government selects from them 

 such mechanics as are required for the public ser- 

 vice,and then the numerous applicants for labourers 

 are supplied. Those assigned to private employers 

 are sent to the interior under the charge of a con- 

 stable or overseer. 



They build their own huts, and the climate 

 being very fine, require but little shelter. The 

 hours of labour are from six to six, and the quan- 

 tity of labour exacted from them is about two- 

 thirds of what would be required in England. 

 They are treated in all respects as if they were 

 free, and no restraint is imposed, except that they 

 cannot leave their masters, who, when they have 

 no further use for them, return them to the 

 government to be reassigned. 



When on ticket of leave, they may reside in any 

 place they choose to select. 



The convict's time of probation depends upon 

 the original term of his sentence ; but on a com- 

 mission of crime within the colony, it begins from 

 his last conviction. For refractory conduct, they 

 may be taken to the nearest magistrate, who orders 



punishment on the oath of the master. The magis- 

 trate has also power to send them to the nearest 

 chain-gang employed on public works. Here they 

 are worked in irons, and kept on scanty food for a 

 limited period, after which they may be returned 

 to their masters. If badly treated, the convict 

 may have the affair investigated, but redress comes 

 slowly. 



One of the great evils of the system is, that 

 many of the convicts on arriving are assigned 

 to persons in Sydney and other towns, the conse- 

 quence of which is that they are exposed to the 

 contaminations and temptations that are likely 

 to beset them in those thickly-peopled places, and 

 this too only a few months after their conviction in 

 the mother country. This influence i-emoves all 

 hopes of reform, and they are usually soon found 

 among the criminals of New South Wales. 



All persons who are landholders may receive 

 convicts as assigned servants, in the proportion 

 of one to every three hundred and twenty acres, 

 but no one proprietor can have in his employ more 

 than seventy-five convicts. 



Written application for labourers is made to the 

 Board of Assignment, and the applicants must 

 bind themselves to keep the assigned convict for 

 at least one month, and to fui-nish him with food 

 and clothing agreeably to the government regu- 

 lations, which are as follows, viz. 



The weekly rations consists of twelve pounds of 

 wheat, or nine pounds of seconds flour ; or, in lieu 

 thereof, at the discretion of the master, three 

 pounds of maize meal, and nine pounds of wheat, 

 or seven pounds of seconds flour ; with seven 

 pounds of beef or mutton, and four pounds of 

 corned pork, two ounces of salt, and two ounces of 

 soap. 



The clothing for a year is as follows, viz. two 

 frocks or jackets, three shirts, of strong linen or 

 cotton, two pairs of trousers, three pairs of shoes, 

 of stout durable leather, one hat or cap, and 

 the use of a good blanket and mattress belonging 

 to the master. 



Custom, however, has extended the above allow- 

 ances, and the quantity of luxuries added in to- 

 bacco, sugar, tea, and grog, makes the amount 

 nearly double. These additions have become abso- 

 lutely necessary in order to procure work from the 

 convicts, and the free supply of them is the only 

 way in which they can be made to work in the 

 harvest season. 1 was informed that a settler con- 

 sidered it all-important to have a large stock of 

 these luxuries on hand at the season of pressure ; 

 for although the assigned servants do not actually 

 refuse to work, they do so little, that, in order to 

 save his crop, the master must yield them the extra 

 indulgences. 



Another evil attendant on the assignment system 

 is the difference in the treatment they receive from 

 those to whom they are assigned. On the arrival 

 of a convict-ship, a large number of persons who 

 have made applications to the Board, are in wait- 

 ing ; they of course know nothing of the character 

 of the convicts, and, as I learned from a good 

 source, no record is kept, or sent with the convicts 

 themselves. The Board is entirely ignorant of their 

 character or crimes, and thus can exercise no dis- 

 crimination in assigning the convict to the hands of 

 a good or of a hard master. The greatest villains 

 may, therefore, fall into kind hands, while one who 



