THE ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEM. 73 



necessary. All others were reserved for examination by the 

 Superintendent of Police or by the Bench of Magistrates. 1 



As a convict was not distinguishable from the rest of the 

 inhabitants by any outward sign, escaped prisoners, run-away 

 servants and ticket-of-leave men wandered about the country, 

 passing themselves off as free, and cheating, trafficking and 

 creating disorders. The Governor, to put an end to this 

 vagrancy, issued an Order in August, i8io. 2 It provided that 

 men free by servitude or emancipation must carry their certifi- 

 cates, ticket-of-leave men their tickets, and other convicts 

 passes from magistrates or from their masters stating where 

 they were going and what was their business. If these orders 

 were neglected the convict might be sent to Sydney by any 

 magistrate to work in the Government gangs. After 1814 the 

 only magistrate in Sydney who could issue these passes was 

 the Superintendent of Police. 3 It was an Order which was 

 very difficult to carry out, and indeed was very imperfectly 

 obeyed. Under it a very curious abuse grew up by which 

 masters who did not wish to feed, clothe and pay their convict- 

 servants gave them passes and allowed them to go about work- 

 ing for themselves. These passes were as valuable as tickets- 

 of-leave, and from the frequency with which they were given 

 by a certain magistrate, came to be known as " Captain Cox's 

 Liberty". 4 



The establishment of the Sunday Muster rendered it easier 

 to follow the movements of the convicts about the country. 

 Until Bligh's time it had been the custom to muster the convicts 

 in Sydney every Sunday morning and march them to church. 8 

 Macquarie revived it in Sydney at the beginning of 1810 and 

 extended it by the advice of one of the chaplains 6 to the rest 

 of the territory in i8i4. 7 At headquarters the convicts and 



1 One case in which prompt punishment was thought necessary was that of a 

 conspiracy to escape by cutting out a ship in the harbour ; another was the case 

 of two sawyers at Pennant Hills who tried to stir up their comrades to refuse to 

 work. See Bigge's Report, I. 



2 G.G.O., i8th August, 1810. 3 Ibid., loth October, 1814. 



4 Evidence of Howe, Chief Constable at Windsor in Appendix to Bigge's 

 Reports. R.O., MS. Cox was Resident Magistrate of the district. 



5 See C. on T., 1812. 



6 Rev. Mr. Cartwright. See his Evidence, Appendix to Bigge's Reports. R.O., 

 MS 



' 7 G.G.O., loth September, 1814. The convicts called the Sunday Muster a 

 " Full Bench ". See Howe's Evidence above. 



