74 A COLONIAL AUTOCRACY. 



ticket-of-leave men were mustered for a special inspection by~ 

 the chief superintendent and occasionally by the Governor. In 

 the other districts "all the male convicts, whether assigned to 

 settlers or on ticket-of-leave . . . (with the exception of stock- 

 men and such other persons as the magistrates under special 

 circumstances may see fit to exempt), are to assemble and be 

 mustered by the district constable every Sunday morning at 

 ten o'clock in such central part of the district as shall be pointed 

 out by the magistrate ; and to proceed from thence under the 

 direction of the constable to the nearest church or place of 

 divine service, in case there shall be one within three miles. . . . 

 On these occasions it will be expected that the assigned servants 

 and persons on tickets-of-leave shall not only be punctual . . . 

 but also clean and decent . . . and any of them who shall at- 

 tend either unshaved or intoxicated, or absent themselves ex- 

 cept in cases of sickness or other unavoidable cause, are to be 

 reported by the constable to the magistrate of the district, who 

 is to reprimand for the first offence and punish every subsequent 

 one by placing the offender in the stocks for one hour." 1 



The masters of assigned servants were enjoined to assist in 

 carrying out this order on pain of having their men withdrawn. 

 This threat was never enforced, though it was well known that 

 some masters did their best to hinder their men from attendance. 

 The muster rolls were to be kept in a uniform manner in all 

 districts, and to be submitted every Monday to each resident 

 magistrate that he might punish defaulters and those who had 

 not conducted themselves with propriety. The magistrates were 

 asked to attend the muster occasionally in person to assure 

 themselves that the proceedings were carried out in an orderly 

 manner. 



How far the Sunday Muster was successful it is hard to say. 

 If it was held near a licensed (or unlicensed) house, drinking 

 and intoxication were the inevitable result. When it brought 

 the convicts into a town as it did at Parramatta, it was an 

 unmixed evil. Marsden, the senior chaplain, and Hannibal 

 Macarthur, the two chief magistrates at Parramatta, opposed it 

 strongly and refused to enforce the order ; and Bayly, Townson 



1 G.G.O. See note on stocks above. 



