THE ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEM. 77 



of raising " emancipists " to the magistracy, which was through- 

 out his governorship one of the main planks of his policy. 

 Marsden certainly did not approve of it, and without doubt it 

 made the few men of standing in the Colony less ready to take 

 a magisterial office, and lowered its character in the eyes of the 

 colonial population. 1 



The police constables throughout the country were appointed 

 by the Governor. He acted, however, on the recommenda- 

 tion of the resident magistrates of the various districts or the 

 Superintendent of Police in Sydney. 2 Macquarie was the first 

 Governor to set about organising this force, and in 1810 he 

 established a complete system of police for Sydney. The town 

 was divided into five districts with forty-five petty constables, 

 five district constables, one of whom acted as chief constable, an 

 assistant superintendent, and finally a superintendent of police. 3 

 To this post was annexed a salary of 200 a year from the 

 Police Fund, and except for a short interval in 1 820 it was held 

 throughout Macquarie's governorship by D'Arcy Wentworth, 

 the chief surgeon and Treasurer of the Police Fund. 4 The 

 pay of the district constables consisted of 10 a year, slop- cloth- 

 ing (continually in arrears), an allowance of spirits, a ration 

 and a half for themselves and rations for their families. The 

 petty constables received the same without the salary of 10. 

 In 1817 the district constables lost the rations for their fam- 

 ilies and received another 10 a year as compensation. The 

 country police received the same remuneration and were drawn 

 from the same class of men. Nearly all of them were convicts 

 or ex-convicts, and very few free men of decent character could 

 be persuaded to undertake the duties. The method of pay- 

 ment was thoroughly bad and degrading, and one of the greatest 

 difficulties in enforcing order and protecting property in the 



1 For fuller treatment of this subject of the position of "emancipists" see 

 Chapter VII. 



2 Wentworth, in evidence before Bigge, said that he himself had the whole 

 power of appointing and dismissing constables. Perhaps he had the real power, 

 but he certainly had not the nominal power. See S.G., passim. The Governor 

 appoints or dismisses " on the recommendation of" is the form used. 



3 G.G.O., October, 1810, and G.G.O., December, 1810. Number of petty 

 constables was increased to fifty in 1819, and to sixty-four in 1820. Bigge 

 Report, II. 



4 Almost all the revenue raised in the Colony went into the Police Fund, 

 which was used for many purposes besides those of police. See later. 



