LAND, LABOUR AND COMMERCE. 133 



(with the exception of the iron-work, glass and paint) being 

 made and procured by these Government men and as such a 

 vast number of male convicts at present unavoidably remain in 

 the hands of Government, who must be clothed and fed at all 

 events, the expenses of erecting these public edifices are compara- 

 tively small, whilst they afford employment for the prisoners 

 who could not be distributed amongst the settlers". 1 This 

 statement of the case is disingenuous, for the iron, glass and paint 

 could not amount to 14,000. Much of the labour indeed was 

 paid for, being done either by free or freed men or in overtime 

 by prisoners, and much of the raw material was bought from 

 private individuals who supplied the Government by tender. The 

 expense too of superintending the work was often heavy, and 

 occasionally the whole undertaking was carried out by contract. 2 

 Bigge considered many of Macquarie's public buildings unneces- 

 sary, all of them too ornate and most of them jerry-built, and the 

 section of his first report which deals with the subject is admirably 

 scathing. 3 



Until 1819 the Government servants were not housed in 

 barracks but left to find their own lodgings. In order that they 

 might have money for this purpose they were allowed to work 

 for themselves " to be on their own hands " after three o'clock 

 each day. On the whole, the men thus left at liberty found it 

 easier to rob and plunder for this money than to work for it 

 Indeed for the ordinary workman there was not much employ- 

 ment to be found, though a man with a trade had no difficulty. 4 



But in 1819 a new convict barrack was opened at Sydney, 

 and at the end of the year there were 688 men lodged within it. 

 This left 1,252 prisoners outside who regarded it as a special 

 favour that they were allowed to find their own lodgings. The 

 men in barracks having no longer any need to work for them- 

 selves, the hours were extended to six o'clock, and somewhat 

 unreasonably the longer hours were required of the men out- 

 side as well as inside. But all the convicts were allowed to " be 

 on their own hands," on Saturday and Sunday, although on the 



1 D. 20, 2 4 th March, 1816. R.O., MS. 



2 See any of quarterly accounts of the Police Fund, and also Evidence in 

 Appendix to Bigge's Reports. R.O., MS. and Report III. 



3 See also Bigge's Ds. to Lord Bathurst, 1819 to 1820. R.O., MS. 



4 Riley, C. on T., 1819. 



