THE PAST0RALI8T AND THE CONVICT 105 



invaded a neighbouring station and shot the blacks 

 there. 



In 1837-8 the Commissioner in New South Wales for 

 the assignment of convicts had assigned 5,454 as do- 

 mestic servants and from 10,000 to 12,000 convicts as 

 shepherds, stockmen, or rural labourers. So large 

 did the demand for convict servants become that, at 

 one time, under Governor Darling, 2,000 applications 

 lay unsatisfied. It was unequally and partially dealt 

 with. Dr. Lang observed that one settler, who was in 

 favour with the Government, would have many convict 

 servants, while a neighbour, who was more under a 

 cloud, was absolutely denied them. Did the reverend 

 doctor, who knew so well how to look after his own 

 interests and those of his family, forget, what he had 

 elsewhere stated, that his brother, Avith only 1,500 

 acres, had no fewer than 40 convict servants ? 



The treatment of such servants was various and un- 

 equal. By an Act passed through the Legislative Council 

 that able Governor, Sir Richard Bourke, decreed that 

 magistrates sitting in Petty Sessions should not have 

 it in their power to order a penalty of more than 50 

 lashes. This humane measure, according to Lang, 

 raised a howl of indignation in squatting circles, where 

 it was reprobated as ill-judged lenity and an encourage- 

 ment to, or an evidence of, general insubordination on 

 the part of the convicts ; indeed, the squatters pro- 

 fessed to dread an insurrection and a servile war.* 

 Yet Lang says that he kncAv that, on the best-managed 

 stations, punishment by flogging was scarcely ever used. 

 On the other hand, where it was used, the legal 50 

 lashes were often inflicted " for insolence, laziness, or 

 disobedience, or for any of the many constructive crimes 

 and misdemeanours of the old convict code." f 



Difficult problems arose in connection with the assign- 

 ment of convict labour. In the time of Governor 

 Darling, in the year 1827, the convict servants were 

 withdrawn from a certain individual by a bench of 

 * Account, i. 246-7. t -f^^'^-i i. 357. 



