OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 221 



the convict may have the affair investigated, but redress comes 

 slowly. 



One of the great evils of the system is, that many of the convicts 

 on arriving are assigned to persons in Sydney and other towns, the 

 consequence of which is that they are exposed to the contaminations 

 and temptations that are likely to beset them in those thickly-peopled 

 places, and this too only a few months after their conviction in the 

 mother country. This influence removes all hopes of reform, and they 

 are usually soon found among the criminals of New South Wales. 



All persons who are landholders may receive convicts as assigned 

 servants, in the proportion of one to every three hundred and twenty 

 acres, but no one proprietor can have in his employ more than 

 seventy-five convicts. 



Written application for labourers is made to the Board, and the 

 applicants must bind themselves to keep the assigned convict for at 

 least one month, and to furnish him with food and clothing agreeably 

 to the government regulations, which are as follows, viz. : 



The weekly rations consist of twelve pounds of wheat, or nine 

 pounds of seconds flour ; or, in lieu thereof, at the discretion of the 

 master, three pounds of maize meal, and nine pounds of wheat, or 

 seven pounds of seconds flour; with seven pounds of beef or mutton, 

 and four pounds of corned pork, two ounces of salt, and two ounces 

 of soap. 



The clothing for a year is as follows, viz. : two frocks or jackets, 

 three shirts, of strong linen or cotton, two pair of trousers, three pair 

 of shoes, of stout durable leather, one hat or cap, and the use of a good 

 blanket and mattrass belonging to the master. 



Custom, however, has extended the above allowances, and the 

 quantity of luxuries added in tobacco, sugar, tea, and grog, makes 

 the amount nearly double. These additions have become absolutely 

 necessary in order to procure work from the convicts, and the free 

 supply of them is the only way in which they can be made to work 

 in the harvest season. I was informed that a settler considered it all- 

 important to have a large stock of these luxuries on hand at the 

 season of pressure ; for although the assigned servants do not actually 

 refuse to work, they do so little, that, in order to save his crop, the 

 master must yield them the extra indulgences. 



Another evil attendant on the assignment system is the difference 

 in the treatment they receive from those to whom they are assigned. 

 On the arrival of a convict-ship, a large number of persons who have 



vol. ii. 56 



