1 G 1 con n .~-IIart>esi—FcQd f 



In a few case*, the women, us household servants, 

 may l»e useful* The debt of a man and his uile 

 sometimes exceeds ^10, for repayment of which they 

 can give no security but their labor, *o that H.c mk 

 of cmpl ■> intr Mfih persona is great. 'I late p<9 pie 

 are also iueliued to theft, and their idle Imbm* too 

 ofieu lead (hem ii it <> companionship of desperate men, 

 \\ hick end* in rbbben . 



As a Kjslrm of labor theref re, it is expensive, dan* 

 gTpta*) and dem »ralizui#; it fosters idleness aud re- 

 presses honest ambition. 



The value of such labor can scarcely be put on a 

 par with that of convicts, and the sooner unshackled 

 labor is solely resorted to, the m >rc speedy will J*ethe 

 tn >r.d improvement of the I >west aud poorest class, 

 which alme is a'teeteJ. The ay stem seems already 

 d\imr a natural death. 



If the labor of a ^an«? of 100 convi t>, with the 

 u ^pa I complement of overseers, was to be computed, 

 and iucludintf only current charges, it could l>e easily 

 shewn that the quantity of lab jr which could l>e ob- 

 tained from the free-labourer, at the same cost, would, 

 nn [| 4 .: average, he >',me\t hat inure thnu double that 

 d; rived frnm them. 



The difference arises partly from the difficulty in #et. 

 Slig the on vict to exert hims-lf, ami a ^ond deal from 

 the number of days deducted on which work is not 

 per formed, such as Sundays, and native festivals al^o 

 deductions fot sick in hospital, which are large wuen 

 roads are in process through swamps and jungles. 



It is only wlien free servants cannot be procured for 

 certain menial employment* of the lowest description, 

 as is the case iiere, that convicts will be emplo^-d by 

 private individuals, and even then the expense willge* 

 nermHt equal Jf not exceed, that of *imilar servants in In- 

 dia, while ibv work will be less satisfactorily .performed.. 



