77 7 
NEW HO 
fufficient provision from government. In governor Hun¬ 
ter’s time, the attendance of the convidls was enforced 
at church. This compulfion appears to have been neg- 
ledled during the government of admiral Bligh; though 
during the hours of divine fervice all loitering was for¬ 
bidden in the town of Sydney. No reftraint is impofed 
on thofe profeffing a different religion, and Roman-catholic 
clergymen have been allowed to perform the rites of their 
church ; regifters of baptifms, marriages, and burials, are 
regularly kept, and many fchools have been eftabliffied. 
The Orphan Female School, fupported by port-duties 
and fines, has flourifhed almoft from the firft fettlement 
of the colony; and a Male Orphan School, on a fimilar 
plan, has lately been eftabliffied ; feveral private fchools 
are alfo open, and the education of youth appears by no 
means to be negleQed, though the want of proper mailers 
lias been much felt at different periods. 
“ Your committee will now proceed to detail the manner 
in which the tranfportation of the convidls is condudled, 
and what are their government and treatment within the 
colony. 
“ When the hulks are full up to their eftablilhment, 
and the convidled offenders in the different counties are 
beginning to accumulate, a veffel is taken up for the 
purpofe of conveying a part of them to New South Wales. 
A leledlion is in the firft inflance made of all the male 
convidls under the age of fifty, who are fentenced to 
tranfportation for life and for fourteen years ; and the 
number is filled up with fuch from amongft thofe fen¬ 
tenced to tranfportation for feven years, as are the moft 
■unruly in the hulks, or are convicted of the moft atrocious 
crimes: with refpedt to female convidls, it has been cuf- 
tomary to fend, without any exception, all whole ftate of 
health will admit of it, and whole age does not exceed 
forty-five years. 
“ The evidence of Mr. M‘Leay diftindlly and fatisfac- 
torily explains the manner in which they are tranfported. 
An order is received from the Treafury at the Tranfport- 
office, to take up veffels for New South Wales. They 
are advertifed for, and the lowell tender accepted. 
Clothing and proviiions for the fupport of the convidls 
during the voyage, and nine months afterwards, are lent 
from the Vidlualling-ofrice, and medicines are furnifhed 
from Apothecaries’ Hall. The owner of the veffel pro¬ 
vides a lurgeon, who undergoes an examination at Sur¬ 
geon’s Hall and the Tranfport-oflice. He is inftrudled to 
keep a diary, not only of the illnefs on-board, but of the 
number of convidls admitted on deck; of the fcraping 
the decks, cleaning the births, and general treatment of 
the tranfports. The fick are to be vifited twice a-day, 
the healthy once. He is ordered to take the greateft pre¬ 
caution again!! infedlion, and to fumigate the clothes of 
thofe taken to the hofpital. He has not only power to 
ufe medicines, but alfo the ftores, if any fick be in want 
of greater nourifnment. He is further inftrudted to tranf- 
mit to the fecretary of ftate any obfervations which may 
occur to him produdtive of improvement in the mode of 
treatment, and he is paid a gratuity of ios. 6d. for every 
convid! landed in New South Wales. The inftrudfions 
to the mafter are equally fatisfadlory. He is to be par¬ 
ticularly cautious to receive no difeafed perfon on-board 
during the voyage ; a proportion of the prifoners is daily 
to be admitted upon deck, and the births of all cleaned 
and aired; and thefe things are to be noted in the log¬ 
book, which is afterwards fubmitted to the governor of 
New South Wah s ; and, if the condudl of the mafter ap¬ 
pears to have been fatisfadlory, he receives a gratuity of 
50I. If the contrary Ihould turn ou.t to be the cafe, a 
pow'er of muldfing him is given by the contradf, and he 
becomes liable to a profecution. The ration of provilion 
is fixed, and appears to be amply fufficient for the fupport 
of the men; about 200 men or women are generally em¬ 
barked on-board one lhip, with a guard of thirty men and 
•an officer. 
“ Such are the prefent regulations for the voyage 5 
Von. XVI. No, 1153, 
LLAND. 
and, however bad the treatment of the convidls on-board 
the veffels may formerly have been, the prefent fyftem 
appears to your committee to be unobjedtionable. The 
witneffes fpeak of it in terms of high commendation, par¬ 
ticularly two of thofe who have been fent out as convidls. 
Governor Macquarrie, in his laft dil’patches, mentions 
the good treatment of the prifoners on-board the two 
tranfports laft fent out; and a ftill ftronger poof of the 
improvement in the mode of conveyance is, that from the 
year 1795 to 1801, of 3833 cpnvidts embarked, 385 died 
on-board the tranfports, being nearly one in ten; but 
lince 1801, of 2398 embarked, fifty-two only have died 
on the paffage, being one in forty-fix. The only further 
obfervation your committee have to make on this part of 
the fubjedt is, one of regret that no arrangement whatever 
is made for the performance of divine fervice during this 
fix-months’ voyage; that this, which is the heavieft part 
of their puniffiment, is alfo the leaft likely to produce re¬ 
formation. With the difpatches from government a lift 
of the convidls is generally fent; but this Jill has for the 
moft part been very deficient in particularifing the offences 
of which they have been convidted; and hence, in dis¬ 
tributing them upon their arrival, the governor has no 
clue to guide him in giving to them more or lefs advan¬ 
tageous fituations, according to the nature of their crimes 
and charadlers. This is a negledt eafy, and at the fame 
time moft neceffary, to be corredted. 
“ Upon the arrival of a tranfport, general orders are 
ifiued for returns of the number of men wanted, with the 
land held in cultivation by each fettler. The trade, age, 
charadter, and capacity, of the convidls are, as far as pof- 
fible, inveftigated; the artificers are in general referved 
for the fervice of government, and as many of the others 
as may be wanted. Perlons who have been in a higher 
fituation of life have tickets of leave given to them, by 
which they have liberty to provide for themfelves, and 
are exempt from all compulfory labour; fimilar tickets 
are given to men unufed to adtive employment, as gold- 
fmiths and others; the remainder are dillributeci amongft 
the fettlers as fervants and labourers. The convidls in 
the fervice of government are divided into gangs. Every 
gang has an overfeer, and every two or three gangs a 
l’uperintendent; thefe are frequently cholen from amongft 
thofe convidls who beft condudl themfelves. They work 
from fix in the morning till three in the afternoon, and 
the remainder of the day is allowed them, to be fpent 
either in amufement or profitable labour for themfelves. 
They are clothed, fed, and for the molt part lodged, by 
government; and though, in the early periods of the 
colony, inconvenience and diftrefs may have arifen from 
the irregularity of fupply from this country, latterly the 
food and clothing have been good, and, generally fpeak- 
ing, in fufficient abundance. Should the convidls mif- 
condudt themfelves at their work, the fuperintendents 
have no power of inflidting puniffiment, but are for that 
purpofe obliged to take them before a magiftrate. The 
fitting magiftrate of the week at Sydney may order a 
puniflnnent of twenty-five lalhes ; a regular bench* which 
conlifts, at leaft, of three, may order as many as three 
hundred ; and, in the diftant parts of the colony, a fingle 
magiftrate has the fame power with the bench at Sydney ; 
but a heavy puniffiment is not executed without the pre¬ 
vious approbation of the governor. Another mode of 
corredlion, and that which your committee would recom¬ 
mend to be preferred in as many cafes as poffible, is to 
fentence the culprit to work for a certain number of days 
in the gaol-gang: he is here obliged to labour at fome 
public work, in irons, from fix in the morning to-iix at 
night, and no hours are allowed to him for profit or 
amufement. The convidls diftributed amongft the fettlers, 
are clothed, fupported, and lodged, by them; they work 
either by the talk or for the fame number of hours as the 
government-convidls; and, when theirfet labour is finilhed, 
are allowed to work on their own account. The mafter 
has no power over them of corporal puniffiment, and 
9 M this 
