Old Convict Days in Australia.

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 50, 10 April 1906, Page 4

Old Convict Days m Australia.

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(By Charles white.) Author ot 'Australian Bushranging,' 1 The Story of the Blacks,' etc., etc. CHAPTER Xl.— AFTER \ '■ banding., :.:;■ ;y ■.- (Continued). In this last particular the Committee took a wise view of the situation, and not a few substantial lami;^ lies — substantial m. more than one I sense — were afterwards built up from the reunion of man and wife, the ] latter as a free woman being " sent for," and having come, secured the husband as an assigned servant;'' Queer conditions of family life, certainly ; but better that, for both husband, and wife andvchildren, than no family life at all! 1 must Vefrain from even a passing remark upon the idea of the Committee — of building ap prosperity by the " rapid increase of population," the mothers being "women of the most abandoned description," sent out from England as irreclaimable. In the present day the idea seems so outrageous m its novelty that the bare thought of it almost takes one's breath away, and he is afraid to search for illustrations showing the operation of the scheme. England's loss m this case was certainly not gain to New South Wales CHAPTER XII. —THE ASSIGNMENI SYSTEM.

The assignment system under which convicts were apportioned ou£ to serve private individuals, instead of being kept at labour on the roads or other, public works, was established at-an early datei^ In one of his first to the Secretary of State Phillip urged that grants ot" land should be : made to seaihen, marines, and any free person, as well as to the emancipated convicts, to whom he was directed in'the first instance to vall6. 'areas as fol-

lows :-— Tb single men, thirty acres; to ,married^e&sfij ty^lcres, ' an d an " ; additional ten .acres for, each child, ; .vith provisions Tor twelve months; and tools, seed, and stock trom ? th§ general store, the object. being, to pn> mote .settlement and, ; encourage ■ production.* "Three years after arrival V T'.he received the sahdtion sought,? and . was 'empbwei'eH' (tissue grant's of to .non'-comihiissioned "offiders and privates' dfthe marine corps 5 who chose, tp.remai^anf the-coldny* when ttieir term vof 'service (three years) was ended, 4 and -such, other persons as might .« be •'• disposed ■■ to become settlers, i. the -area being fixed as follows : -^To married men — Noncommissioned, officers, 150 acres, privates I*oo acres, and 10 additional

acres for each child; to -single men — Non-comjnissioned officers 180 acres, privates^ 80 "acres. He was also to allow tliein from the public stores, clothes, provisions, seed grain, t6bls and implements .sufficient for one year, and to them the services of any number of convicts that he might judge .sufficient, on condition that 1 the "gt antees maintained them m a. satisfactory manner This was the origin W the alignment of convicts; V/hidh becahie such a marked feature of the system, and which, despite the evil associated with it, exerted sp powerful an influence upbn tKe social condition of the colony. At Philip's instigation, the conditions relating to the number of servants that could be assigned, and their support while under assignTnent, were ,greatly, . altered, particularly■] jn; 1 their -relation to free settlers, to whofoi he desired every encouragement sHoilld' be given to come out, and establish homes m the colony. Subsequently provision was made for larger grants of land, and a corresponding increase m the number of servants assigned to the g- antees. ■ - , 4 ,

The assignment system was m full operation during Governor Hunter's administration, and it was not long before the prisoners generally understood that assignment to private persons \aj preferable fate to being, retained by the >! Government or sent lo'putilic labour. Ihe system was brought to its highest point of development during Governor Macquarie's , rekn, .that gerttlem^nniaviqg bent -his; to the Wide distribni-ion b'f life population, bond as through the . country, , Hwlfich 5 < w© so rapidly beiug opened f .up , for settlement. The neAV|jrJirii^ed* prisoners had not beea mapy hours vyithib.%e Sydney ; Heads*- 'before 'itiey knew that there: Wii^:&£hbiW3open for them, and t^ey conduct accordingly. A sort of freemasonry .appeared to '^j-ist bl'tfeW^ the convicts of a* " cef tail? '^liboV' and the new arrivals fromlpij* garent . establishment' sixjf^^^n^' miles; away wetfe sPon ' Idisco vered by former graduates "wjjo tte . ea b^i^e^^l, be^me^ "located" mW e^m^^^ Th e general means M-^^Ppnimucatioti between the shore., and the convict ships was through, the Government boat's crews, who were themselves servants assigned^ one or other of the' harbour officials; and these mea acted the parj of * : telegraphs "

between new arrivals and any acquaintances they might have on I'sho.rg, so that wives who had just cotne out ...could communicate.; with thejjjv^ husbiands,.\or^those-who should frivebeerT their" Husbands, and old associates were brought together. Boats manned by convicts, either m private *or public ' employment, hovered about a prison-ship from the lime of her arrival until, she had discharged the last of her living cargo. Every effort was made by the convicts to avoid being sent to public labour, for which they were m great demand during Macquarie's time, when stonemasons, bricklayers, carpenters, and other mechanics weie rdgiously "kept m Government' and employed upon the public buildings which Macquarie had such a craze for erecting. These " telegraphs " were not slow m acquanting new arrivals with the true state of affairs, and the result was that they all professed ignorance of any handicraft connected with the building art. The Government at last ordered that any prisoner who was discovered to have concealed his trade should be severely punished, and as the chief engineer m Sydney and the superintendent of convicts kept a close watch upon the prisoners m private assignment, for the purpose of discovering if they possessed any knowledge or skill m the desired direction, many of the mechanics were sooner or later discovered and at once removed from the services of the master to whom thej' had been assigned, and sent to swell the number ot the Government gangs. One writer on this subject says : — ■■■•.«' There can be no doubt that the vvtant ftftskiliied labour Jfbr private enterprise was such that most of the free settlers at^d. emancipist employers willingly afforded 'to prisoners to evade the regulations. The great demand for skilled labour and its almost entire absorption by the. Government^ were, indeed productive of the worst results ; favourr i'tism, bribery, and petty scheming were fostered ; the most bare-faqed falsehood on the part of both master and servant was frequently- resorted to; and at the same time private enterprise was checked and tampered m a ,deTp|orable i:manne^.y |It likewiseoften happened "Mat convicts who had relatives or friends m Sydney procure^ .|hle|[isjelfe^ tq^be assigned" fothem *by " professing a knowledge-of a particular trade or ■pursuit (if hot connected with building) m which they were engaged, and m some cases even considerable sums ,of money— the fruits probably of ' former crimes-r--vvere paid by prisoners to influential parties to induce them to apply for them as assigned ; servants, f The assignment was, of course, m such cases merely nominal ; and if the application was successful, as m fact it generally was, the convict was thenceforth almost as free from nterference and control as if he had landed m the colony a free man. •'■'♦ This inequality of punishment — these premiums held out to craft and cunning — were amongst the worst features of the transportation system. 'Ihe country mechanic or labourer, transported perhaps for some share m a poaching affray, but comparatively innocent m heart, unsophiscated m character and unknown to the criminal class, was generally doomed to the heaviest toil ; while the successful city swindler, forger, or pickpocket managed, with the help of money or the assistance of former friends or associates who had preceded him m his enforced exile, not only to escape the just penally of his offences, but to enter upon a new stage of existence, where labour was better paid and life much more easily supported than m the country from which he had been banished. Whatever its benefits to particular convicts, or even to the colony at large m developing ltd resources, the .system of private assignment was ' fer tile m the , production of plans of petty scheming, craft, and evasion ; as well as frightfully unequal -in its operation on the prisoners." Ihe frightful inequalities here t .re-, ferred to will receive' full illustration before this part of the subject has been exhausted. -Whether the "place by a dpnvict was favourable £6 good living 'or* the reverse .depended entirely upon the character of the person to whornjie was assjgned. In ydistritnltingfthe pJjisbheEs among\ private? employers, no account was taken of their rank as criminals; a" lifer*' who had been guil{yjof murder stood; an equ^^atjcs*>kaji eas^lip^ vfisK the RP^W^^MJ 10 h «s years for stealing a loaf of bread for his slarving^children, or the man.cpn^ Jvicted of fiome ' <7 f>bmfcar j ofterice? Ihose were .acquainted .-, with light iri-dbor trades, such as tailoring or shoemaking, fell/ into comfortable quarters. 'Ihey could! not.be ployed on public- Works |or aKfarm labourers, and were as a rifle applied tor by .the l f understrappers " m the Government service, such; as overseers, clerks, and other of the fry who assumed gentility if they had it not; These men had no use ; for tailors of shoemakers m their offices or homes, but they made mpney out of them, nevertheless.

They would permit the men,, to un-deiJ^^'^rk'Tor-'-'Cthers-'^'p^^'tli^ifl own .tccounjijjp - -.conditional upon the payment of a sum ranging from 6s. iflpwiirds per week., '-The meti either hired themselves for wages or set up m business on their own account, be ing always careful, of course, to give their master the weekly sum agreed upon ; and they would gladly have paid much larger amounts for the privilege of enjoying the freedom thus purchased. It has been stated ' that m some cases convicts, who were possessed of money on their arrival, and who managed to get some suitable person to apply for them as assigned servants, bought up the masters' interest m their labours at once, the masters agreeing to forego all ?u|ure claims and merely exercise a nominal control over them m order to keep up appearances. The men here referred to were looked upon with a very jealous eye by those of their fellow-convicts who were condemned to heavy manual labour under Government masters who had lands to cultivate or buildings to erect.