from among the moft fobsr and vigilant o f that defcription of
perfons.”
Propofals for this purpofe were to be fent in writing to the judge-
advocate’s office, and a bench o f magiftrates'were to approve or alter
them, as they Ihould think proper.
This order was publilhed on the 2d, and on the 3d the following
appeared :
|j The continual complaints which are made o f the conduct of
the female convicts require the moft rigid and determined difci-
pline with fuch characters, who, to the difgrace o f their fex, are
far worfe than the men, and are generally, found at the bottom of
every infamous tranfadlion that is committed in the colony. It is
hereby moft ftrenuoufly recommended to the magiftrates in general,
that on proof being brought before them o f any improper conduct
in thofe dangerous and mifchievous characters, or o f any difobe-
dience of orders, or negleCt o f fuch duty as they may be directed
to perform, they may be ordered fuch exemplary puniffiment,
either corporal or otherwife, as the nature o f their crime may call
for. This meafure will appear the more neceflary, when it is recollected,
that formerly, when fuch punifhments were had recourfe
to, thefe women gave much Iefs trouble, and were far more orderly
in their conduct.”
The fuperintendants were directed not to allow them to leave
their work at their own pleafure, but to attend them, and fee
that they were employed during thofe hours which were allotted
for their labour.
The former o f thefe orders feemed to have been attended with
fome effeCt; for in a few days feveral idle people, who, being out
o f their time, were employed only in wandering from one diftriCt
to another, without any vifible means o f getting their bread, were
apprehended, and, being examined before the fitting magiftrate,
were ordered to labour in the gaol gang.
Still
Still alarming depredations were nightly committed upon the
live ftock o f individuals, and were doubtlefs effected by thofe wandering
pefts to fociety; the regulations which had long fince been
eftablilhed as a check to fuch an evil being wholly difregarded. It
'was difcovered, that hogs were ftolen, and delivered on the victualling
days at the public ftore, without any enquiry being made, as
to whofe property they were, or by whom delivered, any perfon’s
name which they chofe to give in being confidered by the ftore-
keeper as fufficient to authorize him to receive it, although printed
vouchers for the delivery o f fuch pork (and grain likewife) were
left at the ftore, for the purpofe of being figned by the party offering
it. This certainly operated as an encouragement to the com-
miffion o f thefe thefts; and it became neceflary to order, that fuch
perfons as attended the receipt of any o f thefe articles at the ftore
ihould direCt whoever delivered them to fign the voucher of the
quantity received by him, the governor being determined never to
approve of any bill laid before him for that purpofe, unlefs the com-
miffary ihould produce the voucher, properly figned, by the perfon
in whofe name fuch bill was made out.
About the middle o f this month a general mufter was made o f
all the inhabitants in the different diftriCts o f the fettlement; and
the. governor, attending in perfon, collected from the fettlers an
accurate ftate of their farms and grounds in cultivation. This he
did with a view o f tranfmitting, in his next difpatches to Government,
fuch an account o f thefe people as, from being taken under
his immediate infpeCtion, might be depended upon. From the 14th
to the 24th were taken up in this enquiry, from the refult of which
it appeared that there were in the
DiftriCt o f the River Hawkefbury ; .
2544 and a half acres in wheat.
907 acres for maize.
f f 2 In