The History of Tasmania Volume II Part 17

[Footnote 142: The following "Instructions" were laid before parliament: being a return to an address to his Majesty, dated 2nd February, 1832; they were, however, only partially acted upon:--

"_Copy of Instructions issued by the Governor of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, for the Regulation of Penal Settlements._

"As an aversion to honest industry and labor has been the chief cause of most of the convicts incurring the penalties of the law, they shall be employed at some species of labor, of an uniform kind, which they cannot evade, and by which they will have an opportunity of becoming habituated to regular employment.

"With this view, all labor of a complex nature, the quant.i.ty of which cannot be easily determined, is to be studiously avoided: and the convicts are to be employed exclusively in agricultural operations, when the public buildings or other works of the settlement do not absolutely require their labor.

"In these operations the use of the hoe and spade shall be as much as possible adopted; and where the number of men who can be employed in agriculture is sufficient to raise food for the settlement with these implements, the use of the plough shall be given up; and no working cattle are to be employed in operations which can be effected by men and hand carts.

"The principle of dividing the workmen at regular distances from each other, as established for field labor, is also to be adopted whenever it is found applicable; and with the view of affording a more complete and effective superintendence, the different gangs are, as much as possible, to be employed in one place.

"When it becomes necessary to employ mechanics or tradesmen in their respective callings, such arrangements shall be made (by appointing as many as possible to the work) as will insure their strict superintendence, and a speedy return to the employment of common laborers.

"In order that the convicts may be deprived of all opportunities of procuring spirits, or any luxury or article beyond the government allowance, and with the view the more effectually to prevent their escape, it becomes necessary to establish the strictest regulations with regard to s.h.i.+pping.

"The commandant is vested with the control of every department on the settlement; every person, whether free or bond, being subject to his orders.

"No officer, or other free person, employed at the penal settlement, shall be permitted to derive any advantage from his situation, either directly or indirectly, beyond the amount of his salary and fixed allowances. Each individual will be _required to furnish quarterly, a declaration upon honor to this effect_, to the commandant, who will certify that the whole of the officers borne upon the salary abstract, have furnished the same.

"No officer, or other free person, shall be allowed to cultivate any ground on his own account, excepting for the purpose of a garden, for the exclusive supply of his own family.

"No officer shall be allowed to raise stock of any description for sale, or for any other purpose than the immediate use of his own family; such stock to consist exclusively of pigs and poultry, which shall be secured within the premises of the proprietor.

"No officer, or other person, shall be allowed to employ any convict at any time whatever for his personal advantage, or otherwise than on the public account, excepting always such men as may be appropriated to his service.

"No officer, or other free person, is on any account to leave the settlement, without the written sanction of the commandant.

"The commandant is vested with full authority to remove, at his discretion, any free person from the settlement, whose conduct shall appear to him to render this proceeding necessary for the due maintenance of discipline.

"The officers, and other free persons, shall be allowed to purchase grain from the public stores, to maintain the livestock they are permitted to keep, according to the following scale:--

"Commandant, not to exceed five bushels per month; civil and military officers, three bushels per month; inferior free persons, one bushel per month.

"To enable the officers of the settlement to cultivate their gardens, they shall be allowed to have convicts appropriated to their service in the following proportion:--

"Commandant, three men; military and civil officers, two ditto.

"These men are not to be mechanics or tradesmen, and are to be allowed in addition to any servants they may have been permitted to take with them to the settlement.

"When work is required to be done by the mechanics for the absolute comfort and convenience of any of the officers on the settlement, the following regulations shall be observed:--

"The officer to make a written requisition, which will, if approved by the commandant, be given to the overseer of the mechanics, who will receive the whole of the materials from the officer. The work to be performed in the lumber-yard during government hours.

"No remuneration of any kind is to be given the mechanic for his services. This indulgence is not to extend to any article of furniture, or any thing else that can be dispensed with, or procured in any other manner. A separate book is to be kept, and entries made of the work so done, and quarterly returns sent to the colonial secretary. It must be understood that no government materials, even of the most trifling nature, will be allowed for any such purpose.

"All trafficking and trading between the free and bond on the settlement, shall be strictly prohibited, and severely punished.

"The convicts under colonial sentence, shall be steadily and constantly employed at hard labor from sunrise till sunset, one hour being allowed for breakfast, and one hour for dinner, during the winter six months; but two hours will be allotted for dinner during the summer.

"The convicts shall be worked in field labor, with the hoe and spade, in gangs, not fewer than fifteen or more than twenty. No task work shall be allowed.

"There shall be an overseer attached to each gang, and to every five gangs a constable, who shall a.s.sist the overseers in the superintendence of the men.

"The constables and overseers, are not to push or strike the convicts, and no punishment is to be inflicted but by the express orders of the commandant.

"If a convict should have any thing to represent or complain of to the commandant, it shall be the duty of the constable to bring him before him.

"No prisoner is to be permitted to receive, or to procure, any article of luxury, or any addition to the established ration of the settlement.

"As a reward of and encouragement to good conduct, the prisoners shall be divided into two cla.s.ses, to be called the first and second cla.s.ses respectively.

"No prisoner is to be admitted into the first cla.s.s, who shall not have served on the settlement for two years, if a prisoner for seven years; for four years, if for fourteen years; and for six years, if for life.

But convicts, who have been respited from a capital sentence, shall in no case be admitted into this cla.s.s until, upon the representation of the commandant, their sentence shall have been mitigated by the governor.

"The commandant will make a monthly return to the colonial secretary of the prisoners, whose conduct has induced him to admit them to the first cla.s.s, and he will inform the officer of the commissariat officially.

"The prisoners in the first cla.s.s will receive, in addition to the usual ration, one ounce of tobacco weekly.

"The prisoners of the first cla.s.s are to be employed in the lighter and least laborious operations; and it is from this cla.s.s exclusively that men are eligible to be selected for constables and overseers, to be employed as clerks, to be a.s.signed as servants to the officers of the settlement, and to be entrusted with the charge of the live stock or working cattle, or with any other light employment.

"No convict shall be employed as a clerk in the commandant's office, or have access to any of the records kept there.

"No prisoner transported for life, or for any heinous or atrocious offence, shall be employed in any other way than as a common laborer, except, being a mechanic, his services may be urgently required. In this case the commandant will permit his being temporarily employed in his trade, or on any of the public works.

"Prisoners of the first cla.s.s, who shall be selected by the commandant for constables or overseers, will be allowed the usual distinction of dress, and shall receive in addition to their rations, two pounds of flour per week, and one ounce of tobacco; but in no case shall any convict at a penal settlement be allowed to receive a pecuniary reward.

"As a further encouragement to constables and overseers to be faithful and diligent in the discharge of their duty, two years' service as a constable or overseer, shall be considered equivalent to three years'

servitude on the settlement; but in case of misconduct, they shall forfeit all such benefit arising from their services as constables or overseers.

"As there may be found some individuals whose conduct may be deserving of reward, but who nevertheless may not be qualified to fill the situation of overseers, the commandant will transmit annually to the colonial secretary, a return of the names of such convicts who, having served two-thirds of the period of their sentence, may by a long continuance of good conduct, be considered to merit indulgence. To this return there shall be annexed a detailed statement of the circ.u.mstances which have induced the commandant to recommend the individuals respectively.

"A return will in like manner be transmitted by the commandant, of any prisoners under sentence for life, who shall have conducted themselves to his entire satisfaction for six years (or of capital respites for ten years) after their arrival in the settlement, annexing, as before, a detailed statement of the circ.u.mstances which have induced him to recommend the individuals respectively; and should the governor be satisfied that they are deserving of reward, his excellency will mitigate their sentence to that of seven or fourteen years, from the date of such mitigation; after which the individuals will, of course, be eligible to all the privileges of prisoners of the first cla.s.s.

"The wife of a convict shall, in no case, be allowed to join her husband, until he shall have been placed in the first cla.s.s, and the commandant shall have recommended him for this indulgence.

"The wives and children of convicts shall be allowed rations and slop clothing from the public stores.

"The wives and children of convicts are not to be allowed to convey money or property of any kind to the settlement, nor to possess any live stock or poultry, and they are strictly to be prohibited from carrying on any trade or traffic in the settlement; but they will be furnished with employment in spinning flax, making straw hats or bonnets, making up slops, and such other work as they may be capable of performing, the materials for which will be supplied from the government store. They will receive credit in the books of the settlement, at the market or factory prices, on such work being returned to the stores; and the amount of their earnings will be annually placed in the savings bank, to be received by them on their return from the settlement, as a means of support on their arrival.

"Married convicts, whose families have been permitted to join them, shall be allowed to live in separate huts.

"A portion of ground shall be allotted as a prisoners' garden, the extent of which shall be determined by the commandant.

"If any money or property shall be found in possession of a convict, or the family of a convict, it shall be seized and forfeited to the Benevolent Asylum.

"The labor of all convicts, excepting only those a.s.signed to the officers, shall be wholly and exclusively applied to the service of the settlement generally, and the indulgence of working on their own account, after the usual hours of public labor, shall be strictly prohibited.

"No convict shall be allowed to wear any other clothing than that which is issued to him by the government; and the number of each convict on the settlement is to be painted on each article of his dress, before and behind.