Page:A colonial autocracy, New South Wales under Governor Macquarie, 1810-1821.djvu/163

 for by the inefficiency of the overseers; who were usually convicts themselves and had little influence over the men. The overseers and men played into each other's hands, and the former were reluctant to report misconduct or neglect of work. It was also the unanimous opinion of the magistrates and landowners that "the convicts" did best at task-work as long as it was strictly measured. Druitt, the chief engineer, opposed such a system, giving as sufficient reason that if put to a task the men scamped the work, and that it was unfair to conscientious or slow workers. He pointed also to its failure when he did give it. But he really never allowed it a fair trial, for no man was permitted to leave the labour yard until the six o'clock bell whether his task were finished or not. Occasionally work had been allotted in weekly tasks, but in such a way that the men often finished on Wednesdays and spent the remainder of the week in idleness.

It was no wonder that the Government service became popular amongst all the prisoners except the good mechanics and that the landowners thoroughly disapproved of Macquarie's system. It was not merely their poverty which prevented them from taking men off the Government's hands. The disinclination of the men themselves to go into the settler's service, their consequent unwillingness to work, and the cost of their keep and wages, all constituted serious hindrances.

In 1804 a Colonial Regulation had decreed that every master to whom a servant was assigned must agree to feed and clothe him in a satisfactory manner and to give him ₤10 a year as wages. No agreement was drawn up, but by taking a convict servant a settler necessarily accepted the conditions. The rations were expected to be equal to those given by Government and the wages were in payment for work done after three o'clock. These regulations were republished by Macquarie in 1814 and in 1816 he ordered the wages to be paid, if the