Page:A colonial autocracy, New South Wales under Governor Macquarie, 1810-1821.djvu/94

 Halloran should have a ticket-of-leave and follow his profession of teaching. As soon as he received it Halloran lodged a complaint against Captain Lambe, the master of the transport on which he had travelled, and the complaint was investigated by the Sydney Bench of Magistrates. They decided that it was unfounded and malicious, and ordered Halloran to give up his ticket-of-leave and return to Government labour. Halloran appealed to the Secretary for protection and kept his ticket-of-leave. The magistrates protested, and after some angry passages the ticket was finally withdrawn. But instead of being placed in a gang of Government workmen, Halloran was assigned as servant to Simeon Lord, his intimate friend, and after a few months was again in possession of a ticket-of-leave. He soon had the largest and most fashionable school in the Colony. The story is a startling commentary on Macquarie's despatch.

It was certainly very difficult to know what to do with men of Halloran's type, who were unused to any sort of manual labour. A few could be used as clerks, but the supply was far greater than the demand. To give them tickets-of-leave was an easy, and appeared to be a cheap way, out of the difficulty.

The case was different with regard to the free and conditional pardons. It was recognised that there might be many men who proved themselves fit to receive pardons before they had lived the necessary time in New South Wales. But there were instances in which pardons were given or withheld which showed no such grounds of reason. There were, for example, pardons free and conditional given not as rewards for good conduct but as recompense for working on the new road built over the Blue Mountains, or even for sending carts and horses to assist. There was no need to give this encouragement, nor was such a need ever pleaded. The absurdity of the thing is clear enough when the case of such a man as Hodge, one out of many, is considered. He hired a cart for a few pounds, sent it as his own, received an emancipation and at once opened a sly-grog shop.