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 severely felt by many of us is our not having known what we were to be supplied with till it was much too late to make any other provision for ourselves.'

Fortunately for the future prosperity of the colony, the other officers did not whine about their hardships, though Ross no doubt gave them every encouragement to do so. Phillip sometimes came near to losing his temper with the Major, who seemed to miss no chance of harassing the Governor in every possible way. In a despatch to Lord Sydney, dated 1st February 1790, Phillip complains in a dignified manner that 'as every obstacle thrown in the way of the civil government is rendered doubly embarrassing from our situation &hellip; I am under the disagreeable necessity of laying the following particulars before your Lordship.' Then he states that for many months past robberies had taken place, and he found it necessary to establish a watch, the regulations of which he sent to Ross for his opinion thereon. Ross approved, the watch was established, and did its work so well that in three months not a single robbery was committed in the night.

The watch consisted of twelve convicts—men selected for their good behaviour. Immediately after tattoo had beat they began their patrol. 'No complaint was ever made of them,' remarks Phillip, and they were expressly cautioned to avoid disputes