Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/155

 CaOWN I/ANDS TI3mE£ PHILLIP. 127 Phillip's opinion was that ingtead of assisting military *"*> settlevB with coimct labour/ the better plan would be to Phfflp'a S.II0W them a certain quantity of grain for the support of ^ iheir live stock until they had a market to go to. He went on to speak of the regulations that would have to be made if these suggestions were adopted; but. he was in igno- i^mce of the fact that while he was writing his despatch the Additional Instructions^ signed by the King^ were on their way to Sydney on board the Lady Juliana. But for the extraordinarily long passage made by that vessel^ he would have received them before he had put pen to paper. Although the oflSioers were not mentioned in the Additional Instructions which authorised the Governor to assign to each grantee — ^non-commissipned oflScer or private — ^the service ooicen of as many convicts as jcould be employed to advantage^ " ^™" ^ they obtained very soon afterwards as much land as they required, and as many convict servants as they could conveniently employ ."**" The condition that assigned convicts were to be main- tained, fed, and clothed by those for whom they worked was found to be impracticable. When the Additional Instructions reached the colony the people were in a state of semi-starvation, and the convicts, from the privations they had undergone, were unfit for the severe labour of clearing and breaking up the land. After the arrival of the Second Fleet they were in a better condition for work; but convict no settler could have taken up land with any prospect of success unless his labourers, as well as himself, were sup- ported for a time from the public store. Phillip pointed this out at once, expressing the opinion that it would be two years before the land would support the cultivators. He took the responsibility of relaxing the condition, and it became the rule to give to settlers the service of convicts who were victualled for a certain period at the public t;ost.
 * »Po«t, pp. 252/289.