Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/252

 210 STATE OF THE 1793 Starvation and crimo. ThepongB of hunger. Reflections upon the seTerity of the law. these circumstances the cultivation of the land proceeded slowly and painfully. One of the results of this unhappy condition of things was systematic thieving by the half-starved convicts, who not only stole corn from the fields, but broke into the stores and carried off whatever provisions they could lay their hands on. Those who were found pillaging the crops were flogged ; those who were convicted of robbing the stores were hanged. As the safety of the settlement depended on the preservation of the stores, no mercy was shown to offenders of this class. One of them, confessing his fault the moment before his execution, said that he had committed the theft for which he was about to suffer because of hunger. " He appeared desirous of death,'' says Collins, " declaring that he knew he could not live without stealing." This is a significant remark. It shows that the robberies perpetrated at this time were due not so much to the depravity of the offenders as to an irresistible craving for food. PhiUip, writing to Dundas in October, 1792, informed him that nearly one-third of the 1 791-92 crop of maize had been stolen from the grounds. So great, indeed, was the scarcity of, and craving for, food that several of the convicts died "from feeding on it [the Indian com] in its crude state when carrying the grain to the public granary. He added: "It is but just to observe that I can recollect very few crimes during the last three years but what have been committed to procure the necessaries of life.* To hang starving men for stealing the means of sustain- ing life would be regarded in the present day as a cruel and a brutal thing; but in discussing the punishments inflicted upon the convict population of New South Wales a hundred years ago, the circumstances of the colony and the laws in force at the time must be taken into consideration. House- breaking under the English law was a capital offence, and
 * HUtorical Beeoxdsi yoI. i, pari 2, p. 646.