Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/80

 64: THE SECOKB PLEET. 1789 Bedding for the flick. Payment pereapitti. An inlquitons system. frequently backwards and forwards from the hospital to the burying-ground with the miserable victims of the night/* The fact that proper bedding was not famished for the sick people in the tents may seem to point to want of humanity or want of system on the part of the authorities at Sydney, but it must be remembered that nearly five hundred sick men were landed suddenly. in a settlement that was ill- supplied with the necessaries of life^ and that blankets and clothing were very scarce articles. These wants had been mentioned repeatedly in the letters sent to England^ and a large supply had been put on board the Guardian. That stock, however, was not available, and it does not appear that the other storeship, the Justinian, brought anything for the use of the colony beyond provisions. Why the convicts on board these ships suffered so severely is plainly to be seen. In the first place, the British Govern- ment acted upon a wrong principle in making its trans- portation arrangements. The contractors were paid so much per head for the convicts shipped in England, in- cluding maintenance on the voyage. The amount paid over was the same, whether all the prisoners arrived safely at their destination, or whether half of them had been thrown overboard in the English Channel.* The contractors, as represented by their agents (the masters of the transports), had therefore no interest in preserving life ; on the contrary, every death was a gain. The greater the mortality the larger the profit. The same principle operated with regard to the ration. If it was cut down, the saving of provisions thus made was so much money in pocket. Captain Hill had this in view • ** A contract had been entered into by Government with Messn. Calvert, Camden, and King, merchants, of London, for the transporting of one thou- sand convicts, and Government engaged to pay £17 7b. 6d. per head for every convict they embarked. This sum being as well for their provisions as for their transportation, no interest for their preservation was created in the owners, and the dead were more profitable (if profit alone was consulted by them, and the credit of the house was not at stake) than the living.* *-i-CollinBy Tol. i, p. 128* See also Tench, Complete Account, pp. 60, 51«