Page:The Boy Travellers in Australasia.djvu/334

310 Well, this is what the ticket-of-leave was in Australia: a man received a conditional pardon consequent upon good conduct up to the time it was granted, and also conditioned upon continued good conduct during the time it was in force. In Australia a ticket-of-leave man was required to remain in a certain prescribed district, where his conduct could be observed; in practice it often happened that the man ran away and sought a home elsewhere than under the British flag. A good many ticket-of-leave men found their way to the Feejee, Samoa, Society, and other islands of the Pacific, where they led lives that often were not in accordance with civilized rules. In consequence of their violation of the permit granted them, they were always greatly alarmed when a British ship appeared in the offing.

"Many ticket-of-leave men became good citizens; some of them obtained grants of land, and established farms where they supported themselves, and not a few of this class became prosperous and wealthy. The mechanics found plenty of occupation in the cities and towns, and thus there gradually grew up a population of emancipists, who have been mentioned already. In the disputes about the rights of the emancipists their cause was warmly espoused by Governor Macquarie, who earned the title of 'The Prisoner's Friend.' Some excesses followed the adoption of this policy, but the colony was benefited by it, and ultimately all classes of freemen were admitted to an equal footing, and the cessation of transportation in time caused a perfect commingling of classes and an extinction of the old feud."

The conversation terminated here, and the youths thanked their