of raising "emancipists" to the magistracy, which was throughout his governorship one of the main planks of his policy. Marsden certainly did not approve of it, and without doubt it made the few men of standing in the Colony less ready to take a magisterial office, and lowered its character in the eyes of the colonial population.[1]
The police constables throughout the country were appointed by the Governor. He acted, however, on the recommendation of the resident magistrates of the various districts or the Superintendent of Police in Sydney.[2] Macquarie was the first Governor to set about organising this force, and in 1810 he established a complete system of police for Sydney. The town was divided into five districts with forty-five petty constables, five district constables, one of whom acted as chief constable, an assistant superintendent, and finally a superintendent of police.[3] To this post was annexed a salary of £200 a year from the Police Fund, and except for a short interval in 1820 it was held throughout Macquarie's governorship by D'Arcy Wentworth, the chief surgeon and Treasurer of the Police Fund.[4] The pay of the district constables consisted of £10 a year, slop clothing (continually in arrears), an allowance of spirits, a ration and a half for themselves and rations for their families. The petty constables received the same without the salary of £10. In 1817 the district constables lost the rations for their families and received another £10 a year as compensation. The country police received the same remuneration and were drawn from the same class of men. Nearly all of them were convicts or ex-convicts, and very few free men of decent character could be persuaded to undertake the duties. The method of payment was thoroughly bad and degrading, and one of the greatest difficulties in enforcing order and protecting property in the
- ↑ For fuller treatment of this subject of the position of "emancipists" see Chapter VII.
- ↑ Wentworth, in evidence before Bigge, said that he himself had the whole power of appointing and dismissing constables. Perhaps he had the real power, but he certainly had not the nominal power. See S.G. passim. The Governor appoints or dismisses "on the recommendation of" is the form used.
- ↑ G.G.O., October, 1810, and G.G.O., December, 1810. Number of petty constables was increased to fifty in 1819, and to sixty-four in 1820. Bigge Report, II.
- ↑ Almost all the revenue raised in the Colony went into the Police Fund, which was used for many purposes besides those of police. See later.
