Page:A colonial autocracy, New South Wales under Governor Macquarie, 1810-1821.djvu/99

Governor nor magistrates had power to extend the servitude of the convicts by keeping them at Newcastle beyond the term of their original sentences. Often the only evidence before the Commandant of the length of a sentence was the assertion of the men themselves, and rather than incur the responsibility of false imprisonment he had to permit prisoners to return to Sydney.^[1]

In all districts of New South Wales, by means of the reports of gaolers and superintendents which were made directly to him, the Governor for all practical purposes exercised a complete and important supervision over the punishment of prisoners by order of the magistrates. The whole management of the gaol-gangs was in his hands. In 1810 that at the Sydney gaol had been the only one, but in 1814 he established gangs at Parramatta and at Windsor and Liverpool, the two towns in the Hawkesbury district.^[2] At the same time he limited the numbers in each, a restriction which owing to the smallness of the gaols and the growing population was difficult to maintain. It also made it impossible for the magistrates to carry out his Order in the spirit he wished. For Macquarie's chief object in forming the gaol-gangs was to lessen the necessity of resort to corporal punishment. But when there was no room in the gaols and the gangs were filled, the magistrates could enforce no other punishment.^[3]

Macquarie was always inclined to clemency,^[4] and in his management of the gaol-gangs Bent considered that he was far too indulgent.^[5] The intention was that the men of the gang should work sometimes in chains, always wearing a "parti-coloured" dress, and be closely confined in the gaol at night. Their hours of work also were longer than those of other convicts in Government employ. "At present," wrote Bent in 1815, "the gaol-gang, in common with everything else,^[6] is under

1. Bigge's Report, I. See also Evidence in Appendix, R.O., MS. Of course the Criminal Court could impose sentences of transportation according to English law.
2. G.G.O., 10th September, 1814.
3. Ibid. See Bigge's Report, II. and Evidence, especially of Parramatta magistrates, in Appendix to his Reports. R.O., MS.
4. See opinions of both Wylde and Bent. These judicial officers found Macquarie too ready to pardon.
5. See Bent to Bathurst, 1st July, 1815. R.O., MS.
6. i.e., connected with the gaols and convicts.