they can be taken away, by the decision of two magistrates; and that they are sometimes cancelled ex causis non æquis, there can be no doubt; yet, on the whole, the regulations respecting them are, as far as circumstances will admit, exceedingly proper and consistent.
After a prisoner has held a ticket of leave for a certain period, he has a claim to emancipation, which entitles him to all the privileges of a free person in the colony; but he cannot leave it, which, indeed, in many cases, would, if enforced, be felt as a very severe punishment.
There is an admirable regulation lately in force, regarding the assignment of prisoners; viz., that husbands shall not be assigned to their wives, nor wives to their husbands. Before this regulation was adopted, transportation, in many cases, was divested of its principal terrors, and, indeed, held out allurements to the immoral portion of the community. For example—the husband, after a successful course of fraud and plunder, had only to permit himself to be detected in the commission of a crime, which entitled him to the benefit of transportation. Before conviction, he made over to his wife all his ill-gotten wealth; and then he obtained a free and comfortable passage (far more comfortable than a steerage passage in any merchant vessel) either to Van Dieman's Land, or New South Wales.
In a short time, if he has had the policy to conduct himself properly, his wife and family were sent, at the expence of Government, to join him; or, if he did not choose to remain long in servitude, his wife came out in a private ship, at her own expence (which could be well afforded), and as soon as she arrived in the colony, her husband, whether in the service of a private individual, or in Government employ, was immediately assigned to her—thereby being rendered more independent than if he had obtained a ticket of leave.
It might be naturally supposed, that, as the wife had the power of getting her husband—now her assigned servant—flogged, sent to an irongang, or otherwise punished, that he would behave very kindly to her; but this was not inva-
