Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/396
of Peru (when there was no war between Spain and England, though the man alleged his belief that war had been declared), "as leading to these acts if not noticed" and checked. Such practices would be injurious to His Majesty's possessions, and tended to destroy the fishing prosperously established.
"To prevent these growing evils I would respectfully suggest the propriety of two or three sloops of war being stationed here for the purpose of preventing too great a number of bad characters from establishing themselves on the Society Islands, and to prevent many abuses and irregularities on the part of the Americans, as well as for the protection of these settlements generally."
By an Order, in May 1805, King took under his protection all Otaheitans, Sandwich Islanders, and New Zealanders. No one was to take them on board in Sydney without his written order, "which will not be given unless with a certainty of the masters taking them to the island they belong to." Campbell of the Harrington had manned his unlawful prizes with Tahitians, and King declared that "all such Otaheitans, &c., are protected in their properties, claims for wages," and redress, like His Majesty's subjects.
A few words may be said about the control of the convicts as a body. Constant attention was "required to make their labour in the least beneficial." There were, King wrote, exceptions, but the general character of the male convicts was perverse; they were indifferent to labour;
"their perseverance in their crimes could only be corrected and their labour made productive by the inspection and exertion of authority. The overseers placed over this description are not much better, being mostly under sentence of the law, and requiring the incentive of a certain reward, which is limited to the labour of one convict each, and their families victualled from the stores, with the prospect of emancipation, and eventually a free pardon."
Convicts assigned to individuals were permitted to agree with their masters, for increased allowances and money payment, to do additional work. For a year of such extra service the established price was £10. On proof of misconduct during assignment, convicts were "remanded to
Admiralty, kindly promoted for the author by Admiral Sir Antony Hoskins, has resulted in a "return" concluding with the words, "No further trace." Inquiry by the author through the British Ambassador in Madrid, and in person with the learned Don Pasquale de Gayangos, failed to elicit any facts about Bass or Robbins.