The settlers were reminded, that, in order to prevent any kind of dispute between the master and servant, when they should have occasion to hire a man for any length of time, they would find it most convenient to engage him for a quarter, half year, or year, and to make their agreement in writing; on which should any dispute arise, an appeal to the magistrates would settle it. A person, who absconding from his work had been ordered to labour a certain time in irons, having wrought upon the feelings of one of the magistrates to permit his working without them, and having given strong assurance of future diligence, was no sooner freed from his incumbrances than he took to the woods again. The frequent and unrestrained passing and repassing of idle and disorderly people from one part of the colony to another, and the mischievous correspondence which was kept up by such means, was productive of great evil. To check this as much as possible, all persons, the officers excepted, who were travelling from one district of the settlement to another, were required to furnish themselves with a passport, which, on a proper application, they would obtain without any difficulty. This was to be shown to and inspected by the constables in each district; and if found without it they were to be imprisoned during a month for the first offence, and otherwise punished if it was repeated. But the best local arrangements were set at defiance by those hardened vagabonds, who seemed daily to increase in number and in infamy.