Those consigned to private individuals were taken into the interior in charge of a constable or overseer, where they were required to build a shelter for themselves, which, owing to the mildness of the climate, could be very speedily accomplished. The hours of work were from 6 A.M. to 6 P.M., and the main feature was that the convict durst not leave his employer, whether kind and good-tempered, or harsh and cruel. When there was no further occasion for their services they were remitted to Government, who found another employer for them. All land-holders in the colony were entitled, on preferring a request to the Governor to that effect, to have assigned them, according to the current quantity of disposable labour, in the proportion of one workman to every 320 acres of land; but no settler, no matter how extensive his holding, could "take on" more than 75 convicts. Each employer had to engage to keep the convict assigned him one month at least, and provide, at his own cost, food and clothing according to a scale fixed by Government. The weekly rations consisted of nine lbs. wheaten flour, or at the option of the employer, three lbs. Indian corn, and seven lbs. of wheat flour, seven lbs. of beef or mutton, four lbs. salt pork, two oz. salt, two oz. soap. The clothing consisted of two jackets annually, three shirts of canvas or cotton, two pairs of drawers, three pairs of shoes of stout leather, and a hat or cap. Each labourer was also allowed the use of a counterpane and mattress, which however remained the property of the employer. These legal privileges had however been extended through custom or the favour of the employers to various little articles of luxury, such as tobacco, sugar, tea, grog, &c. In particular, with the object of ensuring the utmost zeal on the part of the workman during the harvest season, it was almost imperative at that season to show him those little relaxations and favours which at length became customary, and in no slight degree enhanced the cost of his maintenance. On the arrival of a convict ship a crowd used to hurry down to await the moment when the convicts were to be allotted to applicants. As no special memoranda were made during the voyage of the offence for which each man had been transported, or his subsequent conduct on the voyage, the administration were not in a position to make such a selection as should classify the prisoners, and assign them according to nature of crime and subsequent behaviour to a determined or a more gentle employer. Hence resulted the most lamentable injustice; the most truculent of these men occasionally were assigned to the gentle masters, while a less hardened criminal came under the yoke of a hard-hearted task-master, and thus had an infinitely more severe lot to bewail than he in fact deserved.