victs
already there; thus to preserve the prisoners transported from the
united kingdom from the contaminating example of their predecessors. A
commandant was to be appointed, at a salary of L800 per annum, who was
expected to avoid the extremes of laxity and severity; qualified by a
deep interest in the moral welfare of the prisoners. To this office
Captain Maconochie was appointed by Sir George Gipps, and was permitted
to test the ideas he had propounded, and to seek the success he had
foretold. It was expected by the government, that the labour of the
prisoners would soon almost cover the cost of their support.

The advent of Maconochie created vast excitement among the unfortunate
beings. The active efforts of this officer altered the tone of the
settlement, and inspired the desponding with hope: they changed the
aspect of that abode of misery--where suffering, insurgency, and
carnage, had furnished a dark page in penal history. True to his creed,
he removed the permanent gallows, which met the eyes of the prisoners as
they left their barracks for their morning toil, and abolished the
doubly-loaded cats, which had been heretofore the instruments of
punishment. The impulse was powerful: a new tone of command, humane even
to tenderness; the promise of speedy deliverance, wrought on the minds
of the prisoners with the force of novelty and surprise. The gaol doors
were thrown open: the gaoler loitered before the deserted prison, and
the prisoners yielded to the spell of a transient enchantment. On his
arrival, Maconochie issued an "exposition" of his plan: he told the
prisoners that punishment would be inflicted, to inspire the thoughtless
with reflection and the guilty with repentance. Such would be its
object, and such its limits. He exhorted them to a manly endurance and a
diligent preparation to acquire the comforts of _honest_ bread. He
assured them, that while the escape of the incorrigible would be barred
for ever, he would delight to hasten the freedom of the worthy. Thus
those that earned 6,000 marks would discharge a seven years' sentence,
or 7,000 would be required for ten years' servitude; and 8,000 was the
composition proposed for a sentence for life. They were, however, to
enjoy a portion of their earnings, which they paid in exchange for
luxuries, or to reserve the whole to hasten their discharge. Thus it was
possible to obtain a ticket-of-leave in one, two, or two and a-half
years, from a sentence of sev