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Among other crimes committed by these people, must be mentioned a variety
of impositions which were practised to deceive the commissary in the
issue of provisions. To detect these, an order was given about the end of
the month, which directed that every person belonging to each different
mess should attend personally at the store on the next serving-day. The
convicts had always been divided into messes, containing a certain number
of persons; one of whom out of each mess was to attend at the store, and
receive provisions for the whole number belonging to it.
On the day appointed, it appeared that many were victualled both at
Sydney and Parramatta, and several other impositions were detected and
abolished.
In a settlement which was still in a great measure dependant upon the
mother country for food, it might have been supposed that these people
would have endeavoured by their own industry to have increased, rather
than by robbery and fraud to have lessened, the means of their support:
but far too many of them were most incorrigibly flagitious.


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