Most of these buildings did not advance so
rapidly as the necessity for them required, owing to the weakness of the
public gangs; and indeed scarcely had there ever been a thorough day's
labour, such as is performed by a labouring man in England, obtained from
them. They never felt themselves interested in the effect of their work,
knowing that the ration from the store, whatever it might be, would be
issued to them, whether they earned it or not; unlike the labouring man
whose subsistence, and that of his family, depends upon his exertions.
For the individual who would pay them for their services with spirits,
they would labour while they had strength to lift the hoe or the axe; but
when government required the production of that strength, it was not
forthcoming; and it was more to be wondered, that under such
disadvantages so much, rather than that so little, had been done. The
convicts whose services belonged to the crown were for the most part a
wretched, worthless, dissipated set, who never thought beyond the present
moment; and they were for ever employed in rendering that moment as easy
to themselves as their invention could enable them.
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