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selves were they to shrink from giving the cats all the force they are capable of.
Having made these general remarks on the misery of a convict's situation, with a few of the crimes that they are punished for, I will now, from the official returns of the local authorities, inform you how the whole of them are disposed of:—
| Total number of male convicts | 19,551 |
| Assigned servants | 9,672 |
| Artizans on loan | 765 |
| Tickets of leave | 1,850 |
| Employed in public works | 3,847 |
| Constables | 349 |
| Chain gangs | 1,435 |
| Missing | 391 |
| Confined in gaol | 94 |
| Invalids | 236 |
| Penal settlement. Port Arthur | 912 |
| 19,551 | |
| Total number of female convicts | 2,709 |
| Assigned servants | 1,252 |
| Assigned to husbands | 120 |
| In Hobart House of Correction | 456 |
| In George's Town Do. | 84 |
| Missing | 198 |
| Tickets of leave | 500 |
| Invalids | 80 |
| In gaol for trial | 19 |
| 2,709 | |
| Total number of convicts, male and female | 22,260 |
I will now give you a brief account of their situation according to the different heads under which they are placed:—
9672 Assigned Servants.—Men or women lent to the settler; their work is laborious in the extreme, and they are under the greatest possible subjection, they are compelled to work from sun-rise to sun-set, and must on all occasions obey their masters or over-
