So while I does my seven years I says nothing, but
I thinks, and I makes up my mind to have it out of 'em when my time
comes. And I say it's fair and honest to get your back wages the
best way you can. These settlers are all tarred with the same brush;
they make poor coves like us work for 'em, and flog us like bullocks,
and then they pretend they are honest men. I say be blowed to such
honesty."
"But if you are caught, Joshua, what then?"
"Well, we must be careful. I don't think they'll catch me in a
hurry. You see, I does my business quick: cuts out the brand and
burns it first thing, and always turns out beasts I don't want
directly."
Other men followed the example of Joshua, so that between troubles
with the black men, troubles with the white men, and the want of a
market for his stock, the settler's days were full of anxiety and
misery. And, in addition, the Government in Sydney was threatening
him with a roaming taxgatherer under the name of a Commissioner of
Crown Lands, to whom was entrusted the power of increasing or
diminishing assessments at his own will and pleasure. The settler
therefore bowed down before the lordly tax-gatherer, and entertained
him in his hut with all available hospitality, with welcome on his
lips, smiles on his face, and hatred in his heart.
The fees and fines collected by the Commissioners all over New South
Wales had fallen off in one year to the extent of sixty-five per
cent; more revenue was therefore required, and was it not just that
those who occupied Crown lands should support the dignity of the
Crown? Then the blacks had to be protected, or otherwise dealt with.
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