Many of the prisoners received by this ship and the Minerva were not calculated to be of much advantage to the settlement; and but little addition was made by their arrival to the public strength.  Several of them had been bred up in the habits of genteel life, or to professions in which they were unaccustomed to hard labour.  Such must become a dead weight upon the provision store; for, notwithstanding the abhorrence which must have been felt for the crimes for which many of them were transported, yet it was impossible to divest the mind of the common feelings of humanity, so far as to send a physician, the once respectable sheriff of a county, a Roman Catholic priest, or a Protestant clergyman and family, to the grubbing hoe, or the timber carriage.  Among the lower classes were many old men, unfit for any thing but to be hut-keepers, who were to remain at home to prevent robbery, while the other inhabitants of the hut were at labour.

Some clothing had been received by these ships and the Walker, but, unfortunately, not any bedding.  The governor therefore purchased a thousand bad rugs, which had been manufactured in some of the Spanish settlements on the west coast of America, and were in the prize which last arrived.  These, with a complete suit of the clothing to each, were now issued to the convicts.

The settlers of several of the districts declining to come forward to assist with the small assessment of sixpence per bushel on their wheat, which had been proposed toward the completion of the public gaol, it became necessary to adopt some other expedient; and, as an article of luxury was considered a fitter subject than any other for taxation, an order was published, directing that on a permit being applied for to land spirits, wine, beer, or other strong drink, from ships having those articles for sale, the person desiring it was to make his first application to the gentlemen of the committee appointed to carry on the above building; to whom security was to be given for the payment of one shilling per gallon on the purchase of spirits, sixpence per gallon on the purchase of wine, and threepence per gallon on the purchase of porter or strong beer; these sums, if the permits were granted, which depended on the character of the person applying, were to be paid into the hands of the committee, and appropriated to the above purpose.

It having been for some time observed, indeed more particularly since the late arrivals from Ireland, that a number of idle and suspicious persons were frequently strolling about the town of Sydney at improper hours of the night, and several boats having been taken away, and much property stolen out of houses; in order to put a stop to such practices, the sentinels on duty were directed not to suffer any person, the civil and military officers of the settlement excepted, to pass their posts after ten o’clock at night, without they could give the countersign; in which case the sentinel was to detain them until the relief came round; when, if the corporal should not be satisfied with the account which they might give, they were to be taken to the guardhouse, and there detained, until released by proper authority.  The patrol of constables were also directed to be very strict in their rounds, and apprehend such improper or suspicious persons as they might meet in the town during the night.