That is a very interesting suggestion indeed! It would tell a lot about labour supply & demand, &/or the economic times generally. I foggily recall that the probationary system came under a lot of fire, & suppose matters of economics (as ever) would have been at least one issue at the bottom of it all. It will be interesting to find out. Joan -----Original Message----- From: Bill Maxwell via Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2014 12:34 PM To: aus-tasmania@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [AUS-Tas] Thomas Prosser It may be that the assigned service arrangement required Macbeth to pay his assigned servants at a prescribed rate, which in time became higher than the local labour market required, hence the clamour for the Government to put a stop to it? Bill On 24/07/2014 11:49 AM, Joan Holloway via wrote: > >From what I have come across Mr. Macbeth in my own family research (his > >son > married into my family), I have formed the impression that he was a > reliable, honest and decent person, so maybe he judged Thomas Prosser's > work worthy of the more generous rate of pay. Prosser may have been > capable > of producing the finer & therefore more profitable articles, whereas the > free men worked only on clodhopper boots, or whatever? > > Quite possibly there were political stirrings (against the assignment > system? against Macbeth's rising prominence in the community?) apart from > industrial mutterings prompting the criticism of Macbeth's payment of > Prosser. > > Joan > > -----Original Message----- > From: Robyne Kirsch via > Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2014 6:55 PM > To: aus-tasmania@rootsweb.com > Subject: [AUS-Tas] Thomas Prosser > > My ancestor Thomas Prosser, bootmaker, was mentioned in this article from > the Colonial Times, Hobart, 12 Feb. 1839. > > A PROSPECT FOR EMIGRANTS.-Mr. Macbeth, boot and shoemaker, stated in the > Police-office on Saturday, that he gave to one of his assigned servants, > Thomas Prosser, three-pence per pair more, for making shoes, than he gave > to free men. This should be put a stop to by the Government. Such an > admission in the Sister Colony, would be the signal for withdrawing the > whole of the assigned servants from the persons making it. > > Could someone familiar with the assignment system be able to tell me what > Mr Macbeth was doing wrong? Perhaps Thomas made better shoes than the > free > settlers, so would naturally be paid more. Is the sister colony N.S.W.? > Thanks, > Robyne Kirsch > Melbourne > ------------------------------- > AUS-Tasmania Mailing List Website http://www.rootsweb.com/~austashs/ > Contact Admin AUS-Tasmania-Admin@rootsweb.com > Search the Archive (type AUS-Tasmania in the list box) > http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > AUS-TASMANIA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > AUS-Tasmania Mailing List Website http://www.rootsweb.com/~austashs/ > Contact Admin AUS-Tasmania-Admin@rootsweb.com > Search the Archive (type AUS-Tasmania in the list box) > http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > AUS-TASMANIA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > ------------------------------- AUS-Tasmania Mailing List Website http://www.rootsweb.com/~austashs/ Contact Admin AUS-Tasmania-Admin@rootsweb.com Search the Archive (type AUS-Tasmania in the list box) http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to AUS-TASMANIA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message