First report
Bigge's first report was published in June 1822 and his second and third reports in 1823. Much of the first report was dedicated to criticism of Governor Macquarie's administration, especially his emancipist policy, expenditure on public works and management of convicts. Bigge outlined that the concentration of convicts in the employ of the government in Sydney was indulgent, expensive and enabled convicts to readily access alcohol and entertainment. He noted that convicts viewed transportation to the colony more as emigration than as a punishment. Bigge recommended that the convicts have their usual seven year sentences increased and be mostly assigned as cheap labour to wealthy land-holders in more regional areas. He wrote that convicts in the employ of the government was unnecessary and too costly, while assigning them to poor settlers was 'very pernicious'.
Bigge also strongly reproached Macquarie for his appointment of ex-convicts (known as emancipists) to official posts such as magistrates, solicitors and assistant surgeons. Bigge argued that these appointments diminished the respect for these roles and that the emancipists had a 'low moral character' and did not have the necessary skills and 'pretensions' for the positions. Bigge argued that the appointments were in fact an 'act of violence' to colonial society.
Bigge consulted almost exclusively with the colonial 'men of capital' as to what should be done with the convicts in New South Wales. He praised the 'perseverance and intelligence' of John Macarthur and promoted his view that the most skilled convicts be assigned to the large sheep farming estates of not less than 50 acres belonging to the wealthy away from the towns. This policy would decrease the burden of the estimated £50,000 per annum cost of the convicts to the government and increase the production of British wool.
Bigge wanted the convicts to have no set payment for their labour on the large estates and advised they only be adequately clothed, sheltered and fed by the colonists they were assigned to. He also wanted a crackdown on the number of pardons and early releases given, and that no land grants be offered to emancipated convicts, who should instead form the basis of a future class of landless labourers.
