在17～18世纪,英国的许多犯人被流放到澳大利亚,私营船主接受政府委托承担运送任务。刚开始,政府按上船时的人头数给船主付费。结果是:船主为了牟取暴利,肆意克扣犯人伙食,压减必要的开支,致使运输途中犯人的死亡率居高不下。后来,政府改变了付费的制度规则,按到达澳大利亚活着 During the 17th and 18th centuries, many prisoners in Britain were exiled to Australia and private shipowners accepted the government’s entrustment with the task of transporting them. At the beginning, the government paid the shipowner according to the number of people on board. As a result, the owners, in order to reap huge profits, wantonly withhold prisoners’ food and reduce the necessary expenses, resulting in a high death rate of prisoners in transit. Later, the government changed the rules of the system of payment, as arrived in Australia alive