520 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1813. 



been, though illegally, carried on 

 with the South Sea islands and 

 China; woollen manufactories, pot- 

 teries, and breweries, have been 

 established, but not with any great 

 success. The commercial regula- 

 tions of the colony have, in man)' 

 instances, been so impolitic as much 

 to discourage mercantile specula- 

 tion ; for many years a maximum 

 price was imposed by the governor 

 upon all imported merchandize ; 

 and at this price, often too low to 

 afford a fair profit to the trader, 

 the whole cargo was distributed 

 amongst the civil and military of- 

 ficers of the settlement, who alone 

 had liberty to purchase ; and arti- 

 cles of the first necessity were af- 

 terwards retailed by them, at an 

 enormous profit, to the poorer set- 

 tlers. Part of these abuses were 

 corrected in the year 1800 ; but in 

 the traffic of spirituous liquors, 

 they continued to a very late pe- 

 riod, and it is therefore with the 

 greatest satisfaction that your com- 

 mittee have learnt that measures 

 have been enforced, as well by the 

 government here as in the colony, 

 to put an end to these practices. 

 It is stated in a dispatch from go- 

 vernor Macquarrie, dated April 30, 

 1810, that every care will be taken 

 to prevent the officers of the 73rd 

 regiment, now in New South 

 Wales, from resorting to any low 

 or unmilitary occupations, either 

 mercantile or agricultural, for ad- 

 ditional means of support ; and he 

 justly adds, that such pursuits and 

 avocations are subversive of all mi- 

 litary discipline, and incompatible 

 with the rank and character of 

 officers in his majesty's service. 

 And it is to be hoped, that means 

 will also have been devised to re- 

 strain the civil officers fioui mak- 



ing, as has been too often the case, 

 the authority of their stations the 

 means of promoting their own mer- 

 cenary views. It will be for the 

 executive government to consider 

 how far the memorial of the offi- 

 cers praying for an increase of pay, 

 in consequence of the deprivation 

 of these emoluments, is to be at- 

 tended to. But it does not appear 

 to your committee that the mili- 

 tary officer is in New South Wales 

 exposed to such hardships, or 

 obliged to incur such expense, as 

 to entitle him to benefits not ge- 

 nerally bestowed upon officers of 

 the British army. Your committee 

 have also learned with satisfaction, 

 that many of the improper restric- 

 tions, by which commercial spe- 

 culation has been thwarted in the 

 colony, have been put an end to. 

 The imposition of a maximum 

 price upon all imported articles of 

 merchandise has been discontinued. 

 The maximum on the price of 

 grain and butchers' meat is no longer 

 in existence ; and though a similar 

 limit to the price of labour was for- 

 merly frequently attempted, it has 

 been, as might be expected, al- 

 ways ei»her evaded or disregarded. 

 One commercial regulation appears 

 however to be still in full force, 

 which, in the opinion of your com- 

 mittee, ought immediately to be 

 rescinded ; it is that by which no 

 ship is allowed to dispose of any 

 merchandize in Van Diemen's 

 Land, unless it shall have pre- 

 viously touched at Port Jackson. 

 By this restriction all mercantile 

 enterprize is at once put an end to 

 in the dependent settlements ; and 

 supplies, absolutely essential to the 

 support of its inhabitants, may, in 

 their greatest necessity, be delayed 

 to them. The impolicy and injus- 



