MISCELLANIES. 



521 



tice of this regulation are so appa- 

 rent, that your committee trust it 

 will not long remain in existence. 

 The greatest difficulties to which 

 the government has been subject, 

 have arisen in its attempts to regu- 

 late the supply of spirituousliquors. 

 Their importation used to be li- 

 mited by licences granted by the 

 governor : on the arrival of a 

 cargo, he fixed the price at which 

 it was to be sold, and distributed it 

 at this price, which was generally 

 very low, to the persons highest in 

 authority in the settlement. The 

 liquors were afterwards paid away 

 by them as wages to theirlabourers, 

 or retailed at a very advanced rate 

 to such of the inhabitants as wished 

 to become purchasers ; and the ea- 

 gerness for spirituous liquors has 

 been so great in the colony, that 

 the gains made in this traffic have 

 been enormous. The temptations 

 too to smuggling and illicit distil- 

 lation are so great, and their facili- 

 ties in that thinly-inhabited coun- 

 try so numerous, that all attempts 

 . to check a clandestine supply have 

 proved in vain ; and the qualities 

 of the liquor thus obtained are ge- 

 nerally infinitely worse and more 

 unwholesome than of that which 

 is legally imported. Governor Mac- 

 quarrie states in his dispatch, dated 

 April 30, 1810, that the various 

 measures that have been hitherto 

 taken to check the importation and 

 ■ regulate the sale of spirits have in- 

 variably failed ; and as it is impos- 

 sible totally to suppress the use of 

 them, a certain quantity being es- 

 sentially necessary for tiie accom- 

 modation of the inhabitants, it ap- 

 pears to him that it would be good 

 and sound policy to sanction the 

 free importation of good spirits, 

 under a high duty of not less than 

 three or four shillings per gallon. 



He expects, from this measure, to 

 put an end to all further attempts 

 at monopoly, and bartering spirits 

 for corn and necessaries, and to 

 private stills, which, in defiance of 

 every precaution, are still very nu- 

 merous in the colony; and he is 

 persuaded that this measure, in- 

 stead of promoting drunkenness 

 and idleness, will tend rather to 

 lessen both. Governor Macquarrie's 

 suggestion met with the approba- 

 tion of the government of this 

 country, and orders were sent out 

 to permit the free importation of 

 spirits, under a duty of not less 

 than four shillings per gallon. 

 Upon this subject your committee 

 entirely agree with the governor 

 Macquarrie in opinion, that a less 

 limited supply of spirituous liquors 

 will not give that encouragement 

 to idleness and inebriety which, at 

 the first view of the subject, natu- 

 rally presents itself as an objection 

 to the extended importation : it 

 has been stated before them re- 

 peatedly in evidence, that the scar- 

 city of spirits has had no other 

 effect than to stimulate the avidity 

 with which they were sought ; and 

 that in times when the supply has 

 been most regular and abundant, 

 drunkenness has been the least 

 prevalent. But they are of opi- 

 nion, that an unlimited supply of 

 spirits may be furnished to the co- 

 lony in a manner much more con- 

 ducive to its interests than by per- 

 mitting a free importation. The 

 want of an extended corn-market, 

 where the prices are regulated by 

 a fair and liberal competition, is 

 much felt in the colony. Of 1 0,45'2 

 inhabitants, 4,277 are wholly, or 

 in great part, victualled from the 

 public store ; and thrce-fifihs of 

 the corn brought to market are 

 purchased by the governor, at a 



