THE LIQUOR TRADE. 89 



Against this evil system of barter, to begin with the third 

 suggestion, there was needed something more powerful than 

 prohibition, mightier even than the " strong personal laws " l 

 of the Governors. Had these sufficed, it would have been 

 brought to an end by Bligh. But this was very far from being 

 the case. Lieutenant Minchin of the New South Wales Corps, 

 who was a witness at Johnston's trial in 1811, asserted that it 

 was a necessary custom owing to the lack of other currency, 

 that it had been sanctioned by every Governor except Bligh, 

 carried on by all descriptions of persons in the Colony, and still 

 continued. "You don't mean," exclaimed a member of the 

 court, " that it has continued without intermission ? " " It 

 ceased for a short time," replied Minchin, " but was begun again 

 by Governor Macquarie ; he saw the necessity of it, and suffered 

 it to go on ; he himself made a purchase of land off me with 

 spirits." 2 



In April, 1811, the Governor made an agreement with 

 Nicholas Bayly, a gentleman-settler, in which one of the con- 

 ditions was, " That the Governor gives me 500 gallons of good 

 Bengal rum ". 3 Macquarie's first Order on the subject was as 

 late as 1815, and strictly forbade the barter of spirits "for the 

 produce of the Colony or for manual labour ". 4 But the penalty 

 attached to disobedience was the indefinite one of incurring 

 " the displeasure of Government " and ceasing " to derive any 

 indulgence from it in future ". Wentworth said in 1 8 1 9 " that he 

 had heard of settlers up the country paying in rum, but he 

 knew nothing of that practice among the civil and military 

 officers".** But although the Government had by that time 

 ceased to use the rum-currency, and perhaps the " higher orders " 

 of settlers had followed their lead, the practice of barter was 

 still general among small settlers, and many unlicensed dealers 

 bought spirit to exchange with them for pigs and wheat. 6 In 



1 This phrase is used by Jones in his Evidence before C. on G., 1819. 



2 See Report of Johnston's Trial, Evidence of Lieutenant Minchin, p. 246. 



3 Bayly to Sir H. Bunbury, 8th December, 1817. Enclosure dated ist April, 

 1811. R.O., MS. 



4 G.G.O., igth August, 1815. 



5 See Evidence in Appendix to Bigge's Reports. R.O., MS. 



6 See Evidence of various convicts in Appendix to Bigge's Reports in 

 R.O., MS. 



