98 A COLONIAL AUTOCRACY. 



The number of licenses was increased in 1811 and again in 

 1812, and all publicans were enjoined to keep " decent and com- 

 fortable houses." 1 In 1813 there were ninety-three and in 1814 

 one hundred and ten, but in 1815 they were reduced to eighty- 

 five and remained at about that figure until i82O. 2 



A change was made in 1816 with reference to the beer trade. 

 All those who received wine and spirit licenses were compelled 

 to take out beer licenses also, and were bound under a penalty 

 of .10 to furnish it when called for. There were no longer to 

 be separate houses for the sale of beer and ale. 3 As the number 

 of houses was slightly decreased the brewers made a great outcry, 

 and in accordance with truly British sentiment they carried 

 their point. The regulations were recalled and the Governor 

 granted twenty beer licenses for Sydney and twelve for the 

 other districts. 4 



Macquarie's final attempt to close the unlicensed houses was 

 made in 1817. The amount of the fine was raised to 30 and 

 the whole was to go to the informer. Conviction had to be sought 

 before a Bench of Magistrates however, and not as formerly be- 

 fore a single Justice of the Peace. 5 Yet the offence continued 

 and convictions were remarkably few. Two reasons for this 

 were suggested to Bigge, one, that certain of the magistrates, 

 notably the Superintendent of Police at Sydney and the Resi- 

 dent Magistrate at Parramatta, sold spirits wholesale and did not 

 favour the prosecution of any of their customers. Bigge, how- 

 ever, came to the decision that although it was a mistake for any 

 magistrates to be interested in this trade, no such charges could 

 be supported. 6 The other reason given for the failure of 

 prosecutions was that the witnesses were very seldom such as 

 could be relied upon. This certainly had something to do with 

 it, but the real cause lay in the fact that the punishment was not 

 sufficiently severe and that the Governor treated delinquents too 

 leniently. A conviction for unlicensed vending should have 

 been a disqualification for a future license. Macquarie, however, 

 did not invariably follow that course. In one instance a man 



1 Public Notice, 25th January-, 1812. a See above. 



3 G.G.O., 27th January, 1816. It was hoped that this would encourage the 

 drinking of beer instead of spirits. 



4 G.G.O., 25th May, 1816. ' Proclamation, 22nd February, 1817. 

 * Bigge's Report, II. 



