THE LIQUOR TRADE. 103 



the name of Elizabeth Watson (resident therein), for the retail 

 of spirituous liquors and wines ; and the conduct of the said 

 Michael Casey in the foregoing instance being highly culpable, 

 his Excellency the Governor is pleased to direct and order 

 that from the ist day of August next ensuing, the license granted 

 to that house in the name of the said Elizabeth Watson, for the 

 retail of wine and spirits as aforesaid, shall cease and determine 

 and be held forfeited and cancelled ; and that no spirits or wine 

 shall be sold by retail or otherwise in that house, from and after 

 the said ist day of August next, on pain of prosecution of the 

 offending party in the same degree as if no license as aforesaid 

 had ever been granted to the said house." l 



Now in this trial nothing in the evidence proved particular 

 negligence on the part of Casey, and the license was not in his 

 name. It had not been proved, nor had any attempt been made 

 to prove, that the house was badly conducted or frequently the 

 scene of disorder. The deceased had certainly met his death 

 in the place, and it had been the outcome of a drunken brawl 

 in which the dead man had borne a part. But the evidence 

 had shown that his death was accidental and the prisoners had 

 not received capital sentences. The licensee herself had not 

 been called nor was she even referred to in the evidence, yet 

 she suffered quite as severely as the principals. Macquarie ap- 

 pears to have acted in her case without any recommendation 

 from magistrates or judge. 2 



He refused, on the other hand, to renew a license for a man 

 who kept a good house and was recommended by the Bench, on 

 the ground that he had signed a petition to Parliament which 

 Macquarie considered of a seditious nature. 3 



The whole effect of the Governor's system was to lessen the 

 severity of the magistrates and cause them to leave to him the 

 responsibility and unpopularity of regulating the trade. It is 

 characteristic of the administration that from 1810 to 1820 there 

 is not one instance of the securities of the licensee being called 

 for. The requirement was treated as a mere formality, and it 



JQ.G.O., gth July, 1814. 



2 Elizabeth Watson may, of course, have lived with Casey, but there is no 

 evidence as to their connection. 



3 Riley, C. on G., 1819. 



