THE LIQUOR TRADE. 107 



grants for spirits or other licenses, and the statement was signed 

 by those present, Wylde, Wentworth, Lord and Brooks. 1 



Nevertheless two of the applicants did receive licenses, 

 though how they got them neither Bigge nor any one else 

 seemed able to discover. 2 



The magistrates in this first year reduced the number of 

 licensed houses from sixty to forty-one, and a new era of order 

 and strict regulation set in. As they had for many years com- 

 plained of Macquarie's lax administration they naturally started 

 with vigorous severity, but probably settled down before long 

 into an easier pace. 



It is impossible to calculate with absolute accuracy the 

 amount of liquor consumed in the Colony, or to compare the 

 conditions before and after 1810. The only evidence is that of 

 Lara, a decent publican of Parramatta, who declared that three 

 times as much liquor was drunk in his house after 1810 as had 

 been before. 3 It is probable that all the liquor imported at any 

 time would have easily sold, and that a steady supply, such as 

 was procured by the hospital contract and by opening the 

 ports in 1815, did not appreciably affect the amount of drunken- 

 ness, but did lessen the amount smuggled into the Colony, and 

 brought to an end the worst features of the rum traffic. 



It is not even possible to find the exact quantity imported 

 after 1810; for only that which paid duty, and therefore no- 

 supplies on Government account, were entered in the Naval 

 Officers' books 4 before 1819. But the supplies for Government 

 may be reckoned on the basis of 1 8 19 and 1 820. The consump- 

 tion, so far as it can be ascertained from the amount imported, 

 can only fairly be reckoned over a number of years, for the im- 

 portations varied a great deal. Taking the four years of the 

 hospital contract, the consumption of imported spirit appears 

 to have been about 3-5 gallons per head of the whole population, 

 or 4-6 gallons per head of the adult population. From 1815 to 

 1820 it averaged 4-3 gallons for the whole and 5*6 gallons for 

 the adult population. Over the whole period the consumption 



1 Appendix to Bigge's Reports. R.O., MS. 2 Bigge's Report, II. 



3 Appendix to Bigge's Reports. Evidence of Lara. R.O., MS. 



4 The spirit imported by the contractors paid duty, and was therefore entered 

 by them. 



