LAND, LABOUR AND COMMERCE. 121 



and industriously circulated by a few capricious and wealthy 

 settlers on the plea of the unproductiveness of the three past 

 harvests. On this . . . taking place I called on the grain 

 growers to give in tenders for supplying the King's stores on 

 which the Government was compelled to pay as high as fifteen 

 shillings per bushel for the greater part . . . although after- 

 wards it was proved that there was more than a sufficient 

 supply of wheat in the Colony at that moment for maintaining 

 the whole of the population." 1 



That was the way in which the matter presented itself to 

 Macquarie, but it takes on a rather different light when the 

 whole of the facts are laid bare. In 1813 the harvest was so 

 bountiful that in Macquarie's words it could have supplied twice 

 the population, but in consequence of the restricted demand the 

 greater part of it was wasted. The Government bought what 

 they required at eight shillings a bushel, and much of what was 

 left, instead of being bought at a low price and stored against 

 a bad season, was thrown to the pigs and cattle and treated as 

 valueless. 2 Under any circumstances the position would have 

 been discouraging, but on this occasion there were specially 

 disastrous features. In 1812 there had been a scarcity, and 

 Macquarie had imported from Bengal a shipment of corn at 

 eight shillings the bushel which arrived in 1813. Thus even 

 the Government made a very small demand upon the settlers; 

 and as the harvest was so plentiful, prices in the open market 

 fell as low as three shillings and sixpence a bushel. 3 In the 

 following year (1814) only 1,300 acres were put under crop, 

 although an additional 4,000 acres of land was alienated by 

 the Crown within the same period. 



In 1 8 17 the settlers were again in difficulties. "Proceeding to 

 the year 1817," said Riley, in his evidence before the Committee 

 on Gaols, " I see by the Gazette the stores were ordered by the 

 Governor not to open until the 1st of March, and then only one 

 day in the week. The harvest is so early in New South Wales 

 that the settlers would have been able to commence supplying 

 in the middle of January. Previous to the ist of March . . . 



1 D. 3, 3ist March, 1817. R.O., MS. 



2 The Government and perhaps a few landowners alone had storage room. 



3 The demand even at that price was very weak. Riley, C. on G., 1819. 



