156 A COLONIAL AUTOCRACY. 



which paid 2 los. and 2 per ton respectively, were not for 

 home consumption but for the English market, and no draw- 

 back was allowed on exportation. So also with the duties of 

 ]d. and i^d. on fur and hair sealskins, and of ^d. on kangaroo- 

 skins. The duty on cedar of is. a solid foot or 1 on twenty 

 spars was likewise a tax paid in the Colony on exportable 

 produce. For these reasons such duties were unhesitatingly 

 condemned by Riley in 1819, and by his brother in his evidence 

 before Bigge in 1820. The only argument in their favour was 

 the revenue to be thus obtained, but as they nearly succeeded 

 in putting an end to the whaling trade, at any rate, even this 

 purpose was not achieved. 1 The duty on sandalwood and 

 pearl-shells of 2 ios. a ton, and on beche-de-mer of $ a ton, 

 put a severe burden on commerce in the South Seas, but the 

 trade was not injured so much as the whaling trade, probably 

 because the pressure of the duty had merely the effect of in- 

 creasing the pressure exercised by the masters and crews of the 

 South Sea vessels on the natives who collected these products. 

 The New South Wales duties, combined with those levied in 

 England, brought the whole amount paid on each ton of oil 

 placed on the English market up to 27 8s. pd., while the 

 Americans, who were the most prominent rivals in the South 

 Seas, paid 7 more. But the freight from New South Wales 

 was high, being 3 a ton to India alone. In 1817 there were 

 forty tons of oil in bond at Sydney 2 waiting until the owners 

 could pay the duty, and in 1819 a shipment was bonded in 

 England for the same reason. 3 The duty as it stood altogether 

 crushed the trade. Riley advocated a bounty in place of the 

 tax on oil, for whaling would have been a good occupation for 

 young colonials and have provided freight for ships returning 

 to England. 4 The Government would have profited indirectly, 

 for transport vessels were paid by tonnage, and the easier it was 

 for them to find return cargoes, the lower would be the cost for 

 their trip outwards. 5 



Edward Riley's Evidence, Appendix, Bigge's Reports. R.O., MS. 



a Riley, C. on G., 1819. 



8 Evidence, Edward Riley. See above. R.O., MS. 



C. on G., 1819, and Edward Riley. See above. R.O., MS. 



5 Bigge's Report, III. 



