3 i4 A COLONIAL AUTOCRACY. 



might be necessary, he for one could not give his consent to 

 this Bill at present, and he should therefore propose the entire 

 omission of the first clause." 1 



This opposition was unreasonable, for the Government had 

 not stated their intention of bringing in a Bill before any evidence 

 had been heard at all. But a misconception had roused Bennet's 

 suspicions. Jones, a Sydney merchant, in giving evidence before 

 the Committee had referred to the meeting of magistrates at 

 which it was proposed that an increase in the customs duties 

 should be made in order to provide for the poor. It has already 

 been seen that Macquarie adopted the proposed increase but 

 did not appropriate the taxes to these purposes. 2 Jones 3 ap- 

 peared in his evidence to treat this as an unjustifiable breach of 

 faith if not an illegal act and this wholly erroneous impression 

 had been adopted by Bennet. The Bill as finally passed 

 legalised for one year the duties then in force in New South 

 Wales, empowered the Governor to levy a duty on spirits 

 manufactured in the Colony whenever a distillery should be 

 established, and declared that no action might be brought 

 against the Governor for recovering duties exacted in the past 

 within one year from the passing of the Act. 4 A similar statute 

 was placed on the roll in the following year, and thus the 

 Governor was for the time being effectually enough protected. 

 But the form which the Bill took prevented the Government 

 from recovering unpaid duties and realising the securities which 

 they held. 5 



The Committee took evidence on twelve days between March 

 and July. The most important witness was Alexander Riley, 

 who was examined on nine days, and whose evidence has been 

 so frequently quoted already. It was and is indeed more valu- 

 able than the evidence of any one man in the voluminous notes 

 collected by Bigge, and it ranged over the whole field social, 

 economic and political of colonial activities. J. H. Bent gave 

 rather confused evidence on the subject of Blake and his own 

 quarrels with Macquarie ; and Jones, Riley's partner, gave in- 

 formation on matters of general concern. John Macarthur, 



'See Times, yd July, 1819. 2 See Chapter IX. 



3 See Evidence, C. on G. 4 59 Geo. III., cap. 114. 6 See Chapter V^ 



