Page:A colonial autocracy, New South Wales under Governor Macquarie, 1810-1821.djvu/118

 fact the inducement to this kind of traffic was far too great to be overcome by the mild methods of Macquarie's Order.

Lord Castlereagh's second proposal referred to the custom already in force of allowing certain persons only to purchase spirit in wholesale quantities. Their numbers were not so small as to make the trade a close monopoly, though small enough to allow the Governor to control its distribution. A few months after his arrival, however, Macquarie adopted a course which not only created a monopoly but closed the Colony to free importation for some years.

He found that there was great need for improved hospital accommodation in Sydney. The building in use was little better than a ruined shed, and yet the Government had to care for all the sick convicts and many amongst the poorer class of settlers. Macquarie was reluctant to place so heavy a charge as the building of a hospital on the revenue at this early period of his governorship and listened willingly to any alternative proposal. He accepted the one put before him by Simeon Lord, D'Arcy Wentworth and Garnham Blaxcell. The two first were high in his favour and had just been appointed on the Commission of the Peace. Blaxcell was a typical colonial adventurer. He had held many posts under the Government, knew the settlement from one end to the other, and had had a hand in every kind of colonial enterprise.

These three offered to build a hospital within three years on a plan approved by the Governor, receiving in return the sole right of importing liquor into the Colony for general consumption. The amount fixed upon was 15,000 gallons a year, and this of course was exclusive of the supplies imported for the garrison and for the private use of the civil and military staff. The terms were accepted. The contract was signed on the 6th November, 1810, and came into force at the beginning of 1811. Macquarie had not referred to the project in his despatch of the 27th November, 1810, and the Colonial Office heard of it for the first time in 1812 when his despatch of 18th October, 1811, reached England.

This long interval was productive of difficulty. Early in 1810 Macquarie had strongly recommended the opening of the ports, saying "it would be good and sound policy to sanction