Page:A colonial autocracy, New South Wales under Governor Macquarie, 1810-1821.djvu/131

 the name of Elizabeth Watson (resident therein), for the retail of spirituous liquors and wines; and the conduct of the said Michael Casey in the foregoing instance being highly culpable, his Excellency the Governor is pleased to direct and order that from the 1st day of August next ensuing, the license granted to that house in the name of the said Elizabeth Watson, for the retail of wine and spirits as aforesaid, shall cease and determine and be held forfeited and cancelled; and that no spirits or wine shall be sold by retail or otherwise in that house, from and after the said 1st day of August next, on pain of prosecution of the offending party in the same degree as if no license as aforesaid had ever been granted to the said house."

Now in this trial nothing in the evidence proved particular negligence on the part of Casey, and the license was not in his name. It had not been proved, nor had any attempt been made to prove, that the house was badly conducted or frequently the scene of disorder. The deceased had certainly met his death in the place, and it had been the outcome of a drunken brawl in which the dead man had borne a part. But the evidence had shown that his death was accidental and the prisoners had not received capital sentences. . The licensee herself had not been called nor was she even referred to in the evidence, yet she suffered quite as severely as the principals. Macquarie appears to have acted in her case without any recommendation from magistrates or judge.

He refused, on the other hand, to renew a license for a man who kept a good house and was recommended by the Bench, on the ground that he had signed a petition to Parliament which Macquarie considered of a seditious nature.

The whole effect of the Governor's system was to lessen the severity of the magistrates and cause them to leave to him the responsibility and unpopularity of regulating the trade. It is characteristic of the administration that from 1810 to 1820 there is not one instance of the securities of the licensee being called for. The requirement was treated as a mere formality, and it