Page:A colonial autocracy, New South Wales under Governor Macquarie, 1810-1821.djvu/135

 grants for spirits or other licenses, and the statement was signed by those present, Wylde, Wentworth, Lord and Brooks.

Nevertheless two of the applicants did receive licenses, though how they got them neither Bigge nor any one else seemed able to discover.

The magistrates in this first year reduced the number of licensed houses from sixty to forty-one, and a new era of order and strict regulation set in. As they had for many years complained of Macquarie's lax administration they naturally started with vigorous severity, but probably settled down before long into an easier pace.

It is impossible to calculate with absolute accuracy the amount of liquor consumed in the Colony, or to compare the conditions before and after 1810. The only evidence is that of Lara, a decent publican of Parramatta, who declared that three times as much liquor was drunk in his house after 1810 as had been before. It is probable that all the liquor imported at any time would have easily sold, and that a steady supply, such as was procured by the hospital contract and by opening the ports in 1815, did not appreciably affect the amount of drunkenness, but did lessen the amount smuggled into the Colony, and brought to an end the worst features of the rum traffic.

It is not even possible to find the exact quantity imported after 1810; for only that which paid duty, and therefore no supplies on Government account, were entered in the Naval Officers' books before 1819. But the supplies for Government may be reckoned on the basis of 1819 and 1820. The consumption, so far as it can be ascertained from the amount imported, can only fairly be reckoned over a number of years, for the importations varied a great deal. Taking the four years of the hospital contract, the consumption of imported spirit appears to have been about 3&#183;5 gallons per head of the whole population, or 4&#183;6 gallons per head of the adult population. From 1815 to 1820 it averaged 4&#183;3 gallons for the whole and 5&#183;6 gallons for the adult population. Over the whole period the consumption