Page:A colonial autocracy, New South Wales under Governor Macquarie, 1810-1821.djvu/342

 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."

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. Jones appeared 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. 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.

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 valuable 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 information on matters of general concern. John Macarthur,