Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/186

 the convicts. It had been found that persons arriving with goods of which there was a scarcity in Sydney, demanded exorbitant prices for their wares. He had represented the matter to the Secretary of State, and the Bellona consequently carried wine, spirits, and other articles to be distributed to officers, civil and military, at prime cost.

The rough method of fixing the price at which importers might sell their goods was for many years the only method by which the "shameful impositions" of which officers complained were resisted. It naturally created antagonism between the importer and the Governor who regulated the price. Phillip was often consulted by the Secretary of State after his return to England, and the government store which Governor King, in concert with the English authorities, established in after years may not unfairly be ascribed in part to the counsels of Phillip, as to whose retirement it is necessary to say a few words.

From the first he received the hearty thanks of the government. In June 1789 they informed him of His Majesty's approval of his "conduct in the arduous and important service committed to his care," of his success in encouraging marriages, and promoting the welfare of his abnormal subjects. The despatches to him were friendly and confidential. In 1790 his health was seriously affected. In June 1791 he requested permission to return to England. "A complaint in his side," afflicting for more than two years, "at times puts it out of my power to attend to the charge (of governing) in the manner I wish, and the state of the colony requires." He would wish to return" if he should recover his health, and therefore only sought for "leave of absence." But in Nov. 1791 he asked permission to resign the government," that he might go to England for the relief from his ailments. In March 1792 his application was repeated.

The Secretary of State was loth to lose his services. The Colonial Office knew what did not meet the public eye, and what Collins, the Judge-Advocate, abstained from publishing in 1798, although well acquainted with the facts. The obstructions thrown in the Governor's way by Major Ross and some of the officers as to the control of convicts and