Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/255

 SUCCESS OF KING'S MEASURKS. CATTLE IMHIRTEU 227 Tiie order which King isHUt^d ou his assumptiuii of office, forbidding the hindiiig of t^pirits withunt the G<:tvernor*s written permit, was repeated (Det^ 1801) with the addition, that any master of a ship contnivening it, ** exclusive of forfeitini^ the penalty o( his ljond» is to be ordered out of the port immediately, and iJi formation thereof transmitted I to the Secretary of State, that such masters may not be ■ employed by government in future/' By these measures, Hl>y causing importers to bond the spirits imported, by ^•ordering that wlieat and hve stock should be received as ^Hegal payment for debts at the government store (estaldished PHto provide articles for settlers at reasonalde prices) and by regulating the prices at which private importers might dispose of their goods, the Governor reported {Dec, 1801) that a manifest change for the better had taken place in Kbe community. He had encountered laa li^een silently eonteiiinetl, aiul Viy penfeevei itig in the line of iluty pointed ut it is hoped ft contiimation of ihjiL aTiiomlimeiit whii'h la so obvious wiU ully coutrttditl the |jrediction, or lalher liope«, of tlioae who foretold the ruin of the colony from those regulations, ami iinrlirukrly from the pro- iiibitio^i of spirits/' Two magistrates were **niore than suspected'" of com- "plicity in the *' practices which it was their duty to prevent." In 1B03, observing with ** <Tfreat pleasure and satisfaction" jord Hobart's approval of his efforts to do away **the ^lisgraeefal extortion and improprieties" which had so long been rampant, and from whiclr his endeavours had " greatly extricated the inhabitants," he added that he had not ^* escaped censm'e and most assassinating attacks from those whose enormities have l)een checlced and put a stop to/' But a new difficulty occurred in 1803. Governor Hunter had permitted Mr. Kobert Campbell, a member of a mer- cantile house in Calcutta, to establish himself in Sydney. In March 1801 Kin»jj made a contract with Campbell lo import 150 ytmng cows from Bengal for the government, at a price of £28 per liead, which was £7 less than had given m ITUB. The government was to select 150 those which might arrive. After much delay the act was executed in 1803 on the arrival of the Castle H)d HopCf with 307 cows, of which King ^eli&c-l^iV '2*^^. p2
 * innch animatlverBiou, secret tliteats, mid officious advice," ** nU which