Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/319

 archosed THE TEAFFIC IN SPIRITS. 271 about to be sent out, he made the warning remark : — ^^ The ^'^^ permitting of spirits among the civil and military may be necessary, but it wiU certainly be a great evil."* The prediction was only too well founded. Grose had not been in office a fortnight when he took the oroec's first step which ultimately resulted in a complete reversal of the salutary system established by his predecessor. The American ship, the Hope, which arrived on the 24th of December, 1792, had on board a cargo of provisions and a quantity of spirits, which were ofEered for sale. As the spirits . pure*"*"' master refused to sell one part of the cargo without the fron American other, the spirits had to be purchased, a circumstance for captain, which Grose expressed regret; but as he inferred from the despatch sent from Whitehall on the 15th May that it was intended to issue spirits to the soldiers, he observed that he had on that account " the less reluctantly consented." Not being certain, from the terms of the despatch, whether the liquor was to be served as an allowance, or whether a deduction was to be made from the pay of those who received it, he issued the spirits, making stoppages from the pay of those to whom it was supplied, and retaining the money until he had received fresh instructions on the subject.f In dis- Distributed posing of the spirits in this way there was no particular harm, soidiew. The quantity which the soldiers were able to purchase out of their pay was inconsiderable ; and although some of them violated the regulations and disposed of their liquor to the convicts, who gave their rations in return, the evil that ensued was slight compared with the consequences that followed soon after from the establishment of a promiscuous traffic in strong drink. Most of the vessels that came to the colony on voyages of speculation brought spirits, and if the liquor was not required by the Government it was purchased by the civil and military Purchased officers, who were apparently allowed to purchase through oiHceiu t He was afterwards informed that the spirita were to be paid for.
 * Historical Kecordt, toI. i, part 2, p. 663.