must have been nearly 5 gallons per head, and the women probably drank as much as the men. This calculation, of course, leaves out altogether the smuggled spirit and the beer and ale brewed in the settlement.
In England the consumption of spirit doubled between 1807 and 1827, and the spirit licenses increased by 11,000.[1] Nevertheless, the average amount consumed in 1830 was only 6⁄7 gallon per head.[2]
As the young Australians drank little,[3] the remarkably large consumption of liquor in New South Wales must be attributed to the convicts. But in spite of this the death-rate was low,[4] and crimes of violence were not so frequent in proportion to the population as in England.[5] The clear sunlight, the fine spaciousness of the new country had given strength, vigour and hope to the thieves and pickpockets, the drunkards and profligates, the sinned against and the sinning, whose presence made the very name of Botany Bay a by-word.
- ↑ Goulburn, Chancellor of Exchequer in 1830. Quoted in Webb's History of Licensing Laws, 1902, p. 113.
- ↑ Twenty-eighth Report of Commissioners of Inland Revenue, 1885. Quoted in Webb, see above, p. 109.
- ↑ See Evidence, C. on T., 1812. Riley, C. on G., 1819. Bigge's Reports, passim. Macquarie's Despatches, passim, etc.
- ↑ The death-rate from 1810 to 1820 was about 20 per 1,000. This is low for the period and considering the number of old men sent out. The figures are, however, very rough. The birth-rate—calculating on somewhat incomplete returns which include only the children baptised—for the same period was nearly 30 per 1,000. Appendix, Bigge's Reports. R.O., MS.
- ↑ Wylde's Evidence, Appendix, Bigge's Reports. R.O., MS. From 1816 to 1820 (the only years for which returns are available) there were 100 cases of crimes of violence before the Criminal Court. See Appendix, Bigge's Reports. R.O., MS.
