departed when an American ship, Hope, arrived with stores,
and Grose purchased spirits from the master, who would
not, Grose said, otherwise sell general supplies. In his
report Grose affected to be ignorant whether spirits were to
be issued as an allowance, or whether deductions were to be
made from the soldiers' pay. He retained the money until
he might be advised. In the same despatch[1] he complained
of being "much plagued with the people who become
settlers; they had "no other view than raising a sufficient
supply to pay their passages to England;" they persisted
in disposing of their stock," and Grose was "absolutely
obliged to encourage and promote the purchase of them by
the officers," because he dreaded the extermination of the
stock which it "had been the work of years to collect."
Such a man was unfit to govern the singular community at Sydney, and the Secretary of State bestirred himself to find a Governor. As to the issue of spirits to the corps, Mr. Dundas repeated his specific instructions (to Phillip in 1792) that men as well as officers were to be allowed to pay for spirits, like other articles, at prime cost. As Grose allowed the officers to pay for convict labour with spirits at high rates, the profits of the traffic were considerable.
While thus conducting himself in New South Wales, Grose was by no means willing to co-operate loyally with the sailor Governor under him at Norfolk Island. King had urged upon Phillip repeatedly, and also upon the Secretary of State, the procurement of Maori teachers in the manufacture of flax. He renewed his request when in England, and at the Cape of Good Hope met Captain Vancouver in 1791, and asked him, if it should be in his power while in the Southern Seas, to obtain two Maoris by friendly means. In Jan. 1792 he asked the master of a trading vessel to persuade two Maoris to go to Norfolk Island, and he forwarded to the Secretary of State a copy of his letter.
Captain Vancouver, who had in 1791 discovered King George's Sound, was joined by the Dædalus, store-ship, at Nootka Sound, and sent her thence to Sydney under command of Lt. Hanson. That officer, instructed by
- ↑ Record Office. Vol. vii.
