Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/227

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STATE OP THE COLONY IN 1800, 199 servantfl; to Buperintendents, constables, and storekeepers, four; to marines who had settled, and others who had never lieen eoovicts, he gave two ; to emancii>ated settlers and to sergeants of the New South Wales Corps, one. It is to be borne in mind that provisions for these convict servants were supplied from the government stores. Yet out of 10,800 acres cleared only 7105 were cultivated in 1800. The debauchery of some settlers, the high prices extorted for wares, and especially for spkits, had desolated many farms. The state of the colony may be gathered from the words wTitten by Governor King, who superseded Hunter, and had to contend with the evils permitted, if not created, by Grose, Paterson, and Hunter. In a long despatch (81st Dec. 1801) to the Secretai-y of State, be says of " settlers who have been convicts": — "^^ It i?t notorious that since Governor Phillip loft this colony in 1792, the utmost lii;eDtiousriesa has prevailed nmong this class, Although they have used thti moat laborious exertiona in clearing land of timber. Unfor- tunately the produce went to a few nionopoUziiig traders who had their agents iu every corner of the settlement » not failing to ruin those they niiirked for their prey, by the baneful lure of spirita. 8o wretched has been this class^ that previooa to Governor Hunter's giving up the com- inandf forty-seven of them had asaigned their farms and growing crops to satisfy their rapacious creditors^ and many were compelled to leave their families dcetUute of the neceasciries of fife. , . . It Ciwi scarce be credited that in a soil and climate equal to the production of any plant or vegetable, out of 405 settlera scarce one grew either yjotato or cabbage. Growing wheat and maize, which are the articles required by tlte yjuhlic j>ttorea, was their only object, and when that has been atUiincd it haa ftfteii occurred that one night's drinking at the house of one of those agents has ea^ed tbeni of all their labour bad ucquired in tlie preceding year. . . , 1 do not mean to cKcuIpute the settlers from their share of censure ; the warnings of former (jJovernoi'a have been of little service, nor indeed could it be expected while the cause of evil abounded ho much, iind while the trading indiv^iduala charged ami recovered the extortionate t?harge« they made withont any check. Kight pounds sterling per gallon for spirits were recovered at the Civil Court before Governor Hunter's departure, and the verdict was confirmed in an appeal.** . . . Only one settler has reserved the produce of the ewes given him by (Governor Phillip, the rest having heen sutl'ered to sell theirs & few hours after (^oveinor Phillip left the colony/' When King arrived in IBOO to supersede Hunter, there were more than tiO,000 gallons of spirits in the colony, and the price was £"2^ a gallon. The drunkenness and im- morality in which the community was steeped was appalling. The appeal was to Hiuiter himself.