The order which King issued on his assumption of office, forbidding the landing of spirits without the Governor's written permit, was repeated (Dec. 1801) with the addition, that any master of a ship contravening it, "exclusive of forfeiting the penalty of his bond, is to be ordered out of the port immediately, and information thereof transmitted to the Secretary of State, that such masters may not be employed by government in future." By these measures, by causing importers to bond the spirits imported, by ordering that wheat and live stock should be received as legal payment for debts at the government store (established to provide articles for settlers at reasonable 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 the community. He had encountered
"much animadversion, secret threats, and officious advice," "all which has been silently contemned, and by persevering in the line of duty pointed out it is hoped a continuation of that amendment which is so obvious will fully contradict the prediction, or rather hopes, of those who foretold the ruin of the colony from those regulations, and particularly from the prohibition of spirits."
Two magistrates were "more than suspected" of complicity in the "practices which it was their duty to prevent." In 1803, observing with "great pleasure and satisfaction" Lord Hobart's approval of his efforts to do away "the disgraceful extortion and improprieties" which had so long been rampant, and from which his endeavours had "greatly extricated the inhabitants," he added that he had not "escaped censure and most assassinating attacks from those whose enormities have been checked and put a stop to."
But a new difficulty occurred in 1803. Governor Hunter had permitted Mr. Robert Campbell, a member of a mercantile house in Calcutta, to establish himself in Sydney. In March 1801 King made a contract with Campbell to import 150 young cows from Bengal for the government, at a price of £28 per head, which was £7 less than had been given in 1793. The government was to select 150 from those which might arrive. After much delay the contract was executed in 1803 on the arrival of the Castle of Good Hope, with 307 cows, of which King selected 250.
