limiting the area of land grants. From the omission of these provisions
many abuses grew up. A scale of fees absurdly small, seeing that fees were
not chargeable to military and convict settlers, but only to people who,
it might well be supposed, could afford to pay, was also provided by the
Government, and regulations for the employment of assigned convicts were
drawn up.

In Governor Phillip's time there was no authority to grant officers any
land; in Lieutenant-Governor Grose's time there was no limit to the land
they might be granted, and as little value was attached to the Crown lands
of the colony, lands probably of less value then than any other in the
possession of civilized people, Grose's officers, who had to do a great
deal of extra civil work, were given land in payment for that work. Much
abuse has been heaped upon Grose for his alleged favouring of officers by
giving them huge grants of land, but, as a matter of fact, Grose behaved
very honourably; and Mac Arthur, who owned more land than any other
officer in 1794, had only 250 acres in cultivation, and the grants to
other officers never exceeded in any one case 120 acres. If Grose's land
policy was bad, he was not to blame, but the trafficking which he
permitted to grow up and practically encouraged was a different matter
altogether.

Phillip warned the home Government before he left the colony that rum
might be a necessity, but it would certainly turn out a great evil. Soon
after Grose took command of the colony there arrived an American ship with
a cargo of provisions and rum for sale. The American skipper would not
sell the provisions without the purchaser also bought the spirits. This
was the beginning of the rum traffic; and ships frequently arrived
afterwards with stores, and always with quantities of spirits--rum from
America and brandy from the Cape. The officers purchased all the spirits,