Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/192

fail to keep pace with the declining standard; and the consequences of Grose's incompetency were visited upon the community in the days of his successors.

When Mr. Dundas, in response to Phillip's despatches, authorized (14th July 1792) the granting of lands to superior officers, he attached conditions to which Grose had not resolution to adhere. The grants were to be made with a view, "not to temporary, but to an established settlement thereon," and to comprehend "such portions of land, and in such situations as would be suitable for a bonâ fide settler, should it ever come into the hands of such a person. There was always a wide distinction drawn at the Colonial Office between the advantages as to land and labour offered to free settlers and those offered to the public officers, civil or military; and as it was in the power of the latter to become ordinary settlers, no advantage was withheld from them in such a capacity. Mr. Dundas (June 1793), having then conferred with Phillip personally, wrote to Grose:—

"All the civil and military officers may as such be allowed two convicts each, to be maintained out of the public stores for two years longer, but after that they should themselves maintain such as they are desirous of keeping. But where grants of land are made to such officers as at the time continue to receive their pay, it is but reasonable that they should maintain such convicts as are granted for the cultivation of their land, exclusive of the two allowed to them as officers in the manner I have mentioned."

Sale of spirits to convicts was to be carefully guarded against, especially on arrival of vessels. These injunctions were disregarded by Grose. He wrote (April 1794):—

"The order respecting the servants of officers who have got gardens, will not be put in execution until such time as I am honoured with your further instructions. When the gentlemen were first indulged with grants, I gave them ten servants each, less than that number not being equal to the cultivation of the grounds allotted them. The public labour is very little interrupted by their accommodation."

The answer (of the Duke of Portland) to Grose's despatch was not written until June 1795, when Governor Hunter was informed that Mr. Dundas' letter, of June 1793, "did not admit of any discretionary construction on the part of the Governor." Meanwhile Grose's misconduct had in this and other matters given the reins to the disorderly impulses around him.