On Christmas day, the Reverend Mr. Johnson preached to between thirty and
forty persons only, though on a provision day some four or five hundred
heads were seen waiting round the storehouse doors. The evening produced
a watchhouse full of prisoners; several were afterwards punished, among
whom were some servants for stealing liquor from an officer.
The passion for liquor was so predominant among the people, that it
operated like a mania, there being nothing which they would not risk to
obtain it: and while spirits were to be had, those who did any extra
labour refused to be paid in money, or any other article than spirits,
which were now, from their scarcity, sold at six shillings per bottle.
Webb, the settler near Parramatta, having procured a small still from
England, found it more advantageous to draw an ardent diabolical spirit
from his wheat, than to send it to the store and receive ten shillings
per bushel from the commissary. From one bushel of wheat he obtained
nearly five quarts of spirit, which he sold or paid in exchange for
labour at five and six shillings per quart.
McDonald, a settler at the Field of Mars, made a different and a better
use of the produce of his farm. Having a mill, he ground and dressed his
wheat, and sold it to a baker at Sydney at fourpence per pound, procuring
forty-four pounds of good flour from a bushel of wheat, which was taken
at fifty-nine pounds.
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