Six years before this time Phillip had written thus to Nepean:—
'The impossibility of preventing the convicts' cloathing and necessaries from passing into the hands of those for whom those articles are not intended, makes me wish that every article intended for the convicts should be marked. Their linens and woollens might, I think, without any additional expense, have stripes of a different colour wove in them. The iron pots and every other article should likewise be marked : and this is absolutely necessary, for a convict will sell for a pint of spirits the necessaries which should serve him for months, and there always will be those who will purchase them. …
'The landing of spirits without having a permit has been prohibited in the Port Orders, in order to prevent the convicts procuring any; but if some duty was laid on all spirits landed in the settlement it would more effectually answer the purpose. The duties so collected would, of course, be applied for the benefit of the Crown. You will. Sir, favour me with your opinion on that head.'
The Government informed him that an allowance of rum for the troops was on the way out, and to this Phillip replied, in 1792, that 'the permitting of spirits amongst the civil and military may be necessary, but it will certainly be a great evil.'
A similar, but less serious, scandal was promptly put a stop to by Phillip. This was the bringing out of
