Читать книгу Australian History For Dummies - Alex McDermott - Страница 86

King went into battle against rum importation and trade, but his actions here were mostly counterproductive. He attacked the grog trade by turning away shiploads of spirits and outlawing private distilling. This, contrary to King’s expectation, actually made things worse — cutting back on grog allowed in or made locally only drove the price up, and it didn’t stop people drinking it. The prohibition also encouraged smuggling in contraband and illicit distilling.

These restrictions meant that if you were a farmer and had, say, a surplus crop of peaches, you weren’t allowed to distil them into liquor, but had to throw them away or feed them to the pigs. This was profoundly irritating.