HISTORY OF THE [COOK n, 



ticularly appropriated, as I have elsewhere observed, 

 and the surplus is applicable to the contingent ex- 

 penses of government, in aid of the annual funds. 

 The governor reeeives . 2,500 per annum out of the 

 jC.8,000 fund. A further salary of ,.2,500 is settled 

 upon him during his residence in the island, by a spe- 

 cial act of the legislature, passed the beginning of his 

 administration, and is made payable out of some one 

 of the annual funds provided by the assembly. These 

 at this time may amount to ,.70,000, of which about 

 ^.40,000 is a provision for granting an additional 

 pay to the officers and soldiers of his majesty's forces 

 stationed for the protection of the island. Every 

 commissioned officer being entitled to twenty shillings 

 per week, and every private to five shillings: An al- 

 lowance is also made to the wives and children of the 

 soldiers; which, with the British pay, enables them 

 to live much more comfortably than the king's troops 

 generally do in Europe. 



The usual w T ays and means adopted for raising the 

 above taxes are, first, a duty of twenty shillings per 

 head on all negroes imported: secondly, a duty on all 

 rum and other spirits retailed and consumed within 

 the island; thirdly, the deficiency law; an act which 

 was intended originally to oblige all proprietors of 

 slaves to keep one white person for every thirty 

 blacks; but the penalty, which is sometimes ^.13, 

 at other times .26 per' annum, for each white per- 

 son deficient of the number required, is become so 

 productive a source of revenue, that the bill is 

 now considered as one of the annual supply bills; 



