A S INFL UENCED B Y LEG IS LA TION. J I 



it was deemed important to admit raw flax 

 free of duty. Section four of the same 

 Act increased the bounty on sailcloth ex- 

 ported. The cultivation of flax was, how- 

 ever, not neglected by Parliament ; for in 

 1766 the sum of ,15,000 annually ($75,- 

 ooo) was set apart from the import duties 

 on linen " as a fund for the encourage- 

 ment of raising and dressing hemp and 

 flax in this kingdom." Three years later 

 this amount of ,15,000 was apportioned, 

 ,8,000 to England, and ,7,000 to Scot- 

 land. The amount for England was in- 

 creased in 1781, by stat. 21, Geo. III., 

 chap. 58, 3, 



" That for the encouragement of the growth of hemp 

 and flax in ... England there shall be applied . . 

 in bounties yearly a sum not exceeding ,15,000, . . . 

 at the rate of fourpence per stone for every stone of 

 flax weighing fourteen pounds to be raised in ... 

 England in the year 1782, and in every subsequent 

 year, for the space of five years, and which shall be 

 broken and properly prepared for market." 



This munificent appropriation should 

 have increased the production of flax ; but 



