A. D. 1771. 509 



1771 , January 4'*' — The lord mayorof London ordered the meal-weigh- 

 ers of the corn market in Mark lane to ftick up in a confpicuous place 

 an exadt account of the quantities and prices of the wheat fold and the 

 names of the buyers. This regulation gave great offence to the dealers, 

 millers, &c. but was highly applauded by the public, who hoped it 

 would contribute greatly to prevent engrofling the moft neceffary article 

 of fubfiflence. 



April 1 2''' — The increafcd number of the people in the metropolis, 

 and probably alfo the increafed luxury of the people, rendering the 800 

 hackney coaches, hitherto licenced, too few to accommodate the public, 

 200 more coaches were licenced to ply, they paying, as the former ones, 

 a weekly duty of five fhillings each for their licences, [i i Geo. Ill, c. 

 24.] 



The important fifliery of the River Tweed was regulated ; and no per- 

 fon is allowed to kill any fpecies of falmon in that river or its branches 

 between the 10'^ of October and the 12''' of January, nor at any time of 

 the year between twelve o'clock on Saturday night and two o'clock on 

 Monday morning. Taking, or even having in pofTefTion, the fpawn,fi-y, 

 or young brood, of the fifh between the i" of April and the i" of June 

 was alfo made punifhable by fine, as were alfo laying dirt or rubbilh in 

 the river, and diflurbing the fifli when entering the river. [ 1 1 Geo. Ill, 

 c, 27.] 



The confequencc of the irregularity, or ftoppage, in paying the boun- 

 ty on the herring fifliery in Scotland, while it was regularly paid in the 

 ports of England, whereby the number of buffes fitted out from the 

 Scottilh potts, which in the year 1767 was 263, was reduced in 1770 to 

 19, has already been noticed under the year 1766, when the ftoppage 

 began. For the fummer fifliing of this year (1771) there were only 4 

 buffes cleared out, fo that the fifliery might be faid to be annihilated, 

 or rather abandoned to foreigners, who were enriched by vafl fums re- 

 ceived for herrings caught in the Scottifli feas, great quantities of which 

 found their way to our own Weft-India iflands. 



So far as the regular payment of the bounty could operate to revive 

 this pcrifliing trade, it was evident, that a fmaller bounty, regularly 

 paid, would be preferable to a larger one with a delay of icveral years. 

 The proprietors of the buffes, therefor, made a propofal to government, 

 which was pafled into a law, to the following eflfe<S. 



May 8''' — A bounty oi thirty JInllings per tun, to commence on the 22^ 

 of Odober 1771, rind to continue for feven years, was granted to all 

 decked vefTels from 20 to So tuns burthen, built in Britain after the 2i'^ of 

 January 1760, and manned and navigated agreeable to the exifting laws, 

 which are fitted out for, and employed in, the herring fifliery. Every 

 vellel of 20 tuns is to carry fix men, and larger vefTels to have one man 

 for every five tuns above twenty ; and to carry an appointed quantity 



