512 A, D. 1771. 



The fifliery from Great Britain is carried on by fhips which are, upon 

 an average, of 300 tons burthen*, and carry 54 men, of whom 6 are 

 apprentices, and is thus a very great nurfery of the mofl: hardy feamen. 

 The American fifliery is carried on by flialops, carrying about 6 men, 

 and in a great meafiire by the Eilcimeaux Indians, from whom the 

 American colonifls purchafe the oil and fins, which are much inferior to 

 thole brought from the Greenland feas, the oil being adulterated with 

 a mixture of feal and cod oil, and the fins brittle. Befides, all the oil 

 and fins which can be fupplied by America, though they were of the 

 befl quality, are far fhort of the demand : and thence it follows, that, 

 if the Britifli fifliery is given up, as it miift be if the bounty is difcon- 

 tinued, we muft depend almoft entirely upon the Dutch, who may 

 charge what prices they pleafe, (and in fa<5t they have charged as high 

 as /^700 a tun for whale fins) which mufl make a prodigious annual 

 drain of money from this country f . 



Such were the fadls and the arguments which induced the legiflature 

 to continue the bounty on the whale fifliery. 



The crime of counterfeiting the copper money of the realm, which 

 had hitherto been puniflied only as a mifdemeanour, was now made 

 felony. [11 Geo. Ill, c. 40.] 



The importation of all kinds of unmanufidured wood of the growth 

 or produce of America, was permitted free of duty; and the importers 

 of fome parcels of Honduras mahogany, landed after the 1" of July 

 1770, were warranted to receive back the duties they had paid on theim. 



Goods from the Levant liable to infecftion, if imported without clean 

 bills of health, were prohibited from being landed in Great Britain, 

 Ireland, or any of the adjacent iflands. In order to remove the doubt, 

 whether raw filk and mohair yarn, fliipped in places fubjedlto the Grand 

 Signior, and landed at any port of the Mediterranean for the purpofe 

 of being aired, are to be confidered as imported from fuch intermediate 

 port, it was enadled, that goods fo circumftanced are to be admitted 

 to entry as coming from the port where they were firft^ fliipped. [11 

 Geo. Ill, c. 41.] 



In order to reduce the price of flaves and heading, the importation 

 of them from America was encouraged by bounties proportioned to 

 their fize, to commence on the i** of January 1772. The ports ap- 

 pointed for importation upon this bounty, were London, Southampton, 

 Poole, Exeter, Plymouth, Brifliol, Liverpool, Whitehaven, Glafgow, 

 Leith, Newcaftle, Hull, and Yarmouth. [11 Geo. Ill, c. 50.] 



* The total tonnage of the 32 fliips from Eng- f About this time there was a very great con- 

 land in 1764 was 10,262 tuns, and that of the 50 fumption of whale bone, or fins, in very ftiff {lays 

 fliips in 1770 was 14,778. The blubber import- for the ladies. That rage has now greatly abated: 

 ed by the 32 fhips was 6707 tuns, and by the 50 thanks to the writings of Do£lor Buchan, anfl the 

 fhips 2,23s tuns. good fenfe of ttie ladies. i 



