A. D. 1781. 701 



The principal fourcc of the opulence of tlic ifland being in a progredive 

 ftate of decline, owing to the ftrength of the foil being exhaufted, and 

 the inhabitants being ftill too numerous (though great numbers had 

 emigrated to other iflands) to be all employed in, or comfortably fup- 

 ported by, the cultivation of the foil, it became an objed of ferious at- 

 tention to difcover other means of cmplovment and fupport. Therefor 

 feveral gentlemen of the ifland this year eftabliflied afuc'uiyfor the encour- 

 agement of arts, matiiifaciiires, mid commerce, in Barbados : and they advert if- 

 ed premiums — for the manufadure of lace from the fibres of the cabbage- 

 tree leaves, filk-grafs, or plantane ftalks — for the greateft quantity of all 

 thefe fibres prepared in a proper ftate for manufacturing — for the great- 

 eft quantity of cotton yarn fit for weaving — for knit cotton ftockings, 

 and ufeful fabrics woven from cotton — for mufquito nets made from any 

 native material — for the difcovery of valuable native dye ftuffs — and for 

 the beft horfe bred in the ifland. 



Money, however, appears to have been continually becoming more 

 plentiful in Barbados ; as a proof of which, the legal intereft, which be- 

 fore the year 1668 was 15 per cent, was, after fuccelTive reductions 

 fettled in 1754 at 6 per cent : and Governor Cunningham in his official 

 letters, aflerted, that it was now in contemplation (probably in confe- 

 quence of the large fum granted by the Britifti legiflature to the fufferers 

 in the late hurricane) to reduce it to 5 per cent, a rate of intereft below 

 the legal ftandard of any of the foreign dominions fubjcdt to the crown 

 of Great Britain, even including Ireland. 



The following enumeration of the houfes chargeable with the window 

 tax in each of the counties, or ftiires, of England and Wales, in the 

 years 1750 and 1781, is taken from the accounts made up at the tax 

 office. 



Bedford - - 



Berks 



BLickingham 



Cambridge - - 



Chester . _ _ 



Cornwall 



Cumberland 



Derby 



Devon . _ _ 



Dorset . . - 



Durham - - - 



Essex _ - - 



Gloucester 



Hampshire - - 



Herttord 



