The Bounty System. 67 



England, They approved of promoting importation from the 

 plantations, because the greater the number of competitors, the 

 cheaper would be the price; and, provided the plantations pro- 

 duced pitch and tar as cheaply as other places, they were willing 

 to give them due encouragement. In regard to the present 

 shipping, the act required the commodities to be good and mer- 

 chantable, in order to receive the premium, but in case these 

 first importations were really serviceable, even if not quite up to 

 the Swedish standard, they had no objection to cautioning the 

 customs officers against being too severe in their judgment.^ 



In January of the following year (1707), the Board of Trade 

 received a letter from Governor Dudley, in which he expressed 

 his great interest in the results of the Naval Stores Act. He 

 reported that more tar and turpentine had been sent in the last 

 fleet than for some years, and he hoped that, if this tar proved 

 acceptable, it would come to be a staple of the country.- Mr. 

 Bridger wrote, at the same time, that the people were generally 

 inclined to promote the raising of stores and had given him 

 leave to move, next assize, any law he thought good, in view of 

 that end.^ 



In order to ascertain exactly what were the effects of the 

 bounty, the Board of Trade sent for statistics of the importa- 

 tions from the plantations and the bounties awarded since the 

 act went into efYect.^ The desired reports were sent in, but I 

 have not quoted them here because the most interesting com- 

 parisons are to be got from lists prepared at a later date, cover- 

 ing a period of fifteen years and recording for each year the 

 importations from Sweden, the rest of Europe, and the planta- 

 tions.^ From these more exhaustive statistics it appears that 

 the importation of tar had increased very slowly from 1701 to 



iNavy Board to the Board of Trade, B. T., New Eng., Q: 58, and 

 Memorandum of Meeting, B.T. Journal, fol. 17. 



2Gov. Dudley to the Board of Trade, B. T., New Eng., R: 27. 



3Mr. Bridger to the Board Trade, B. T., New Eng., R: 29. 



^Account of importations sent by Chas. Davenant, B. T., New 

 Eng., R: 10. 



^See tables. Appendix B. B. T. Trade Papers, No. 23, pp. 105-108. 



