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Kow with regard to the Revenue : Previous to 

 the iDtroduction of the Local Legislature this 

 Colony w-asfree from taxation, with the exception, 

 80 far as my memory at present serves me, of an 

 Imperial duty on Spirits and Wines, and on Flour 

 from the United States. When the first Legislature 

 sat, (the best that wo ever had, notwithstanding 

 the hue and cry that was raised against them,) a 

 small Colonial duty was phiced on Wines and 

 Spirits. In 1835 a moderate tax was put upon 

 Provisions ; and manufactured goods, except those 

 for the use of the Fishery, were subject to a duty 

 of fifty shillings only on the hundred pounds. The 

 fifty shilling tax was subsequently raised to seven- 

 ty shillings : and later, when a larger outlay was 

 required for roads, and to meet the increased ex- 

 penses of the Legislature, and the loss of revenue 

 occasioned by the senseless conduct of the House 

 of Assembly in its refusal to pass a Revenue Bill, 

 the tax was farther increased to Five Pounds oa 

 the Hundred Pounds. 



The next alteration was immediately after the 

 great fire of 184G, when an additional tax of one 

 per cent was imposed. Now, although this was a 

 year of the greatest calamity and distress the Colo- 

 ny had ever experienced, its debt, notwithstand- 

 ing, was not materially increased until the intro- 

 duction of Responsible Government, with its train 

 of jobbing and consequent gradually increased 

 expenses. At the time the Colony entered into 

 the American Treaty, in 1855, the duties upon all 

 l.jndsoffood and raw produce from the United 

 estates and elsewhere were removed, and in lieu 

 thereof an additional duty of five per cent was 

 imposed on manufactures from Great Britain and 

 other places, making in all eleven pounds on every 

 tiundred pounds. 



