The statute book records several new criminal statutes. It is an illustration of domestic relations that the first divorce was granted by the Assembly in 1754--more than a hundred years after the foundation of the Colony. And it may be taken as proof of the feelings of the Colony towards England, that a large number of English statutes were transferred to the colonial statute book. New precautions against fire were taken in Newport by the formation of firewards, and a fire engine was sent for from England. Providence soon followed the example. Another step was taken towards a satisfactory distribution of the territory by forming East and West Greenwich, Coventry and Warwick into a new county under the name of Kent County, with East Greenwich for its county town. The new county was required to build a court house at its own expense, which was partly done by lottery. Four years later another town was formed from Providence County and incorporated under the name of Cranston. In spite of the increased depreciation of the currency the Colony continued to grow in numbers and strength. Seventeen hundred and fifty-two was made memorable both in England and her colonies by the adoption of the Gregorian calendar. Henceforth the new year begins on the first of January instead of the twenty-fifth of March. But the great event of the year was the decision of the lawsuit for the possession of the glebe lands in Narragansett, a suit of nearly thirty years standing, and which after passing through many phases was decided in favor of the Congregationalists against the Episcopalians, upon the ground that "by the Rhode Island charter all denominations were orthodox, and that a majority of the grantors when the deed took effect were Presbyterians or Congregationalists." Meanwhile paper money was doing its bad work. The calendar of private petitions bears sad witness to the evil. Bankruptcy became frequent, and among the bankrupts of those days of gloom was Joseph Whipple, the Deputy-Governor, who, surrendering all his property to his creditors was relieved by a special act of insolvency. The spirit of enterprise though dulled, was not crushed. The first recorded patent was granted in 1753. Parliament had passed an act to encourage the making of potash in the colonies, and Moses Lopez took out a patent for making it for ten years by a process known only to himself. The next year a similar patent was granted to James Rogers for the manufacture of pearl-ash. The industrial instinct which was to receive in the sequel so great a development, was already girding itself up for the trial. The spirit of association, also, was awakening. A society of sea-captains was incorporated for mutual assistance under the name of the Fellowship Club. From this grew the Newport Marine Society.