The death of Queen Anne and accession of George I. excited little attention in the colonies. South Carolina was suffering from the Yemassee war, which brought new emigrants to Rhode Island, and among them some females of Huguenot origin who had their Indian slaves with them. Their coming seems to have been acceptable, for the Assembly upon petition remitted to them the importation tax. The population was not yet sufficient to protect farmers from wolves and foxes. The old bounty was increased, and rewards were offered by Portsmouth for blackbirds and crows, and by Providence for gray squirrels and rats. A few years later still higher bounties were offered for wild-cats and bears. The great public question was still the question of the bank, and we have already seen that the form adopted was that of public banks. In the July session of 1715 a bank or loan of thirty thousand pounds was established, which in a later session was raised to forty thousand. "Bills from five pounds to one shilling were issued and proportioned among the towns." Whoever could give good mortgage security could claim a loan. But the interest instead of being secured by bond and mortgage was secured by bond alone, and thus the greater part of it was eventually lost, a very serious defect in the system, for it was from this interest that the bills were to be redeemed and the expenses of government paid. We shall meet this subject again, but never in a pleasant form. It is interesting to see by what devices the increasing wants of the Colony was met. Newport had wants of her own as "the metropolitan town of the Colony." The street leading to the Colony House needed paving, and to meet the expenses a grant was made of funds drawn from the duty on imported slaves. Other streets were paved and a bridge built over Potowomut River by funds drawn from the same source. The criminal code also, grows with the Colony. Fraudulent voting is punished with fine, whipping or imprisonment. To facilitate detection every voter was required to endorse his name in full on his ballot. A large proportion of the crimes in the Colony were committed by Indian slaves. The fear of punishment was an insufficient protection against this class of criminals, and a law was passed prohibiting their introduction into the Colony. We have seen that Newport and Providence made early provision for schools. Portsmouth followed their example, and "having considered how excellent an ornament learning is to mankind," made in 1716 an appropriation for building a school-house. The experiment was successful, and six years later two others were built--one of them sixteen feet square, the other thirty by twenty-five.