There is a falling off in the share of taxes paid by the commercial towns in proportion to their population. In 1782, Providence contained 8.23 per cent of the population, but it paid only 6.98 per cent of the taxes. Newport's per centage of population had fallen to 10.56 per cent and the per centage of taxes to 7.81. On the other hand, the country towns had gained proportionately. Taking Providence county, exclusive of the town of Providence, we find that in 1769, it contained 26.64 per cent of the polls and 19.2 per cent of the property, in 1782 it contained 25.27 per cent of the population and 27 per cent of the property. There was but little change in the relative positions of the other counties, Kings County made a slight gain, and the other counties suffered a slight loss, with the exception of Newport County. Here the loss of the Island towns was great. In 1769, they contained 19.09 per cent of the polls and 26.7 per cent of the property while in 1783 they had but about 16 per cent of the population and 15.2 per cent of the property. Customs and Excise Duties. Among the acts of the first assembly under the Patent in 1647, occurs the following: "It is ordered that the Dutch, French or other alliants, or any Englishman inhabitating among them, shall pay the like customs and duties, as we do among them for all such goods as shall be imported for the English, except beaver." This act was probably of little practical importance as the trade of the colony during the seventeenth century was very small. In 1655, an excise duty of five shillings was imposed on every anchor of liquors and quarter cask of wine, and three years later a like customs duty was added. The revenue from both taxes at first went to the towns, but in 1674 it was transferred to the colony, as "the whole excise seems almost all lost by neglect." The collection of the tax was to be farmed out. Whether the tax was more productive than under town government we do not know. It was repealed in 1686. Both customs and excise duties were introduced by Andros, but disappeared with his government. In 1696, however, the customs duties on liquors was reimposed by the colony, and molasses was added to the list.[130] In 1707 slaves were added to the dutiable articles, at £3 per head. About twenty or thirty were annually imported from the Barbadoes, and their value was from £30 to £40 a piece. The income from this source must have been of considerable importance at the period. In 1715 the revenue from this tax in the naval officers' hands was £289-17-3. In the same year the law was amended so as to cover negroes brought in from the neighboring colonies. The act seems to have remained in force until May, 1732, when it was repealed under instructions from the English government. There seems to have been no further imposition of customs or excise duties on the part of the colony until the period of the Revolution. The state, as we have seen,