Total nominal receipts £21,533-14-7 3/4 Receipts in paper money of 1786, 11,464-4-1 --------------- Receipts in specie 10,069-10-6 3/4 Specie value of paper money receipts 1,550-14-6 3/4 --------------- 11,620-5-1 1/2 Value in present dollars $42,414. County of Newport. (Includes receipts from July, 1783, May, 1789, and from Sept. 1789) Total nominal receipts July, 1783, May, 1789, 18,900-1-8 3/4 Receipts in paper money of 1786, 10,131-12-8 3/4 --------------- Receipts in specie 8,768-1-0 Specie value of paper money receipts 2,181-10-4 1/2 --------------- Total specie value of receipts 10,949-11-4 1/2 Value in present dollars $39,966. Receipts from September, 1789, 3,202. --------------- Total 43,168. Providence County 42,414. --------------- Total for both counties 85,582. Such figures, of course, are not exact, and it has been impossible to find more than fragmentary returns from other counties. Such counties were, however, comparatively unimportant. It will probably not be far from the truth if we place the total receipts under the customs acts for the period of between six and seven years, when they were in force, at something over $90,000 or about $14,000 a year. The interest on the public debt must have amounted to between $30,000 and $40,000 per annum, so that the revenue from customs duties fell far short of satisfying the purpose for which it was imposed. Tonnage Duties. Tonnage duties were imposed as early as 1690, and continued until Rhode Island entered the union. They were first levied for the support of the fort and were payable in either money or powder. About the middle of the eighteenth century a light house was built and additional tonnage duties were imposed for its support. The amounts varied from time to time, according to the needs of the fort or light house, and there was discrimination in favor of vessels engaged in home trade. In 1767, a time of peace, the duty imposed for the support of the fort was 2 S., or 1 lb. of powder per ton for all vessels above ten tons, not owned by inhabitants of the colony. The "light money" was 4 1/2d. per ton for foreign vessels and 3s. for each clearing for coasters.