The only case before the time of Andros was the farthing in the pound tax levied at the time of the passage of the law. Very little seems to have been received from this tax. The following provision of the law may afford some explanation. "All rates to be paid in country pay, accordinge to price of wooll twelve pence a pound; and to vallue their estates according as it would be worth to pay a debt in old England." It was added by way of explanation at the next session, "every penny of English money to be the value of four pence here." From other laws &c., it appears that the English pound sterling was only a little more than twice as valuable as the pound of "country pay" so that a valuation at the rate of four to one would be an undervaluation. And again, wool was usually received in payment at six or seven pence a pound so that payment at the rate of wool twelve pence a pound would be payment in a depreciated currency. Footnote 66: It should be noted however that the magistrates were also members of the councils of the towns in which they lived. Footnote 67: It was a common thing to make the rate makers, whether appointed by the town or the assembly, responsible for the rate in case it was not made. The same is true for the constables and sergeants in case it was not collected. The reasons for the non-payment of taxes seem to have been political rather than economic. All through this period, particularly in the early part, the central government, as we have said, was weak and the colony was torn by dissensions. There does not seem to have been entire harmony between the main land and the island, and it was in the main land towns and outlying districts that the greatest difficulty was found in collecting taxes. Warwick protested strongly against paying her portion of the £600 tax to pay Clarke in 1664, (R.I. Col. Recs. II, 78) claiming that most of the time Clarke had been merely the agent of the island. If the tax must be levied, the town prayed that it might be levied on the Indians who had intruded on their lands and stolen their goods, or by "just fines and amersements, layd upon such in the Collony as have not only gone about, but allso have betrayed the Collony." This tax was not collected in Warwick for six or seven years. There were also internal dissensions in the towns themselves, particularly in Providence where the opposing parties seem to have been of nearly equal strength. In 1641, the inhabitants of Pawtuxet, an outlying district of Providence, submitted to Massachusetts jurisdiction and was not permanently reunited to Rhode Island until 1658, (Arnold I, 111). Until 1703 the conflicting claims in Narragansett country continued to interfere seriously with the exercise of jurisdiction in that country, sometime rendering it altogether impossible. Another cause which rendered collection difficult was the custom of offsetting debts due from the