TRADE. 337

The system of giving credit gave birth to another evil, which combined in itself the elements of sche- ming, overreaehing, evading the fulfilment of con- tracts, and petty litigation. This state of things was ruinous to reputable merchants,who had spirit enough to attempt the fisheries, or to conduct. business on a general and respectable scale ; and when the contracts which people entered into with them, for building vessels, or furnishing cargoes of timber, or indeed any other engagement, were not fulfilled, such was the condition of justice, that redress was seldom to be had. The merchants engaged in ship—building felt the full weight of all these evils; and the shopkeepers must now bear with the difficulties attending payment for the goods they sell, when bills are not to be had, and when the current specie of the island, if it Were even plentiful, can only be remitted at a loss of 25 to 30 per cent.

This state of things must continue until there is at least a sufficient quantity, in value, of agricultu- ral produce and fish, to export as payment of the im- ports. Very moderate industry, and an honest degree of punctuality, would bring this about. If the proprie- tors of the lands would take payments of the rents due them in wheat, oats, and barley, at such a price as would hear the expense of exporting to England, the prosperity, and the trade of the island would be rapidly increased, the rents would be better paid, as there would then be no excuse 0n the part of the ten- ant, and the value of the lands would in a very short time be doubled. There is nothing but the raising of

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