*Ibid.,  vol.  ii,  p.  333;  vol.  iii,  p.  86.     August,  1699.
^Ibid.,  vol.  iii,  pp.  90,  91,  94;  vol.  xix,  p.  725.    November,  1699.
*Ibid,,  vol.  ii,  p.  366;  vol.  iii,  pp.  126,  127.
340         ^EW  HAMPSHIRE  AS  A  ROYAL  PROVINCE       [522

direct  taxation,  duties  were  levied  in  1702  upon  all  sorts  of
goods  and  merchandize  imported  into  the  colony  and  upon
all  kinds  of  lumber  exported  out  of  the  same.  The  follow-
ing year  these  duties  were  continued  in  force  and  appear  to
have  netted  the  province  a  considerable  sum.^  In  August,
1704,  Governor  Dudley  told  the  assembly  that  he  knew  of
no  better  article  for  the  advancement  of  the  revenue  than
the  tax  on  lumber  which  had  not  been  any  hardship  the
last  two  years,  when  the  price  of  lumber  was  below  twenty
shillings  per  thousand,  while  now  that  it  was  almost  double
that  sum,  that  commodity  would  be  the  better  able  to  bear
the  tax.  Now,  however,  the  representatives  were  opposed
to  reviving  it,  claiming  that  it  did  not  answer  the  end  pro-
posed and  bore  very  heavily  upon  those  engaged  in  lumber-
ing.^ At  the  same  time,  they  expressed  themselves  in  favor
of  having  the  public  charges  defrayed  by  a  tax  on  the  polls
and  estates,  and  declared  that  they  were  ready  to  levy  such
taxes  from  time  to  time  according  to  the  necessities  of  the
province  and  the  abilities  of  the  inhabitants.
