Shirley Hundred Island, Denbigh, Southampton
River in Elizabeth City, and Cheskiack. Storehouses were to be built at
these places and all tobacco was to be brought to these storehouses
before the last day of December of each year. At these storehouses the
tobacco was to be carefully inspected and all of the bad tobacco
separated from the good and burned. This duty was to be performed once
each week by inspectors under oath, one of whom was to be a member of
the Council. All tobacco found in the barns of the planters after
December 31 was to be confiscated, unless reserved for family use. All
of those planning to keep tobacco for that purpose were required to
swear to this fact before the proper officials before December 31. All
debts were to be paid at one of these five storehouses, with the
storekeeper as a witness. Before the end of the year (1633) two other
such storehouses were authorized to be built,--one at Warrasquoke and
the other at a point lying between Weyanoke and the Falls. In addition
to the Councillors, members of the local courts were added as
inspectors. The provision requiring the burning of unmerchantable
tobacco may have been enforced, but the storehouses were never built.

In 1639 all of the mean tobacco and half of the good was ordered
destroyed. The legislature passed an act providing for the appointment
of 213 inspectors, three were assigned to each district. These
inspectors were authorized to break down the doors of any building if
they had reason to believe that tobacco was being concealed within.
This act was designed primarily to restrict the quantity of tobacco to
be marketed owing to the flooded markets abroad and the resulting low
prices.

All of the inspection laws passed after 1632 were formally repealed in
1641. The only important inspection law left on the statute books was
the one passed in 1630 requiring the plantation commander, who was
later replaced by the county lieutenant, to appoint two or three
inspectors to inspect tobacco sold or received in payment of a debt,
upon complaint of the buyer or creditor that he had been passed some
bad tobacco. The law remained on the books until 1730. After these
early attempts to establish an effective inspection system, little
further progress was made during the seventeenth century. Occasional
acts aimed at controlling the quantity and quality of tobacco continued
to be passed from time to time; such as laws prohibiting the tending of
sec