KINGSBARNS PARISH

POPULATION. About a century ago the number of poor on the roll was seven. If these bore the same proportion to the population as the regular poor do now, the number must have been doubled. But, from the change of habits in the people, and the gradual abolition of the high feelings of independence once so prevalent, this mode of judging cannot be correct. My predecessor, Mr Beatson, in his report states, that " at the time of Dr Webster's report, the numbers were 871. From the last state of the roll the numbers amount to 807, of whom 467 reside in the village, and the remaining 340 inhabit the country part of the parish. For 30 years the annual averages have been 16 deaths, 22 baptisms, and 6 marriages." When the present incumbent took up his list of the population in 1811 the amount was 942, 629 in the village, and 313 in the country. In 1830 it was 1013, 581 in the former, 432 in the latter. The census of 1831, which included all labourers within the bounds of each parish at the time, gives 1023, 593 in the village, and 430 in the country. The proportion of males to females in both places is rather singular. In the village the former are to the latter as 249 to 344, while in the country they are as 214 to 216. The cause of the excess of females in the village arises from the circumstance, that in the country there is seldom attached to the farm steadings more houses than answer for the farm-servants and their families ; hence widows with children, and single women, seek a dwelling in the former. The general and progressive increase of the population is owing to the great improvement during the last fifty years in the science of agriculture, and to the extra and steady employment which the enclosing, draining, and extensive cultivation of waste lands has given. The average of births during the last seven years has been 29 1/7, of deaths 14, and of marriages 8 6/7.

One Baronet, and a retired Judge of the Court of Session reside upon their estates.

During the last three years there have been 3 illegitimate births in the parish.

CHARACTER ETC. OF THE PEOPLE-The inhabitants are rather remarkable for height. When the local militia were embodied, a greater number of men in the grenadier company came from this parish than from any other in the eastern district of Fife. Much improvement in the condition and comforts of the people has of late years taken place. An inclination to render their persons more neat, their houses more cleanly, and their fore-grounds and gardens more ornamented, is prevalent. The vast expenditure of money during the late war in the country, and the high price given for manufactures and labour, introduced a taste for better living and greater accommodation. The benefits of this change, though for many years past the value of wages and the return for all produce have greatly fallen, still continue. Almost every family of the labouring classes keeps a sow; and its flesh, along with potatoes, which in general are abundant and cheap, and fish caught off the shore in summer, and herrings usually obtained in the same quarter, and salted in the neighbouring towns, with occasionally meat from the butcher, give an abundance of wholesome and nourishing food. Their habits are in general quiet and orderly. They are attentive to the education of their children, and regular in attendance upon public worship.