in Trade and Navigation: And whereas since the rebuilding of the said Light House, several Foreign Ships that passed by, and had the Benefit of the said Light, and arrived in some of the Ports of the Kingdom of Ireland, have avoided Payment of the said Duties, upon Pretence that the said Act did not extend to the said Kingdom of Ireland"; For Prevention whereof, and to the End a Work of that public Nature. and so greatly beneficial to Navigation, may have all due and proper Encouragement;

"Be it enacted, &c. That respective Duties in the said Act, to be paid by the Master of every Ship, &c. passing by the Edystone Light House, &c. How the said Duties to be recovered. No Custom House Officer to make out any Cocquet, &c. till the Duties are paid, and an Acquittance produced to him. Such Persons as are mentioned in the former Act, may go on board any Foreign Ship, &c. to receive the Duties; and distrain for Non-payment. The Distress to be appraised and sold, if the Duties be not paid in three Days; rendering the Overplus to the Master, &c. This and the former Act to be allowed as Public Acts in Great Britain and Ireland. PR."

No. 10.-1718, December 19: Extract from the Report of the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations to His Majesty relating to the Newfoundland Trade and Fishery.

And on the 27th of January, 1675, His said Majesty, after due consideration had of the best ways and means of regulating, securing and improving the Fishing Trade in Newfoundland passed the New Charter which recited and confirmed all the old Laws, and several others were added for the better Government of the Fishery, which if they had been as steadily supported and executed, as they were carefully concerted, in all probability the subjects of France and the people of New England, had reaped very little benefit by their fisheries, and this valuable branch of the British Trade had been firmly re-established and secured.

The Additional Regulations to the Charter are as follows:

1st That His Majesty's subjects may take bait and fish in Newfoundland, and cut wood for stages &c provided they submit unto and observe the Rules and Orders that are or shall be established.

2nd That no alien take bait or fish between Cape Race and Cape Bonavista.

3rd That no Planter cut down any wood, or inhabit within six miles of the shore.

4th That no Planter shall take up any of the stages &c. before arrival of the fishermen, and that they be all provided for.

5th That no Master of a fishing ship transport any seaman or others to Newfoundland, unless they belong to his ship's company. 6th Nor more than 60 persons to 100 Tons.

7th That every fifth man carried out of England be a green man and not a seaman. And that the Masters provide in England victuals and other necessaries for the whole voyage, salt only excepted.

92909-S. Doc. 870, 61-3, vol 5– 4

8th That no fishing ship do depart directly for Newfoundland in any year, before the 1st of March.

9th That the Masters give bond in £100 to His Majesty before the respective Mayors, conditioned not to carry out any persons to Newfoundland as aforesaid and to bring back such as they shall carry out unless employed in the carrying fish to foreign markets.

10th That no master take up any stage already built with less than 25 men, and that no fisherman remain in the country after the fishing voyage is ended.

11th That the Admirals, Vice Admirals and Rear Admirals be and are authorised and required to preserve the peace in the harbours as well as on the shore, and to see the rules of the fishery put in execution.

12th And to secure and bring offenders home to England.

13th That they yearly publish in their respective harbours on the 20th of September these orders, forbidding all seamen to remain in Newfoundland after the last of October.

14th That they keep journals, and deliver copies unto His Majesty's Council for Foreign Plantations.

And lastly because there is no Court Martial in England at present, that if any man in Newfoundland shall kill another, or 530 steal goods to the value of 40s., he shall be brought prisoner into England, and his crime made known to one of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, to the end order may be given to punish such offender according to Law.

No. 11.-1736: Extract British Statute, 9 George II, Cap. 35.

An Act for indemnifying Persons who have been guilty of Offences against the Laws made for securing the revenues of Customs and Excise, and for enforcing those Laws for the future.

"Whereas, notwithstanding the several Laws already made to prevent the unlawful importing and clandestine landing and running of prohibited and uncustomed Goods, divers wicked and evil disposed persons have of late not only carried on, and do still continue, such pernicious and illegal Practices, in open Defiance of the Laws, to the great Diminution of the public Revenue, and to the manifest Prejudice of the fair Traders, and likewise seduced great numbers of other Persons to join with them in the said wicked practices, whereby the Evil is become so general, that it is necessary that some further provision should be made for effectually preventing the same; yet nevertheless as there may be some Hope that many of the said persons who have been unwarily seduced as aforesaid, may be reclaimed by Grace and Clemency from offending in the like manner for the Future; " Therefore, for the Quiet and Ease of His Majesty's Subjects, who may have been guilty of such Offences, and that such of them as are not yet become incorrigible, being freed from their Fears and Apprehensions, may be induced to leave off their illegal Practices, and to return to their lawful Callings and Occupations, and that such Persons as shall after such an Act of Indulgence, and so publick a warning, presume to commit any of the said Öffences, may

be left without excuse, and be brought to Justice, and duly punished, as their crimes shall deserve. May it please your Majesty that it may be enacted, and be it enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, That all and every his Majesty's Subjects of this his Majesty's Realm of Great Britain, their Heirs, Executors, and Administrators, and every of them, who before the twentyseventh day of April in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and thirty-six, have incurred any Penalty or forfeiture in, by, or for the clandestine running, landing, unshipping, concealing, or receiving any prohibited Goods, Wares, or Merchandizes, or any foreign Goods liable to the Payment of the Duties of Customs and Excise, or either of them, and who are or may be subject to any Information or other Prosecution whatsoever for the Duties of such Goods, or for the penalties for the running, landing, unshipping, concealing, or receiving thereof, or for the making of any false Report or Entry of the Loading any Ship or Vessel inwards or outwards, or for making any Report or Entry in a wrong Name or Names, or for not reporting any such Ship or Vessel, or for breaking Bulk before making such Report or Reports, or for altering the Package of any Goods on board of any Ship or Vessel, or for landing of any Goods without the Presence of an Officer, or for staving or otherwise destroying or spoiling any Goods at or after the seizure thereof by any Officer of the Customs or Excise, or other Person duly authorized to make such Seizure; and any Persons who have beat, abused, obstructed, or hindered, any Officer of the customs or Excise in the due Execution of their Duty, or who have given or offered a bribe to any Officer of the Customs or Excise; and all Persons aiding, assisting, and abetting in the committing any of the said Offences; shall be and are by the Authority of this present Act acquitted, indemnified, released, and discharged, against the King's Majesty, his Heirs, and Successors, and against all and every other Person and Persons, Bodies Politick and Corporate, and any Officer or Officers of the Customs or Excise, and every of them, of and from all the said Offences (not in this present Act hereafter excepted and foreprized) and of and from all Penalties, Forfeitures, Indictments, Outlawries, Convictions, and Judgments not herein after excepted, incurred, had, or given, or that may or might arise or accrue for or by Reason or Means of any of the said Offences or other Matters or things herein before-mentioned and expressed.

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XVIII. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That upon Information to be given upon Oath before any one or more of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace in any County, City or Liberty whatsoever, that any Person or Persons are or shall be lurking, waiting, or loitering within five miles from the Sea Coast, or from any navigable River, and that there is reason to suspect that they wait with intent to be aiding and assisting in the running, landing or carrying away, any prohibited or uncustomed Goods, it shall and may be lawful to and for every such Justice or Justices to cause all such Persons to come and be brought before him or them, and to grant his or their Warrant or Warrants for the apprehending such Offender,

and bringing him or them before any of his Majesty's said Justices of the Peace; and if such Persons shall not give a satisfactory Account of themselves, and their Callings and Employments, or otherwise make it appear to the Satisfaction of such Justice or Justices that they are not to be employed or concerned in, or to be aiding or assisting in the carrying on any fraudulent or clandestine Trade, or unlawful Business or Occupation, and are not at such Place as aforesaid with Intent to carry on the said clandestine Practices, then every Person who shall not give such Account and Satisfaction to such Justice or Justices shall be committed to the House of Correction, there to be whipt and kept to hard Labour for any Time which such Justice or Justices shall in his or their Discretion think meet, not exceeding one Month, and that the Commissioners of the Customs or Excise respectively shall cause to be paid to the Person or Per531 sons informing of such Offender or Offenders a Reward of twenty shillings per Head for every such Offender so taken as

XXII. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That from and after the twenty-fourth Day of June one thousand seven hundred and thirty-six, where any ship or Vessel whatsoever coming or arriving from Foreign Parts, and having on Board six Pounds of Tea, or any Foreign Brandy, Arrack, Rum, Strong Waters, or other Spirits whatsoever, in Casks under sixty Gallons (except only for the use of the Seamen then belonging to and on Board such ship or Vessel, not exceeding two Gallons for each Seaman) shall be found at Anchor, or hovering within the Limits of any of the Ports of this Kingdom, or within two Leagues of the Shore, or shall be discovered to have been within the Limits of any Port, and not proceeding on her Voyage, Wind and Weather permitting (unless in case of unavoidable Necessity, and Distress of Weather, of which Necessity and Distress the Master, Purser or other Person having or taking the Charge or Command of such Ship or Vessel, shall give Notice to, and make Proof of before the Collector or other Chief Officer of the Customs of such Port as aforesaid immediately after the Arrival of such Ship or Vessel into the said Port) all such Tea, Foreign Brandy, Arrack, Rum, Strong Waters and Spirits, together with the Chests, Boxes, Casks, and other Package whatsoever, containing the same Goods, or the value thereof, shall be forfeited and lost (whether Bulk shall then have been broken or not) and the same Goods and Package shall and may be seized and prosecuted, or the Value thereof sued for by any Officer or Officers of the Customs or Excise in such Manner and Form as herein after is expressed; any Law, Statute or Custom to the contrary notwithstanding.

"XXIII. And whereas Foreign Goods are frequently taken out of Ships at Sea without the Limits of any Port, with Intent to be fraudulently landed in this Kingdom;" For preventing thereof, be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That in case any Foreign Goods, Wares or Merchandizes, shall after the twenty-ninth Day of September one thousand seven hundred and thirty-six, by any Ship, Boat or Vessel whatsoever, be taken in at Sea, or put out of any Ship or Vessel whatsoever, within the Distance of four Leagues from any of the Coasts of this Kingdom (whether the same be within or with

out the Limits of any of the Ports thereof) without Payment of the Customs and other Duties due and payable for the same (unless in case of apparent Necessity or some other lawful Reason, of which the Master or other Person having Charge of such Ship, Vessel or Boat, so taking in the same, shall give immediate Notice to, and make Proof before the Chief Officer or Officers of the Customs of the first Port of this Kingdom where he shall arrive) such Goods, Wares and Merchandizes, shall be forfeited and lost, and the Master or other Person having Charge of such Ship, Vessel or Boat, so taking in the same, and all such Persons who shall be aiding, assisting or otherwise concerned in the unshipping or receiving of the said Goods, Wares or Merchandizes, shall forfeit Treble the Value thereof; and the Ships, Boats and Vessels, into which the said Goods, Wares and Merchandizes shall be unshipped and taken in, shall also be forfeited and lost, any Ship, Boat or Vessel, so to be forfeited and lost, not exceeding the Burthen of one hundred Tons; and the Master, Purser or other Person taking Charge of such Ship or Vessel out of which such Goods shall be taken (unless in case of such apparent Necessity or other lawful Reason, whereof Notice shall be given by him, and Proof be made as aforesaid) shall also forfeit Treble the Value of the Goods so unshipped as aforesaid; which Forfeitures shall be divided and recovered in such manner as herein after mentioned.

No. 12.-1763: Extract from British Statute, 4 Geo. III, Cap. 15.

An Act for granting certain duties in the British Colonies and Plantations in America; for continuing, amending, and making perpetual an Act passed in the sixth year of the reign of his late Majesty King George the Second, (intituled, An Act for the better securing and encouraging the trade of his Majesty's Sugar Colonies in America); for applying the produce of such duties and of the duties to arise by virtue of the said Act, toward defraying the expenses of defending, protecting, and securing the said colonies and plantations; for explaining an Act made in the twenty-fifth year of the reign of King Charles the Second, (intituled, An Act for the Encouragement of the Greenland and Eastland trades, and for the better securing the plantation trade); and for altering and disallowing several drawbacks on exports from this Kingdom, and more effectually preventing the clandestine conveyance of goods to and from the said colonies and plantations, and improving and securing the trade between the same and Great Britain.

"XXXIII. And whereas by an Act of Parliament, made in the ninth year, of the reign of his late Majesty King George the Second, intituled, An Act for indemnifying persons who have been guilty of offences against the laws made for securing the revenue of customs and excise, and for the enforcing those laws for the future, and by other Acts of Parliament since made, which are now in force, in order to prevent the clandestine landing of goods in this Kingdom from vessels which hover upon the coasts thereof, several goods and vessels, in those laws particularly mentioned and described, are declared to be forfeited, if such vessels are found at anchor, or hovering within two leagues of the shore of this Kingdom, without being compelled thereto by necessity or distress of weather; which laws have been found very beneficial to the public Revenue:

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