|
1735–6.
Jan. 2. |
1. J. Scrope to the Navy Commissioners for an account of the debt of the Navy as it stood 1735, Christmas.
[Letter Book XIX. p. 393.] |
2. Same to the Secretary at War, the Paymaster General of the Forces and the Duke of Argyll as Master General of the Ordnance, for preparation, and transmission to the Treasury, of the estimates proper to be laid before the House of Commons in the ensuing Session of Parliament for the services of the Forces anno 1736 and for land and sea services for the Ordnance same year.
[Ibid.] |
|
3. Same to Josiah Burchet to move the Lords of the Admiralty to direct the Commissioners of the Navy and Victualling to make out and transmit the like estimates for the Navy and Victualling. [Ibid.] |
| Jan. 2. |
4. Statistical list of vessels entered inwards and cleared outwards at the port of Charleston, South Carolina, for the quarter ended 1735, Christmas, with details of ships, cargo, destination, &c. Certified by Thos. Monck, deputy-naval officer for South Carolina, Naval Office, Charleston. 4 sheets.
[Treasury Board Papers CCXCI. No. 1.] |
| Jan. 2. |
5. J. Scrope to the Commissioners of Customs to deliver to the Duchess of Buckingham's house in St. James's Park the corpse of the Duke of Buckingham and other his effects on their arrival, the Treasury being informed by advice from Leghorn of 1735, December 17, that said corpse was loaded there on board the “Prince of Orange,” Captain Thos. Grocock, for London direct, being described in the bill of lading as a statue.
[Customs Book XIV. p. 152.] |
Jan. 8.
Whitehall,
Treasury
Chambers. |
6. Present: Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr, Dodington, Lord Sundon, Earl of Cholmondeley.
Mr. Pierce attended on behalf of the town of Newcastle concerning the lease of the old Castle to Col. Liddell. Desires a saving clause to be inserted in the lease with respect to the power and jurisdiction of the town over said demised premises. “My Lords are of opinion inasmuch as the said town had the said power and jurisdiction annexed to it by virtue of letters patents under the Great Seal such a saving in a lease under the Exchequer Seal must be wholly improper.”
Order for the issue to Mr. Stewart of 15,344l. 17s. 2½d. to clear the establishment payable by him to Christmas last, which includes 4,295l. 10s. for the half-year due at that time to the French Protestants.
Mr. Revel's memorial proposing to contract for building victualling storehouses at Gibraltar read and agreed to. Hereupon the letter some time since signed by their Lordships to the Governor of Gibraltar to contract there for the said building, but not sent for want of the plan to be annexed thereto, is recalled and the entry thereof to be vacated.
Order for payment of 45l. to Henry Pulleine as reward for his good services in apprehending smugglers.
[Treasury Minute Book XXVII. p. 365; Customs Book XIV. p. 155.] |
| Jan. 8. |
7. Report to the Treasury from the Taxes Commissioners on an anonymous letter sent to the Treasury concerning the indolent and careless management of the surveyors of the duties on houses in the counties of Devon and Cornwall. Fear there is too much truth in the accusation of careless management of said officers in divers parts of the kingdom. There are only four General Surveyors for the whole kingdom, one of whom is constantly employed in London and the neighbouring counties, and the other in Wales. The general decrease of these duties is, however, due to another cause, and the anonymous writer's scheme of surveyors for two or three counties and for constables, &c., would be unavailing. “From the year 1696 to the year 1709 inclusive the old duties on houses at an average had produced 118,839li12/14. In the year 1710, when the additional duties took place, there being no provisionary clause to hinder the stopping up of lights, it became a practice all over England, by which means in that year the old duties amounted to no more than 115,674l. 10s. 9d., and for two or three years after both the old and new duties suffered from the same cause. But since that there is no considerable variation. And if there were not some other disadvantages, which these duties labour under, they might still increase, and more especially if the manner of charging them were altered, so as to oblige the inhabitant to pay a certain duty for each window. For as it now stands a house that hath ten windows by stopping one saves four shillings, if it hath twenty by stopping one saves fourteen shillings, and if thirty by stopping one saves ten shillings. And most of the new houses which have been built since the commencement of these duties have been contriv'd so as to contain 9, 19, or 29 windows only… In the next place the Justices, who are Commissioners for these duties, and from whom there is no appeal, excuse whom they think fit, either from paying anything or else from paying the full duties chargeable by the Acts of Parliament without administering an oath to the appellant or officer, and in some places are with great difficulty persuaded to act at all, and generally so late in the year that by death and removal of persons considerable sums are lost; and lastly the collectors are so remiss in their duty that in most places they omit collecting the duty for three months after the expiration of the year, and the justices' clerks, by neglecting to make out the duplicates and to return them to the Exchequer in due time, occasion great delays in making up the accounts and afford an excuse to the Receivers General for keeping money in their hands to the prejudice of the public.” 2 pages.
Appending:—(a.) Said anonymous letter to the Treasury concerning the remissness of the surveyors… “Whereas there are but two or three surveyors in a county, and they being left to their own will survey as they think proper, just run over some part of their divisions, the other parts thereof scarce see such an officer above once (if that in their lifetime); and when they do survey, some persons of the towns and parishes soon get into their favour by some method or other, and then send for the parochial officer that made last year's rate and survey a few houses and so on to the next, which was formerly practiced as I often observed, and the difference cou'd be but small on their last survey, though to make it look as though they had surveyed their divisions throughout some parishes were risen 20 shillings, some 30, and others 40…. In sea ports and many other places vast quantities of large houses don't pay one farthing, by reason the persons that rent them are not rated to the Church and poor… Again some houses that contain 20 or 30 windows and more are set out to several tenants, and therefore they tell the officers they are separate dwellings, which being so divided don't pay ⅓, as otherwise they wo'd…” Proposes remedies for this state of things. 3 pages. [Treasury Board Papers CCXCI. No. 4.] |
| Jan. 13. |
8. J. Scrope to the Auditor of the Receipt for a certificate of the amount taken or intended to be taken out of the Sinking Fund to meet the anticipated great deficiency wanting to pay interest on the million lent on the duties on salt for the service of the year 1734 before the said duties took place, the moneys of the said Sinking Fund having been applied towards payment of said interest. [Letter Book XIX. p. 394.] |
Jan. 15.
Whitehall,
Treasury
Chambers. |
9. Present: Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Dodington, Lord Sundon, Earl of Cholmondeley.
Order for the issue to the Paymaster of the Forces, out of supplies for the year 1735, of 80,375l. 1s. 3d. for uses to be appointed.
Mr. Lowther is to defray the expense of the funeral of Mr. Richards, late a messenger of the Treasury, out of the King's money in his hands. [Treasury Minute Book XXVII. p. 366.] |
| Jan. 20. |
10. Proposals, by way of tender, from Thos. Revell for erecting victualling magazines at Gibraltar, with two dwellinghouses serving as pavilions thereto. 2½ pages.
[Treasury Board Papers CCXCI. No. 8.] |
Jan. 22.
Whitehall,
Treasury
Chambers. |
11. Present: Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir George Oxenden, Mr. Dodington, Lord Sundon, Earl of Cholmondeley.
Order for a sign manual for 100l. to Arthur Collins, as royal bounty.
Mr. Richard Coope, agent for the Island of St. Christopher, attended, and his memorial on behalf of the purchasers of French lands in that Island read, praying for the allowance of a single deed of conveyance in case of several purchases by one individual. All imaginable ease and dispatch to be given to the purchasers in their conveyances, and the Trustees for sale of said lands to be informed that in their Lordships' opinion the King's letters patents contain sufficient instruction for their guidance.
Order for the issue to the Treasurer of the Navy out of the supplies for the year 1735 of 16,000l. for services as in his memorial of this day.
Mr. Lowther is to pay to Mr. John Walthoe, jun., 868l. 6s. 8d. out of the King's money in his hands for “Daily Gazetters,” sent to the Post Office between 30 September 1735 and the 30 December following.
[Treasury Minute Book XXVII. p. 367; Letter Book XIX. p. 395.] |
| Jan. 27. |
12. Treasury warrant to the Surveyor General of Crown Lands to make forth a constat or to send to the proper auditor for a particular of the Opera house in the Haymarket, of which a reversionary lease is desired in the names of Dame Henrietta Vanbrugh and Charles Vanbrugh, Esq., who having separate and distinct interests in the buildings, desire that their respective parts may pass by separate and distinct leases.
Prefixing:—Report to the Treasury from said Surveyor General dated 1735–6, January 2, on the petition for said leases.
[Crown Lease Book IV. pp. 11–2.] |
Jan. 27.
Whitehall,
Treasury
Chambers. |
13. Present: Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Dodington, Lord Sundon, Earl of Cholmondeley.
The representation from the Conservator of Dean Forest read concerning the disorders there in the officers as to vert and venison, with proposal of a new law for remedy thereof. The Surveyor General of Woods to attend the Attorney and Solicitor General for their opinion thereupon.
Mr. Brerewood, at the recommendation of Lord Baltimore, is to be collector of Potomack in Maryland, in case that post be vacant.
Edward Bryan to be assistant to the Chamber Keeper at the Treasury, loco Samuel Barnesley, who is to officiate as deputy to Samuel Clark, one of the patent messengers, loco Wm. Richards, deceased.
[Treasury Minute Book XXVII. p. 368; Letter Book XIX. p. 396.] |
