Part 19

Whereas by Act of Parliament made in the Tenth and Eleventh Years of the Reign of the late King William the Third, Intituled, An Act to Encourage the Trade to Newfoundland;[1] It was, amongst other Things, Enacted, That from thenceforth all His Majesties Subjects of this Realm, or the Dominions thereto belonging, Trading to Newfoundland, should have Free Trade and Liberty to Take, Bait, and Fish in any the Rivers, Lakes, Creeks, Harbours, or Roads, in or about Newfoundland, the Seas, and Islands thereto adjacent, and to go on Shore on any Part of Newfoundland, or the said Islands, for the Curing, Salting, Drying, and Husbanding of their Fish, and Making Oyl, and to Cut down Wood for Building or Repairing of Stages, Ship-Rooms, Train-Fats, Hurdles, Ships, Boats, and other Necessaries; but that no Alien, or Stranger should Take any Bait, or Use any sort of Trade or Fishing whatsoever, in Newfoundland, or in any of the Places above-mentioned; and that after the Five and twentieth of March, One thousand seven hundred, no Balast, Prest, Stones, or other Things hurtful to the Harbours, should be Thrown out of any Ship or otherwise, but shall be Carried on Shore. And it is thereby further Enacted, That no Person should Destroy or Damage any such Stage or Cook-Room, or any Thing thereto belonging, but should be content with such Stage or Stages only as are needful for them, and leave the same Undamaged; and the same shall be Repaired with Timber fetcht out of the Woods there, and not by the Ruining of other Stages. And it is thereby further Enacted, That whoever should, after the said Five and twentieth Day of March, first Enter with his Fishing-Ship any Harbour or Creek in Newfoundland, should be for that Season Admiral of the said Harbour or Creek, and should Reserve so much Beech or Flakes as should be necessary for his Boats, and One over, as a Privilege for his first Coming thither; and the Master of the Second Fishing-Ship Entring such Harbour or Creek, shall be Vice-Admiral; and the Master of the Third Ship so Entring, Rear-Admiral for that Season; and that the Master of every Fishing-Ship there, shall take no more Beech or Flakes than for necessary Use; and Persons Possessed of several Places in several Harbours there, shall make Election in which he or they will Abide, within Eight and forty Hours after Demand by any After-comer; And the Admiral of the respective Harbours shall determine all Differences touching that Matter. And it is thereby further Enacted, That all Inhabitants and others, who have Possessed themselves of any Stage, Cook-Room, Beech, or other Place in the said Harbours, which before that time belonged to Fishing-Ships, for the Taking Bait, Fishing, Drying, Curing and Husbanding of Fish, since the Year One thousand six hundred eighty five, should before the said Five and twentieth Day of March, leave the same for the Publick Use of the Fishing-Ships arriving there; and that no Fisherman or Inhabitant in Newfoundland, or other Person, should after the said Five and twentieth Day of March, Possess himself of any the Stages, Cook-Rooms, Beeches, or other Places which, since the Year One thousand six hundred eighty five, did, or thereafter should belong to any Fishing-Ship, before the Arrival of the Fishing-Ships from England, Wales or Berwick, and until such Ships be Provided with Stages, Cook-Rooms, Beeches, and other Places, for taking Bait and Fishing, and for Drying, Curing and Husbanding of Fish: Provided that such Persons, as since the Five and twentieth of March, One thousand six hundred eighty five, have or thereafter should Build any Houses, Stages, Cook-Rooms, Train-Fats, or other Conveniencies for Fishing there, that did not, since the Year One thousand six hundred eighty five, belong to Fishing-Ships, should peaceably enjoy the same. And it is thereby further Enacted, That no By-Boat-Keepers should meddle with any House, Stage, Cook-Room, Train-Fat or other Conveniency, that did, since the Year One thousand six hundred eighty five, belong to Fishing-Ships, or should be made by Ships after the Five and twentieth Day of March, One thousand seven hundred; and that every Master of a By-Boat should carry at least Two Fresh Men in Six, (viz.) One that has made but One Voyage, and One that never was at Sea before; and that every Inhabitant should be obliged to Imploy Two such Fresh Men, as the By-Boat-Keepers are obliged for every By-Boat kept by them; and the Master of every Fishing-Ship should Carry One such Fresh Man that never was at Sea before, in every Five Men they carry; and the Master of every By-Boat, or Fishing-Ship, should make Oath before the Collector, or Principal Officer of the Customs of the Port (which Officers are thereby Impowered to give the said Oath) whence such Ship intends to Sail, That they have such Fresh Men as the said Act directs, and should have a Certificate thereof gratis; And that the Master of any Fishing-Ship, going to Newfoundland, after the said Five and twentieth Day of March, should have One in every Five that is not a Seaman. And it is thereby further Enacted, That no Person should after the said Five and twentieth Day of March, Cut out, or Alter the Mark of any Boat or Train-Fat, to defraud the Owner, or remove the same whence they were left by the Owner, unless in case of necessity, and that upon Notice to the Admiral of the Place; and that no Person should Rind Trees in the Woods growing there, nor set on fire, or Damage the same, except for Fuel for the Ships and Inhabitants, or for Building or Repairs of Houses, Ships, Boats, and Train-Fats, and of the Stages, Cook-Rooms, Beeches, and other Places for taking Bait, Fishing, and Husbanding of Fish there, nor cast Anchor, or do any other Thing so as to Annoy the Haling of Sayns in the usual Baiting Places, or shoot their Sayns upon the Sayns of others, nor steal the Sayns of others, nor any Bait out of anothers Fishing-Boat or Net: And the Admirals of every Port or Harbour in Newfoundland, are required to see the Rules and Orders in the said Act for Regulating the Fishery duly put in Execution, and Yearly to keep a Journal of all Ships, Boats, Stages, Train-Fats, and Seamen in their respective Harbours, and Deliver a Copy thereof to the Privy-Council at their Return to England. And it is thereby further Enacted, That all Differences arising in Newfoundland, or any the Islands there, about the Right and Property of Fishing-Rooms, Stages, Flakes or other Conveniency for Fishing or Curing of Fish, shall be determined by the Fishing Admirals in the several Harbours; and an Appeal is given from such Judgment to the Commanders of the Men of War appointed Convoys for Newfoundland: And that the Inhabitants of Newfoundland, and the Islands adjacent, should strictly observe the Lords Day: And that no Publick-House should on that Day sell any Wine, Beer, Ale, Cyder, or other Strong-Waters, or Tobacco, or other Liquors. And whereas We have been informed of several Abuses by the Masters of Ships, and the Inhabitants, and others contrary to the said Act, (viz.) That the Inhabitants do Rind the Trees, and Ingross and Incroach upon Fishing Ship-Rooms, and destroy several of the Stages, Flakes and Cook-Rooms, and that the Fishing Admirals are negligent in their Duty of putting the said Act in Execution, and of keeping Journals of the Fishery, and that the said Fishing Admirals, being Traders themselves, are partial in their Determination of Differences, and that the Masters of Fishing-Ships, and of By-Boats, do neglect to produce Certificates of their Compliments of Green Men or Fresh Men, contrary to the said Act; Which Matters being lately taken Notice of in the Humble Address of the Knights, Citizens and Burgesses of the last Parliament, We have thought fit, by and with the Advice of Our Privy-Council, to Issue forth this Our Royal Proclamation; And We do hereby strictly Charge and Command all Our Loving Subjects, who may be any ways concerned in Putting the said Laws in Execution, that they take effectual Care to bring to Condign Punishment all manner of Persons who shall be found offending against such Act of Parliament.

Given at Our Court at Kensington, the Twenty sixth Day of June, in the Seventh Year of Our Reign.

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN.

London, Printed by Charles Bill, and the Executrix of Thomas Newcomb, deceas'd; Printers to the Queens most Excellent Majesty. 1708. (Price Two Pence.)

_1 p. folio. Copies in B. M., P. C., and P. R. O. Entered on Patent Rolls; entered in Privy Council Register, Anne, vol. 4, p. 120. Printed in "London Gazette," July 12, 1708._

FOOTNOTE:

[1] _Statutes of the Realm_, 10 William III, ch. 14, vol. 7, p. 515. The House of Commons on March 31, 1708, petitioned the Queen that the laws regulating trade with Newfoundland should be enforced (_Commons Journals_, xv, 644, 648). A long address on the subject from the Privy Council to the Queen, May 20, 1708, is printed in the _Acts of the Privy Council_, ii, 553.

1711, June 23.

[Establishing Post Office in America.]

BY THE QUEEN.

A PROCLAMATION

FOR ENFORCING THE DUE EXECUTION OF THE ACT, INTITULED, AN ACT FOR ESTABLISHING A GENERAL POST-OFFICE FOR ALL HER MAJESTIES DOMINIONS, AND FOR SETTLING A WEEKLY SUM OUT OF THE REVENUES THEREOF, FOR THE SERVICE OF THE WAR, AND OTHER HER MAJESTIES OCCASIONS.

ANNE R.

Whereas by an Act of Parliament made in the Last Session of Parliament, Intituled, An Act for Establishing a General Post-Office for all Her Majesties Dominions, and for Settling a Weekly Sum out of the Revenues thereof, for the Service of the War, and other Her Majesties Occasions,[1] It is Enacted, That from and after the First Day of this Instant June, there be One General Letter-Office and Post-Office Established in the City of London, from whence all Letters and Packets may be with speed and expedition sent into any Part of the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, or to North-America, the West-Indies, or to any other of Our Dominions or Territories, or to any other Kingdom or Country beyond the Seas; at which said Office all Returns and Answers may be Received. And that One Master of the said General Letter-Office and Post-Office shall be appointed by Us, under Our Great Seal of Great Britain, by the Name and Stile of our Postmaster General: And that no Person or Persons whatsoever, in any Part of Our Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, or other Our Plantations or Colonies in the West-Indies and America, other than Our Postmaster General for the time being, and his Deputies, Servants, and Assigns, shall presume to Receive, Take up, Order, Dispatch, Convey, Carry, Recarry, or Deliver any Letter or Letters, Packet or Packets of Letters, other than to and from any Town or Place to or from the next Post-Road or Stage appointed for that Purpose, above Six Miles from a General Office; and other than and except such Letters as shall respectively concern Goods sent by Common known Carriers of Goods, by Carts, Waggons, or Pack-Horses, and which shall be respectively Delivered with the Goods such Letters do concern, without Hire or Reward, or other Profit or Advantage for Receiving or Delivering such Letters; and except Letters of Merchants and Masters, Owners of any Ships, Barques, or Vessels of Merchandize, or any the Cargo or Lading therein, sent on Board such Ships, Barques, or Vessels of Merchandize, whereof such Merchants or Masters are Owners, and Delivered by any Masters of any such Ships, Barques, or Vessels of Merchandize, or by any other Person Employed by them for the Carriage of such Letters, according to their respective Directions, so as such Letters be Delivered to the respective Persons to whom they shall be Directed, without Paying or Receiving any Hire or Reward, Advantage or Profit for the same in anywise; and except Commissions or the Returns thereof, Affidavits, Writs, Process or Proceeding, or Returns thereof, Issuing out of any Court; and also any Letter or Letters to be sent by any Private Friend or Friends in their way of Journey or Travel, or by any Messenger or Messengers sent on purpose, for or concerning the private Affair of any Person or Persons; or make any Collection of Letters, or Set up or Employ any Foot-Post, Horse-Post, or Packet-Boat, or other Vessel or Boat, or other Person or Persons, Conveyance or Conveyances whatsoever, for the Receiving, Taking up, Ordering, Dispatching, Conveying, Carrying, Recarrying, or Delivering any Letter or Letters, Packet or Packets of Letters, by Sea or by Land, or on any River within Our Dominions, or by means whereof any Letter or Letters, Packet or Packets of Letters, shall be Collected, Received, Taken up, Ordered, Dispatched, Conveyed, Carried, Recarried, or Delivered, by Sea or Land, or on any River within Our Dominions (other than as before Excepted;) or shall presume to Keep, Provide or Maintain Horses or Furniture, for the Horsing of any Person or Persons Riding Post, (that is to say) Riding several Stages upon a Post-Road, and Changing Horses, or shall Lett to Hire, or Furnish any Person or Persons whatsoever with Horses or Furniture for Riding Post, as aforesaid, on any of the Post-Roads or Stages now or hereafter to be Appointed, with or without a Guide or Horn, for Hire or Reward, or on any Agreement or Promise of Reward, or whereby he or they may have any Profit or Advantage, on pain of Forfeiting the Sum of Five Pounds of British Money for every several Offence against the Tenor of the said Act, and also of the Sum of One hundred Pounds of like British Money for every Week that every Offender against the same Act shall Collect, Receive, Take up, Order, Dispatch, Convey, Carry, Recarry, or Deliver any Letter or Letters, Packet or Packets of Letters, by Sea or Land, or on any River within Our Dominions (other than as before excepted;) or that shall presume to Set up, Continue, or Employ any Foot-Post, Horse-Post, or Packet-Boat, or other Vessel or Boat, or any other Person or Persons, Conveyance or Conveyances whatsoever, for the Receiving, Taking up, Ordering, Dispatching, Conveying, Carrying, Recarrying, or Delivering of any Letter or Letters, Packet or Packets of Letters, by Sea or Land, or on any River within Our Dominions, as aforesaid; which said Penalties and Forfeitures are to be Sued for, and Recovered in such Courts, and to be Received and Divided in such manner, and for such Uses, as in the said Act is for that purpose mentioned, together with full Costs of Suit. But it is by the said Act Provided, That if the Postmaster doth not or cannot Furnish any Person Riding in Post, with sufficient Horses, within one Half Hour after Demand, then such Person is at Liberty to Provide himself as he can to the next Stage, and so at every Stage where he shall not be Furnished, as aforesaid; and the Person who shall Furnish such Horses shall therefore by [be] liable to any Penalty by reason thereof. And by a Proviso contained in the said Act, it is Declared, That nothing in the Exception above mentioned contained, shall be construed to extend to give any Licence or Authority to any Common known Carriers of Goods, by Carts, Waggons, or Pack-Horses, their Servants or Agents, to Receive, Collect or Deliver, with or without Hire, any Letter or Letters, Packet or Packets of Letters whatsoever, that do not concern Goods in their Carts, Waggons, or on their Pack-Horses; nor to any Owners or Drivers of Stage-Coaches; nor to any Masters, Owners or Commanders of Boats called Passage-Boats, sailing between any Part of Great Britain or Ireland, and any Parts or Places beyond the Seas, or their Servants or Agents; nor to any Passenger or Passengers on Board such Boats or Vessels; nor to the Owners or Watermen on Board of any Boat, Barge, or Vessel, Passing or Repassing on any River or Rivers, to and from any Parts of Great Britain and Ireland, North-America, or the West-Indies, or other Our Dominions or Territories, although such Drivers of Stage-Coaches, Owners, Masters or Commanders of Boats called Passage-Boats, or Passengers therein, Owners or Watermen on Board of any such Boat, Barge, or Vessel, Passing or Repassing on any such River or Rivers, as aforesaid, do not receive any Hire or Reward, or other Advantage for the same; but that all such Carriers, Owners, and Drivers of Stage-Coaches, Owners, Masters or Commanders of Passage-Boats, and the Passengers therein, and all Owners and Watermen on Board of any Boat, Barge, or Vessel, Passing or Repassing on any River or Rivers, to or from any the Parts and Places aforesaid, Collecting and Delivering Letters, as aforesaid, though without Hire or Reward, shall be Deemed and Taken, and are thereby Declared to be Persons Offending against the said Act, and to Forfeit and Pay such Sum and Sums of Money, as Persons Collecting, Receiving, Taking up, Conveying, and Delivering of Letters for Hire, or Setting up, Employing and Maintaining any Posts contrary to the said Act, or that are or shall be concerned therein, are therein, as is herein before mentioned, Enacted to Forfeit and Pay. And by another Proviso in the said Act it is Declared, That nothing in the said Act contained should extend to give Licence to any Person or Persons whatsoever, to make Collection of Letters in or near the City of London, or Suburbs thereof, under Pretence of Conveying the same to any Part or Place in the said City or Suburbs, or to the General Post-Office of the said City, without the Licence and Leave of the Postmaster General for the time being; and that any Person or Persons Acting contrary thereunto, should Forfeit and Pay as Persons Collecting, Receiving, Carrying, Recarrying, and Delivering Letters contrary to the said Act, are thereby Enacted to Forfeit and Pay, and to be Recovered, as aforesaid, with full Costs of Suit. And by the said Act it is further Enacted, That all Letters and Packets, that by any Master of any Ship or Vessel, or any of his Company, or any Passengers therein, shall or may be brought to any Post-Town, or which shall arrive or touch at any Post belonging to any Post-Town within any of Our Dominions, or any the Members thereof, or which shall be on Board any Ship or Vessel that shall or doth touch or stay at any such Post-Town, (other than such Letters as are before excepted) shall by such Master, Passengers, or other Person or Persons, be forthwith delivered to the Deputy or Deputies only of such Postmaster General for the time being, by him appointed for such Place or Post-Town, and to be by such Deputy or Deputies sent Post unto the said General Post-Office, to be delivered according to the several and respective Directions of the same, upon pain of Forfeiting the Sum of Five Pounds of British Money for every several Offence against the Tenor of the said Act, to be Recovered in manner aforesaid, with full Costs of Suit. And for the Encouragement of all such Masters of Ships or Vessels, or such other Persons, on their Arrival at such Ports, as aforesaid, from any Parts beyond the Seas, to deliver unto the Deputy or Deputies of such Postmaster General for such Place or Post-Town at which they shall so touch or arrive, all such Letters and Packets as they shall respectively have on Board such Vessel or Vessels, every such Master or other Person, for every Letter or Packet of Letters he or they shall so deliver unto such Deputy or Deputies, shall receive the Sum of One Peny of such Deputy or Deputies, he or they Signing such Certificate as in the said Act is mentioned. And We being Willing and Desirous that Our Good Subjects should have Early and Sufficient Notice of the Penalties and Forfeitures before mentioned, to the end they may avoid Incurring the same, and that the Revenue granted by the said Act may be duly answered to Us, and all Frauds in Prejudice of the same prevented, have thought fit, and do by this Our Royal Proclamation (by and with the Advice of Our Privy Council) Notifie and Declare to all Our Loving Subjects the Purport and Tenor of the said several Parts of the said Act, hereby Requiring and Commanding all Persons concerned to conform themselves to the said Act.

Given at Our Court at Kensington, the Twenty third Day of June, 1711. In the Tenth Year of Our Reign.

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN.

London, Printed by the Assigns of Thomas Newcomb, and Henry Hills, deceas'd; Printers to the Queens most Excellent Majesty. 1711.

(Price Two Pence.)

_1 p. folio. There are two issues varying in the cut of the royal arms. Copies in B. M. and P. R. O. Entered on Patent Rolls; entered in Privy Council Register, Anne, vol. 5, p. 260. Printed in "London Gazette," June 28, 1711._

FOOTNOTE:

[1] _Statutes of the Realm_, ix, 393 (9 Anne, ch. 11; ch. 10 in some editions of the Statutes).

1714, October 4.

[Concerning Passes for Ships.]

BY THE KING.

A PROCLAMATION

REQUIRING ALL SHIPS AND VESSELS, TRADING FROM THE PLANTATIONS IN THE WAY OF THE ALGERINES, TO FURNISH THEMSELVES WITH PASSES.

GEORGE R.

Whereas pursuant to Treaties Concluded between Our Predecessors, and the Government of Algier,[1] several Passes have been Granted under the Hand and Seal of the High Admirals of Great Britain, or the Commissioners for Executing that Office of Our respective Dominions: And whereas Our Commissioners for Executing the Office of High Admiral, have humbly Represented unto Us, That they have reason to apprehend, that several of the said Passes of the Old Form have been Clandestinely altered, as well in their Dates as otherwise, which may be very Prejudicial to the Trading Ships of Our Subjects: For Preventing whereof We have thought fit, by the Advice of Our Privy Council, to Publish this Our Royal Proclamation, hereby Declaring, That all such Passes of the Old Form, which have been so Issued, shall not Continue in Force longer than the Thirtieth Day of July next. And We do hereby strictly Charge and Command all Our Loving Subjects, who are or shall be possessed of any such Passes, That they do, as soon as may be, return the same into the Office of Admiralty of Great Britain, in order to their being Cancelled. And whereas, pursuant to the late Treaty with Algier, it is absolutely necessary, That all Ships and Vessels belonging to Our Loving Subjects of Great Britain and Ireland, as well as Our Foreign Governments and Plantations, which shall have occasion to Trade to Portugal, the Canaries, Guinea, the Indies, into the Mediterranean, or elsewhere, in the way of the Cruizers of the aforesaid Government of Algier, should be furnished with Passes of the New Form, by or before the said Thirtieth Day of July next, lest by their being met with by the Ships of Algier, unfurnished with such Passes, they be Brought up, and the Ships and Goods Confiscated; We do hereby strictly Charge and Require the Owners and Masters of all Ships and Vessels of Our Loving Subjects Trading, as aforesaid, to take particular Care that they do timely furnish themselves with such Passes of the New Form accordingly.

Given at Our Court at St. James's, the Fourth Day of October, 1714. In the First Year of Our Reign.

GOD SAVE THE KING.

London, Printed by John Baskett, Printer to the Kings most Excellent Majesty, And by the Assigns of Thomas Newcomb, and Henry Hills, deceas'd. 1714.