Customs, etc. Act 1769
(9 Geo 3 c.35)

An Act for discontinuing, upon the Exportation of Iron imported in Foreign Ships, the Drawback of such Part of the Duties payable thereon as exceeds the Duties payable upon Iron imported in British Ships; to prohibit the Exportation of Pig and Bar Iron, and certain Naval Stores, unless the Pre-emption thereof be offered to the Commissioners of the Navy; to repeal so much of an Act made in the Sixth Year of His present Majesty's Reign, as discontinued the Drawback upon Foreign Rough Hemp exported; for providing a Compensation to the Clerks in the Offices of the Principal Secretaries of State, for the Advantages such Clerks enjoyed before the Commencement of an Act, made in the Fourth Year of the Reign of His present Majesty, for preventing Frauds and Abuses in relation to the sending and receiving Letters and Packets free from the Duty of Postage; and to explain and amend the said Act.

'WHEREAS the Duties payable upon Iron imported into Great Britain in Foreign built Ships navigated by Foreigners, exceed the Duties that are payable for such Iron when imparted in British built Vessels navigated by British Subjects; but the Whole of such additional Duty paid by the Importers of Iron in Foreign built Ships being drawn back and repaid upon the Exportation thereof, is an Encouragement to the Importation of Iron in Foreign built Ships navigated by Foreigners, and may tend to the Prejudice of the Trade and Navigation of this Kingdom: For Remedy whereof, 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 from and after the first Day of June, One thousand seven hundred and sixty-nine, such Part of the Duties which have been or shall be paid upon Iron imported in Foreign built Ships navigated by Foreigners, as exceeds the Duties which would have been payable upon such Iron, if the same had been imported in British built Ships navigated by British Subjects, shall not be drawn back or repaid upon the Exportation of such Iron from this Kingdom; any Law, Custom, or Usage, to the contrary notwithstanding.

II. 'And whereas by several Acts of Parliament, Pig and Bar Iron made in His Majesty's Colonies in America, may be imported directly from thence, under certain Restrictions, into any Port of Great Britain, Duty-free; and for the better Supply of His Majesty's Royal Navy with Naval Stores, various Bounties or Premiums are allowed upon the Importation of Masts, Yards, Bowsprights, Tar, Pitch, Turpentine, Hemp, and Rough and Undressed Flax, into this Kingdom: And whereas, the good Purposes intended by those Acts are in some Measure defeated by the Re-exportation of such Goods into Foreign Parts; and it is proper that further Provision should be made for the Supply of Naval Stores for the Publick Use:' Be it therefore enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That from and after the First Day of June, One thousand seven hundred and sixty-nine, the Pre-emption or Refusal of all Pig and Bar Iron, Masts, Yards, Bowsprights, Tar, Pitch, Turpentine, Hemp, Rough and Undressed Flax, and Tow, shall be offered and tendered to the Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy, Eight Days before any such Goods shall be exported, or entered for Exportation, by way of Merchandize, to Foreign Parts from the Port of London, and Twenty Days before any such Goods shall be exported, or entered for Exportation, by way of Merchandize, to Foreign Parts from any other Port or Place in this Kingdom; and if, within the said Times respectively after such Tender, the said Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy shall not contract or bargain for the same, the said Commissioners, or any Three or more of them, shall give a Certificate of such Tender and Refusal under their Hands (without Fee or Reward) to the Owner or Owners of such Goods; and upon his or their producing and delivering up such Certificate to the Collector and Comptroller or other Principal Officer of the Customs, at any Port of this Kingdom, it shall and may be lawful for such Owner or Owners of such Goods to export the same from thence, in the same Manner, and under the same Rules and Regulations, as they might have been lawfully exported if this Act had not been made.

III. And it is hereby further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That if any Pig or Bar Iron, Masts, Yards, Bowsprights, Tar, Pitch, Turpentine, Hemp, Rough and Undressed Flax, or Tow, shall, from and after the said First Day of June, One thousand seven hundred and sixty-nine, be exported from this Kingdom to Foreign Parts, or entered outwards, or laden on Board any Ship, Vessel, or Boat, in order to be exported, or shall be put on Board any Boat or Vessel, in order to be shipt for Exportation by way of Merchandize, without being first tendered to the Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy, as before directed; or before their Certificate of such Tender and Refusal shall be produced and delivered up to the proper Officers of the Customs at the Port of Exportation, such Goods shall be forfeited and lost, and shall and may be seized by any Officer of His Majesty's Customs; and if the said Goods shall be exported before any Discovery thereof, so that they cannot be seized, in such Case the Owner or Exporter of such Goods shall forfeit the Value thereof, to be estimated and computed according to the best Price that each Article then bears at London; which Penalties and Forfeitures shall and may be sued for, prosecuted, recovered, and divided, in the same Manner and Form, and by the same Rules and Regulations as other Penalties and Forfeitures inflicted by the Laws relative to the Revenue of Customs may be sued for, prosecuted, recovered, and divided.

IV. 'And whereas by an Act made in the Sixth Year of the Reign of His present Majesty, intitled, An Act for allowing a Bounty on the Exportation of British made Cordage; and for discontinuing; the Drawback upon Foreign Rough Hemp exported; it is, amongst other Things, enacted, That the Drawback, which by any Act or Acts of Parliament is allowed and made payable upon the Exportation of Foreign Rough Hemp from this Kingdom, shall cease, determine, and be no longer paid or payable: And whereas the allowing the said Drawback, under certain Restrictions, may encourage the Importation of Foreign Rough Hemp into this Kingdom, for the better Supply of His Majesty's Royal Navy therewith:' Be it therefore enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That from and after the First Day of June, One thousand seven hundred and sixty-nine, the said Clause in the before recited Act of the Sixth Year of His Majesty's Reign, discontinuing the said Drawback upon the Exportation of Foreign Rough Hemp from this Kingdom, shall be, and the same is hereby declared to be, repealed.

V. 'And whereas by an Act made in the Fourth Year of His present Majesty's Reign, for preventing Frauds and Abuses in relation to the sending and receiving of Letters and Packets free from the Duty of Postage; the Clerks in the Offices of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State are deprived of the Privileges of sending and receiving their Letters free from the Duty of Postage, which had been uninterruptedly enjoyed ever since the Establishment of the Post Office; and that the Privilege of Franking News Papers, reserved to them by the said Act, is by the Regulations therein contained rendered of very little Advantage to them, and is likely soon to be intirely lost, by reason of the great Expence they are put to for Post Letters, and from the Methods by which News Papers are now dispersed into the Country: As a Recompence therefore for the Loss of such Privileges, and as a Compensation for the Advantages theretofore arising therefrom;' be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That there shall be and is hereby charged upon the Revenues arising in the General Letter Office or Post Office or Office of Post Master General, the Sum of one thousand five hundred Pounds per Annum, which shall be payable thereout to His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State for the Time being, in equal Proportions, to be distributed by such respective Secretaries of State among the Clerks in their Offices; which said annual Sum shall be made in Quarterly Payments, to be computed from the Twenty-fifth Day of March, One thousand seven hundred and sixty-nine; and that the Paymaster or Receiver of the Revenues of the General Letter Office or Post Office, or Office of Post Master General for the Time being, shall, upon any Warrant or Warrants under His Majesty's Royal Sign Manual countersigned by any Three or more of the Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, or by the Lord High Treasurer for the Time being, make such Quarterly Payments to such Person or Persons as shall be appointed by such Secretaries of State for the Time being to receive their respective Proportions of the said annual Sum; such Person or Persons producing and delivering to such Paymaster or Receiver a Receipt or Receipts under the Hands of such Secretaries of State; and which Receipt or Receipts shall be a full Acquittance and Discharge to such Paymaster or Receiver for the Payment of the Sum or Sums mentioned therein.

VI. 'And whereas by an Act made in the Fourth Year of His present Majesty's Reign, intituled, An Act for preventing Frauds and Abuses in relation to the sending and receiving of Letters and Packets free from the Duty of Postage, it is provided, that nothing therein contained should extend to charge with the Duty of Postage any printed Votes or Proceedings in Parliament, or printed News Papers, being sent without Covers, or in Covers open at the Sides, which should be signed on the Outside thereof by the Hand of any Member of Parliament, in such Manner as had been theretofore practised, or which should be directed to any Member of Parliament, at any Place whereof he should have given Notice in Writing to the Post-master General, or to his Deputy at Edinburgh or Dublin respectively; but that all such Votes, Proceedings, and News Papers, so sent and signed, or directed as aforesaid, should be received free of the Duty of Postage: And whereas Doubts have arisen with respect to the Duration of the Time allowed by the said Act for the Conveyance of such Votes, Proceedings, and News Papers free from the Duties of Postage;' be it therefore declared and enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That it is the true Intent and Meaning of the said Act that such Votes, Proceedings, and News Papers, so sent and directed as aforesaid, should be conveyed free from the Duty of Postage during such Times only as are allowed and limited in the preceeding Part of the said Act for the Conveyance, free of Postage, of Letters and Packets not exceeding the Weight of Two Ounces, sent from or to any Member of either of the Two Houses of Parliament in Great Britain or Ireland respectively in such Manner as in the said Act is particularly expressed; that is to say, During the Sitting of any Session of Parliament, or within Forty Days before or Forty Days after any Summons or Prorogation thereof.

VII. 'And whereas by a Clause in an Act of the Fifth Year of His present Majesty, intituled An Act to alter certain Rates of Postage, and to amend, explain, and enlarge, several Provisions in an Act made in the Ninth Year of the Reign of Queen Anne, and in other Acts relating to the Revenue of the Post Office, the Clerk of the Parliaments and the Clerk of the House of Commons are impowered to send and receive Letters free of Postage: And whereas the Privilege of sending and receiving Letters and Packets free from the Duty of Postage is not by the said Act extended to the Clerk Assistant, and the Reading Clerk of the House of Peers, and the Clerk Assistant of the House of Commons of Great Britain, and the Chief Clerk without Doors (who receives the Fees and pays them to the Officers of the said House respectively for the Time being; who by Virtue of their respective Offices and Employments necessarily send and receive many Letters relating to the Publick Concerns of there Kingdoms;' be it therefore enacted by the Authority aforesaid; That from and after the passing of this Act, the said Clerk Assistant and the said Reading Clerk of the House of Peers, and also the said Clerk Assistant and the said Chief Clerk without Doors of the House of Commons of Great Britain for the Time being, shall and may respectively send and receive Letters free from the Duty of Postage, in the same Manner and under such Restrictions as any Member of either of the Two Houses of Parliament of Great Britain now send and receive the same, in pursuance of an Act made in the Fourth Year of the Reign of His present Majesty, intituled, 'An Act for preventing Frauds and Abuses in relation to the sending and receiving of 'Letters and Packets free from the Duty of Postage.'