f 96. But if he shall not bring the said stamp-office tickets at 95 G. 3. c. 51. the times and places aforesaid, he shall, upon demand at the turn- Penalty for nepike-gate, deliver the same to the collector appointed by the glect of duty. commissioners; on pain of 5s. for every ticket he shall refuse to deliver up. § 37. If he shall wilfully neglect to ask and demand or refuse to receive any ticket hereby directed to be delivered to him, or to file the same; he shall for every offence forfeit 5l. § 38. And if he shall fraudulently accept less than he is authorised to demand and receive, he shall in like manner forfeit 20s. § 39. And whereas there are many public roads on which there Commissioners are no turnpikes, so that such tickets as aforesaid cannot be re- may erect gates. ceived and filed, as directed by this act, it is enacted that the commissioners may erect bars and gates across any public road for the receipt of such tickets, and place persons thereat, who shall have the same power, and shall be liable to the same penalties, as turnpike men. § 54. The receiver general at the head office, and the collectors Reward to perappointed elsewhere, shall make an allowance of 3d. a pound to sons licensed. the several persons licensed to let horses for hire, by the mile, stage, or day, for all money by them paid in respect of the duties on horses so hired as aforesaid, and they may deduct the same in their account accordingly. 41. Nothing in this act shall extend to any horses used in Hackney licensed hackney coaches, employed to go to no greater distance coaches exthan ten miles from London or Westminster and the suburbs empted. thereof. ₫ 55. If any person shall falsely make, forge, or counterfeit any Forging tickets. ticket or certificate, or cause, &c. &c., or utter any forged or counterfeited ticket, note, or certificate as true with intent to defraud his majesty of the duties: he shall forfeit 50l. 56. 58. All pecuniary penalties on this act shall be distributed Penalties. (if sued for within six calendar months) half to the king and half (with full costs) to him who shall inform and sue: If not sued for within six months, they shall belong to the king. § 57. And such of the said pecuniary penalties, which shall amount to 50l. or more, shall be sued for in the courts at Westminster. § 59. If under 50l. they may be recovered before one justice residing near to the place where the offence was committed; who shall, upon any information exhibited or complaint made, summon the party accused, and also the witnesses on either side, and, on due proof made, either by confession or oath of one witness, may give judgment therein, and issue his warrant to distrain the offender's goods, and cause sale thereof, if not redeemed in six days, and if sufficient distress cannot be found, the justice shall commit him to prison for six months, unless the penalty shall be sooner paid. § 60. If any person shall be summoned as a witness to give evi- Witnesses not dence before such justice, either on the part of the prosecutor appearing. or of the person accused, and shall neglect or refuse to appear, without a reasonable excuse to be allowed by such justice, or appearing shall refuse to be examined upon oath, he shall forfeit 40s. to be levied and paid as the other penalties herein-before directed. 25 G 3. c. 51. Penalties may be mitigated. Conviction. Appeal. 27 G. 3. c. 26. Duties granted by 25 G. 3. may be let to farm. Districts to be fixed. ₫63. And the justice, if he see cause, may mitigate the penalty, reasonable costs and charges of the officers and informers being allowed over and above the mitigation, and so as it do not reduce the penalty to less than one-half, over and above the said costs and charges. § 62. The conviction may be in the form or to the effect following, mutatis mutandis : BE it remembered, that on the day of at day of - in the in the county of A. I. came before me I. P. esquire, one of his majesty's justices of the peace for the said county, residing near the place where the offence was committed, and informed me, that A. O. of on the now last past, at in the said county, did [here set forth the fact for which the information is laid]; whereupon the said A. O. after being duly summoned to answer the said charge, appeared before me on the in the said county, and having heard the charge contained in the said information, declared he was not guilty of the said offence, [or as the case may happen to be.] day of at [Or, did not appear before me pursuant to the said summons, or, did neglect and refuse to make any defence against the said charge:} But the same being fully proved upon the oath of A. W. a credible witness, [or, as the case may happen to be,] acknowledged and voluntarily confessed the same to be true; and it manifestly appearing to me that he the said A. O. is guilty of the offence charged upon him in the said information, I do therefore hereby convict him of the offence aforesaid, and do declare and adjudge, that he the said A. O. hath forfeited the sum ofof lawful money of Great Britain, for the offence aforesaid, to be distributed as the law directs, according to the form of the statute in that case made and provided. Given under my hand and seal, the -day of § 59. If any person shall find himself aggrieved by the determination of the justice, he may (on giving security to the amount of the value of the penalty, together with such costs as shall be awarded in case the judgment shall be affirmed,) appeal to the next sessions; who may summon and examine witnesses upon oath, and finally determine the same; and if the judgment shall be affirmed, they may award him to pay costs, as to them shall seem meet. Provided, that if the next sessions shall fall within six days after such conviction, the person convicted, if he think fit, giving such security as aforesaid, may appeal to the next subsequent sessions. IV, Farming the Post-horse and Stage-carriage Duty. By the 27 Geo. 3. c. 26, § 1. The commissioners of the treasury, or commissioners of the stamp duties, being authorised by them, may let to farm the duties granted by 25 Geo. 3. c. 51. upon horses travelling post, and by time, and on stage coaches. § 2. 3. And may fix such districts as shall appear most convenient for farming out the said duties, and shall give one month's notice in the Gazette of the time and place of letting the same, 27 G. 3. c. 26. specifying the districts, and the sum at which it is proposed to put up the said duties, and also the office into which proposals are to be delivered. § 4. But no proposals shall be proceeded upon, unless delivered Proposals to be three days previous to the day so appointed, signed with the name delivered three of the party, and stating his place of abode, and for what district days before the letting. he intends to bid. § 5. And the said duties shall be let for any term not exceeding Mode of letting. three years, and shall be put up at a rent not less than the gross amount which they have produced within the year ending August 1st, 1786; [by 42 Geo. 3. c. 52. § 1. 1787;] and the highest bidder shall be the farmer thereof for the said term of three years, or for such shorter term as may be determined on, and as shall be inserted in the Gazette, and shall execute a contract, and give bond to his majesty with three sureties for payment of the rent in manner agreed on. And by 42 Geo. 3. c. 52. § 2. the above duties may be further let to farm till the 1st February, 1806. By the 48 Geo. 3. c. 98. reciting that by the 27 Geo. 3. c. 26. the 48 G. 3. c. 98. duties imposed by 25 Geo. 3. c. 51. schedule (B.) on horses, were let to hire, and that by the 44 Geo. 3. c. 98. those duties were repealed, and new duties granted by schedule (A. & B.) of that act, which by virtue of the 45 Geo. 3. c. 96. were let to farm till 1st February, 1809, it is enacted that the commissioners for the stamp duties may let to farm till 1st February, 1812, the said duties imposed by the 44 Geo. 3. c. 98. And by § 2. of the first mentioned act the powers of 27 Geo. 3. c. 26. are extended to this act. But by 27 Geo. 3. c. 26. § 6. in every such contract, there shall be 27 G. 3. c. 26. a clause that the same shall be void, on any resolution made by the house of commons for that purpose, upon six months' notice given to the person contracting. If the duties are not let at the time fixed. § 7. If any district shall not be let at the time fixed by such advertisement, the said commissioners may fix such future day as they shall think proper for letting such district, in the manner and upon the notice aforesaid, § 8. And upon any contract being entered into and bond given Deputations to as aforesaid, the commissioners shall appoint the person con- be given to contracting to be collector of the said duties, and shall authorise him to take bonds from the persons licensed in the name of his majesty; and to execute all things touching the collecting, managing, and accounting for the said duties, as fully as the collectors or other persons appointed under the aforesaid act are authorised to do. tractors. the accounts. § 9. Persons farming the said duties, with the consent of the Contractors said commissioners, may vary the mode of keeping the weekly may vary the account, directed by the aforesaid act to be kept by persons letting form of keeping out horses to hire for travelling post, or by time, as they shall judge convenient; and shall be at liberty by any indorsement, or on the face of the ticket or certificate to be delivered by them to the licensed persons, to add the name or number of the district they farm. And if any person shall forge or counterfeit the said tickets, or be aiding or assisting therein, or uttering as true any false, forged, or counterfeited ticket or certificate, with intent to defraud such farmer, he shall forfeit 50%, to be in force in the execution of this act. 27.G. 3. &. 26. 10. All the powers, provisions, penalties, directions, matters, Powers granted and things prescribed and appointed by the said act of 25 Geo. 3. by 25 G.3. c.51. c. 51. with respect to the said duties, or to the persons appointed to collect the same, and not hereby altered, shall be in full force and effect, and may be carried into execution by the persons farming the said duties, as fully as if the same had been re-enacted in these acts; and such farmers shall have the like remedies for the recovery of the said duties within their respective districts, as the collectors appointed by the said commissioners now have. See also 42 Geo. 3. c. 52. § 5. Bonds to be taken in the name of the king. Duties to be long to the dis trict from whence the tickets are issued. Licensed persons to deliver their accounts to the contractors. § 11. 12. And all bonds from such licensed persons shall be taken in the name of the king, and may be sued for in the name of the attorney-general, or other person, in manner as in the aforesaid act directed. Provided that all suits prosecuted in the name of any such farmer shall be deemed popular actions to all intents and purposes whatsoever; and the said farmers shall have the same remedies for recovering the said duties, as for duties payable to his majesty. The 42 Geo. 3. c. 53. § 3. re-enacted by 48 Geo. 3. c. 98. § 3. provides that the said commissioners of stamps may prescribe the time for making any deposit on account of the rent to be paid by such farmers, and the sums to be so deposited; and if any such farmer shall fail to make such deposit within the time prescribed, or shall fail to enter into security for the due performance of such contract as directed by the above act, such commissioners may declare such contract void; and cause the duties let to farm thereby to be again put up to be let to farm in like manner as herein-before directed, and so from time to time as often as such default shall be made. And by 27 Geo. 3. c. 26. §13. to prevent disputes where the duties may be collected in one district and the tickets delivered in another, the said duties shall belong, and the tickets issued thereupon, shall be returned and accounted for, to the person who shall be the farmer within the district where such tickets shall have issued, and where such licensed person issuing the same shall reside. And the gate-keepers at whose gates such tickets shall be delivered shall return the same to the farmer from whose district such ticket shall have issued at the time, and in the manner, as the same are directed to be returned to the collectors, by the aforesaid act. 14. Every licensed person residing in London or Westminster, or within five miles of the head office or within the bills, shall deliver to such farmers, the accounts directed by the aforesaid act to be delivered, and shall pay in such place in London or Westminster, and at such times as shall be appointed by public notice in the Gazette: And every licensed person elsewhere shall, at the times and places to be mentioned at the foot of his license, and afterwards at the foot of every receipt given by the collector for the money paid on account of the said duties, attend and there deliver in and pass his accounts, and pay the duty received by him to the person so appointed collector thereof, under the penalty in the aforesaid act directed. But such licensed person shall not be compelled to travel for the payment of the said duties farther than the nearest market town. 15. Persons farming the said duties shall not thereby be dis- 27 G. 3. c. 26. qualified from voting for members of parliament. Contractors § 16. Provided always, that no contract for farming the said du- may vote at ties shall be made with any licensed person, nor with any one for his elections. use, or so as he shall have any interest therein, or benefit therefrom, Licensed perbut the same shall be void; or if any such contract shall be as- sons not to be signed to any person as aforesaid, or to any other person for his farmers of the use, so as he shall have any interest therein, or benefit therefrom, such assignment shall be void. duties. By stat. 57 Geo. 3. c. 59. after reciting that by stat. 27 Geo. 3. 57 G. 3. c. 59. c. 26. the commissioners of the treasury were empowered to let to farm the several duties on horses let to hire therein particularly set forth and mentioned to have been granted by stat. 25 Geo. 3. c. 51. for any term not exceeding three years, under certain regulations and restrictions contained in the said act of the 27 Geo. 3. c. 26.; and that by stat. 44 Geo. 3. c. 98. the se- 44 G. 3. c. 98. veral duties granted by the said act of the 25 Geo. 3. c. 51. on horses let to hire as therein mentioned, and extended in certain cases by stat. 42 Geo. 3. c. 100. for enlarging the time for which 42 G.3. e. 100. horses might be let to hire without being subject to any annual duty, and other purposes, were repealed; and in lieu thereof it was enacted, that after the 10th of October, 1804, there should be raised, levied, collected, and paid unto his majesty, the several duties following; (that is to say), for and in respect of every horse, mare, or gelding hired by the mile or stage, to be used in travelling in G. B. the sum of 1d. for every mile such horse, mare, or gelding should be hired to travel; and for and in respect of every horse, mare, or gelding, hired for a less period of time than 28 successive days, for drawing on any public road any coach or other carriage used in travelling post or otherwise, if the distance at the time of hiring should be ascertained, the sum of 1d. for every mile such horse, mare, or gelding should be hired to travel; and for and in respect of every horse, mare, or gelding so hired in any case where the distance should not at the time of hiring be ascertained, the sum of 1s. 9d. for each day for which such horse, mare, or gelding should be so hired, with an exception of horses, mares, and geldings used in licensed hackney coaches, where the same should be employed to go no greater distance than ten miles from the city of London or Westminster, or the suburbs thereof: which said several duties are now secured, and collected under the provisions and regulations of the said acts of the 25 & 42 Geo. 3. relating to the said duties so repealed, and by the provisions of stats. 48 Geo. 3. c. 98., 51 Geo. 3. c. 76., and 54 Geo. 3. c. 174.; and that the said duties granted by the said act of the 44 Geo. 3, c. 98. in respect of horses, mares, and geldings hired in the manner aforesaid, are now let to farm under the authority of the said act of 54 Geo. 3. for a term of years which will expire on the 31st January, 1818; and that it is expedient that the said duties should be let to farm for a further term, and that other provisions should be made for better securing and facilitating the recovery of the said duties, in lieu of those contained in the said acts of The commisthe 42. 48. 51. & 54 Geo. 3.; it is enacted, that it shall be lawful sioners of the for the commissioners of his majesty's treasury of the U. K. of treasury may let Great Britain and Ireland, or any three or more of them, and duties on horses, they are hereby empowered, from time to time, either by them- &c. granted by to farm the 44 G. 3. c. 98. |