signed by the collector, or impost officer, or other proper officer or officers of the custom or excise belonging to such port or place respectively, all such goods as shall be so landed or put on shore, or the value of the same, shall be forfeited, and all and every such goods as shall be so landed or put on shore, contrary to the true intent and meaning of this act, shall and may be seized by the governor or commander in chief, for the time being, of the colonies or plantations where the same shall be so landed or put on shore, or any person or persons by them authorized in that behalf, or by warrant of any justice of the peace or other magistrate (which warrant such justice or magistrate is hereby impowered and required to give upon request) or by any customhouse officer, impost or excise officer, or any person or persons him or them accompanying, aiding and assisting; and all and every such offence and forfeitures shall and may be prosecuted for and recovered in any court of admiralty in his Majesty's colonies or plantations in America (which court of admiralty is hereby authorized, impowered and required to proceed to hear and finally determine the same) or in any court of record in the said colonies or plantations where such offence is committed, at the election of the informer or prosecutor, according to the course and method used and practised there in prosecutions for offences against penal laws relating to customs or excise; and such penalties and forfeitures so recovered there, shall be divided as follows; viz. one third part thereof for the use of his Majesty, his heirs and successors, to be applied for the support of the government of the colony or plantation where the same shall be recovered, one third part to the governor or commander in chief of the said colony or plantation, and the other third part to the informer or prosecutor who shall sue for the same.

IX. And it is hereby further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That in case any sugar or paneles of the growth, produce or manufacture of any of the colonies or plantations belonging to or in the possession of his Majesty, his heirs or successors, which

shall have been imported into Great Britain after the twentyfourth day of June one thousand seven hundred and thirty-three, shall at any time within one year after the importation thereof, be again exported out of Great Britain, and that due proof be first made, by certificate from the proper officers, of the due entry and payment of the subsidies or duties charged or payable upon the importation thereof, together with the oath of the merchant or his agent importing and exporting the same, or in case such merchant or agent shall be one of the people called Quakers, by his solemn affirmation to the truth thereof, and that all other requisites shall be performed that are by law to be performer in cases where any of the said subsidies or duties are to be paid by any former statute, all the residue and remainder of the subsidy or duty, by any former act or acts of parliament granted and charged on such sugar or paneles as aforesaid, shall without any delay or reward be repaid to such merchant or merchants, who do export the same, within one month after demand thereof.

X. And it is hereby further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That from and after the twenty-fourth day of June one thousand seven hundred and thirty-three, for every hundred weight of sugar refined in Great Britain, and so in proportion for a greater or lesser quantity, which shall be exported out of this kingdom, there shall be, by virtue of this act, repaid at the custom-house to the exporter, within one month after the demand thereof, over and above the several sums of three shillings and one shilling per hundred, payable by two former acts of parliament, one of them made in the ninth and tenth years of the reign of his late majesty King William the Third, and the other in the second and third years of the reign of her late majesty Queen Anne, the further sum of two shillings, oath or solemn affirmation as aforesaid, being first made by the refiner, that the said sugar so exported, was produced from brown and muscovado sugar, and that as he verily believes, the same was imported from some of the colonies or plantations in America belonging to and in the possession of the crown of Great Britain, and that

as he verily believes, the duty of the said brown and muscovado sugar was duly paid at the time of the importation thereof, and that the same was duly exported, his Majesty's searcher also certifying the shipping thereof, and all other requisites being duly performed, according to the book or rates.

XI. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all suits and prosecutions for any offence against this act shall be brought and commenced within two years after such offence committed.

XII. And for the better and more effectual carrying this act into execution, be it further enacted, That the expence of prosecuting any offence against this act shall be paid and born, in the first place, out of the shares and parts of the penalties and forfeitures hereby given and granted to his Majesty, his heirs and successors, upon any seizure, condemnation and judgment to be had and obtained for or by reason of any fraud or misbehaviour against the true intent or meaning of this act.

XIII. Provided nevertheless, That nothing herein contained shall extend or be construed to extend to hinder or restrain the importation of any sugars, being of the growth or produce of any of the dominions belonging to the King of Spain, or the King of Portugal, from any part or place from whence such sugars might lawfully have been imported before the making of this act; any thing herein before contained to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding.

XIV. And it is hereby declared and enacted, That this present act shall be taken to be a publick act, of which all judges and justices shall take notice, without specially pleading the same; and the same shall continue and be in force for the space of five years, to be computed from the twenty-fourth day of June one thousand seven hundred and thirty-three, and to the end of the then next session of parliament.

10. An act to encourage the importation of pig and bar iron from his Majesty's colonies in America;

and to prevent the erection of any mill or other engine for slitting or rolling of iron; or any plateing forge to work with a tilt hammer; or any furnace for making steel in any of the said colonies1

1750

WHEREAS the importation of bar iron from his Majesty's colonies in America, into the port of London, and the importation of pig iron from the said colonies, into any port of Great Britain, and the manufacture of such bar and pig iron in Great Britain, will be a great advantage not only to the said colonies, but also to this kingdom, by furnishing the manufacturers of iron with a supply of that useful and necessary commodity, and by means thereof large sums of money, now annually paid for iron to foreigners, will be saved to this kingdom, and a greater quantity of the woollen, and other manufactures of Great Britain, will be exported to America, in exchange for such iron so imported; but it therefore 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 twenty fourth day of June, one thousand seven hundred and fifty, the several and respective subsidies, customs, impositions, rates, and duties, now payable on pig iron, made in and imported from his Majesty's colonies in America, into any port of Great Britain, shall cease, determine, and be no longer paid; and that from and after the said twenty fourth day of June, no subsidy, custom, imposition, rate, or duty whatsoever, shall be payable upon bar iron made in and imported from the said colonies into the port of London; any law, statute, or usage to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding.

1 Pickering, Statutes at Large, vol. 20, pp. 97–102.

IX. And, that pig and bar iron made in his Majesty's colonies in America may be further manufactured in this kingdom, be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That from and after the twenty fourth day of June, one thousand seven hundred and fifty, no mill or other engine for slitting or rolling of iron, or any plateing-forge to work with a tilt hammer, or any furnace for making steel, shall be erected, or after such erection, continued, in any of his Majesty's colonies in America; and if any person or persons shall erect, or cause to be erected, or after such erection, continue, or cause to be continued, in any of the said colonies, any such mill, engine, forge, or furnace, every person or persons so offending, shall, for every such mill, engine, forge, or furnace, forfeit the sum of two hundred pounds of lawful money of Great Britain.

X. And it is hereby further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That every such mill, engine, forge, or furnace, so erected or continued, contrary to the directions of this act, shall be deemed a common nuisance; and that every governor, lieutenant governor, or commander in chief of any of his Majesty's colonies in America, where any such mill, engine, forge, or furnace, shall be erected or continued, shall, upon information to him made and given, upon the oath of any two or more credible witnesses, that any such mill, engine, forge, or furnace, hath been so erected or continued (which oath such governor, lieutenant governor, or commander in chief, is hereby authorized and required to administer) order and cause every such mill, engine, forge, or furnace, to be abated within the space of thirty days next after such information given and made as aforesaid; and if any governor, lieutenant governor, or commander in chief, shall neglect or refuse so to do, within the time herein before limited for that purpose, every such governor, lieutenant governor, or commander in chief, so offending, shall, for every such offence, forfeit the sum of five hundred pounds of lawful money of Great Britain, and shall from thenceforth be disabled to hold or enjoy any office of trust or profit under his Majesty, his heirs or successors.