70 SURVEY UNDER OFFICE OF WORKS CHAP, in 



All these documents required to be checked and made 

 conformable to the regulations, and the operation some- 

 times took several days, even if it was not further pro- 

 longed by correspondence as to inaccuracies in the 

 charges, or in the method of stating them. But the 

 crowning vexation came after the whole accounts 

 had been examined and passed. In those days it 

 was officially required that before sending in his 

 accounts the Director should appear before a 

 magistrate, and swear to their accuracy. In a 

 country place, as may easily be imagined, this regu- 

 lation often led to great loss of time, as well as 

 additional expense. It would sometimes happen that 

 no qualified official was to be found within a distance 

 of several miles from the Director's station. And now 

 and then, when found, the worthy justice had some 

 difficulty in comprehending the nature of the unusual 

 request that was made to him. 



Ramsay chronicles a number of instances of his 

 experience of this serious infliction in country places. 

 Thus in the beginning of the October quarter of 1847, 

 while at Bishop's Castle, he records : ' Got the 

 accounts sworn to before Squire O. a jolly, gentle- 

 manly red-faced man, who did not seem clearly to 

 understand the difference between an affidavit and an 

 oath. Accordingly, as the surest method, he made me 

 kiss the book.' On another occasion, while stationed 

 at Llanberis in 1849, he had the experience recorded 

 in the following entry : ' Having received the amended 

 accounts, started for Mr. Hughes' of St. Ann's, the 

 magistrate, ten miles off or so. He was away at 

 Llanfairfechan. No help for it but to walk to Bangor. 

 Every magistrate in the town was away to Llanfair- 

 fechan, for it seems they are one and all parsons, the 



