STATUTES, PROCLAMATIONS, RULES, ORDERS, ETC. 891 



September one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four, all goods 

 which shall be found concealed in any place whatsoever on board any 

 such ship or vessel, at any time after the Master thereof shall have 

 made his report to the Collector or other proper officer of the Customs, 

 and which shall not be comprised or mentioned in the said Report, 

 shall be forfeited and lost, and shall and may be seized and prosecuted 

 by any officer of the Customs ; and the Master or other person having 

 the charge or command of such ship or vessel (in case it can be made 

 appear, that he was any wise consenting or privy to such fraud or 

 concealment) shall forfeit treble the value of the goods so found. 



XXXVII. And it is hereby further enacted by the authority 

 aforesaid, That from and after the twenty-ninth day of September 

 one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four, if any goods or merchan- 

 dizes whatsoever, liable to the payment of duties in any British 

 Colony or Plantation in America by this or any other Act of Parlia- 

 ment, shall be loaden on board any ship or vessel outward bound, or 

 shall be unshipped or landed from any ship or vessel inward bound, 

 before the respective duties due thereon are paid, agreeable to law; 

 or if any prohibited goods whatsoever shall be imported into, or ex- 

 ported out of, any of the said Colonies or plantations, contrary to the 

 true intent and meaning of this or any other Act of Parliament; 

 every person who shall be assisting, or otherwise concerned, either in 

 the loading outwards, or in the unshipping or landing inwards, such 

 goods, or to whose hands the same shall knowingly come after the 

 loading or unshipping thereof, shall, for each and every offence, 

 forfeit treble the value of such goods, to be estimated and computed 

 according to the best price that each respective commodity bears at 

 the place where such offence was committed ; and all the boats, horses, 

 cattle, and other carriages whatsoever, made use of in the loading, 

 landing, removing, carriage, or conveyance of any of the aforesaid 

 goods, shall also be forfeited and lost, and shall and may be seized 

 and prosecuted, by any officer of His Majesty's Customs, as herein 

 after mentioned. 



XXXVIII. And it is hereby further enacted by the authority 

 aforesaid, That from and after the twenty-ninth day of September 

 one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four, if any officer of His 

 Majesty's Customs shall, directly or indirectly, take or receive any 

 bribe, recompense, or reward, in any kind whatsoever; or connive at 

 any false entry, or make any collusive seizure or agreement; or do 

 any other act or deed whatsoever by which His Majesty, his heirs or 

 successors, shall or may be defrauded in his or their duties, or whereby 

 any goods prohibited shall be suffered to pass either inwards or out- 

 wards, or whereby the forfeitures and penalties inflicted by this or 

 any other Act of Parliament relating to His Majesty's Customs in 

 America may be evaded; every such officer therein offending shall, 

 for each and every offence, forfeit the sum of five hundred pounds, 

 and be rendered incapable of serving His Majesty in any office or 

 employment civil or military: And if any person or persons what- 

 soever shall give, offer, or promise to give, any bribe, recompense, or 

 reward, to any officer of the Customs, to do, conceal^ or connive at, 

 any Act, whereby any of the provisions made by this or any other 



Act of Parliament relating to His Majesty's Customs in Amer- 

 533 ica may be evaded or broken, every such person or person shall, 



