284 APPENDIX TO BRITISH COUNTER CASE. 



in the nearest port, within any British colony or plantation, on or 

 before the said 29th day of September, 1764." Upon which the mer- 

 chants became dissatisfied, and threatened an abolition of the office 

 almost as soon as it was established, and for which purpose frequent 

 applications were made to the different Governors for the time being 

 to assist them ; to obviate which the Collector anJ Comptroller repre- 

 sented their situation to the American Commissioners of Customs, 

 under whose direction they were at that time, and received orders 

 from them to persist in their demand, and by whom they were offi- 

 cially furnished with the aforesaid Act, the perusal of which removed 

 every difficulty that had arisen in the mind of Commodore Byron, 

 then Governor of Newfoundland, and he supported the Officers ac- 

 cordingly; but notwithstanding these authorities, a certain number 

 of merchants entered into a combination not to pay any fees what- 

 ever. About this time the illegal practices in Newfoundland in- 

 creased, and the Officers made several seizures which so enraged the 

 trade, that in February 1772 they presented a memorial to the 



right honourable the Lords ef the Treasury, complaining of the 

 172 fees, which being referred to the Officers for their report, the 



Collector obtained leave to come to England to reply to the 

 allegations therein ; and after a full hearing, in May 1773, their Lord- 

 ships dismissed the complaint ; but on the Collector's return to New- 

 foundland, the trade obstinately refused payment of fees, and the 

 Governor for the time being, having doubts if he was authorized to 

 compel the payment of them, the Collector was obliged to make 

 another voyage to England. About this time the Act of the loth of 

 His present Majesty was passed, and the Collector called upon to give 

 information upon the subject. In the course of this business, it was 

 represented a hardship that fishing vessels, commonly called Bankers, 

 and fitted out with green men, &c. in terms of the said Act of the 

 15th, should pay the same fees as those ships and vessels which carried 

 merchandize and cocketable goods ; and government, willing to grat- 

 ify them in any request that appeared reasonable, complied in part 

 with their desire, taking from the Officers, on that description of 

 vessels actually employed in catching the Fish and carrying no cock- 

 etable goods whatever, all their fees, except 2s. Qd. to be paid on the 

 first and last report, for these vessels make many trips in a season 

 from the banks into port and return again ; and as this description of 

 vessels were numerous, the Collector was allowed an extra salary as 

 a compensation for his losses thereon. The intention and meaning 

 of this Act, I trust, will appear by the 7th and 8th sections, which 

 recite, "And it is hereby further enacted by the authority aforesaid, 

 that from and after the first day of January one thousand seven hun- 

 dred and seventy-six, all vessels fitted and cleared out as fishing ships, 

 in pursuance of this Act, or of the before-mentioned Act, made in ''the 

 tenth and eleventh years of the reign of the late king William the 

 Third, and which shall be actually employed in the Fishery there, or 

 any boat or craft whatsoever employed in carrying coastwise, to be 

 landed or put on board any ships or vessels, any Fish, Oil, Salt, Pro- 

 visions, or other necessaries, for the use and purpose of that Fishery, 

 shall not be liable to any restraint or regulation with respect to days 

 or hours of working, nor to make any entry at the Custom-house at 

 Newfoundland, except a report to be made by the master on his first 

 arrival there, and at his clearing out from thence ; and that a fee, not 



