the highest price then current in the county, and the collector or sheriff shall pay the same into the hands of the county commissioner, who shall be answerable for the same in the settlement of his accounts, and the collector or sheriff shall be entitled to receive for every distress so made, the sum of four shillings specie and no

more.

III. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all Quakers, Moravians, Menonists and Dunkards, between the ages of sixteen and fifty, shall be taxed, and shall deliver in the specific enumerated articles aforesaid, or some one of them, as an equivalent for exemption from militia duty, three times the quantity which the inhabitants liable to militia duty in this State would for the same amount of taxable property be liable to pay, and all single men not possessed of one hundred pounds specie in taxable property (such as are in the regular service excepted) shall pay a specific tax on the said sum, any law or custom to the contrary notwithstanding.

IV. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That immediately after the passing of this Act, the sheriff of each county in this State shall summons the justices thereof to meet at the court house, or some other convenient place, within six days after such notice, any five of whom having met, they, or a majority of them, shall and are hereby required to nominate and appoint a proper person to be commissioner of such county, for carrying the purposes of this Act into effect, and from time to time to fill up vacancies, and that the said commissioner, before entering upon his office, do give bond with security approved of by the justices appointing him, in the sum of two thousand pounds specie, payable to the Governor and commander in chief for the time being, and his successors, with the following condition: The condition of the above obligation is such, that whereas the above bounden pointed commissioner for the county of the said shall well and truly execute the office of a commissioner for receiving and issuing the specific provision tax for the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty two, according to law, then the above obligation to be void, otherwise to remain in full force: Which bond shall be delivered and lodged in the office of the clerk of each county respectively, there to be safely kept;

is ap

Now if

and the commissioner, before entering upon the duty of his office, shall also take the following oath before the county court, or any three justices of the peace of the county, to wit: I A. B. do swear that as commissioner for the county of I will well and truly execute

the trust reposed in me agreeable to law. So help me God. And the commissioner for each county respectively shall have full power to rent, hire or seize, for public use, stores, warehouses and other inclosures, for keeping the before enumerated articles, as also to receive, purchase or barter, for salt, barrels, and every other article necessary for curing and safe keeping the provisions he may receive by virtue of this Act, and each commissioner who may be appointed in consequence of this Act, shall have and receive five per cent. commissions on all provisions by him received, and also two and an half per cent. on all issues; and every person who acted as a county commissioner for the last year, and who still resides in such county, on giving bond and qualifying agreeable to this Act, shall be impowered, and is hereby required, to hold and exercise the duty of commissioner in such county for the present year, in case a new commissioner should not be appointed under the direction of this Act on or before the first day of September next.

V. And be it further enacted, That in each county the clerk of the county court shall, in distinct lists signed by him of each captain's district in the county, furnish the commissioner with the true amount of the tax of each inhabitant, and the county courts are hereby impowered and required to grant certificates to the commissioners. for all such amount of taxes as they deem insolvent and could not be collected, for which said commissioners shall be allowed in settling their public accounts.

VI. And be it further enacted, That in case any justice of the peace, collector, sheriff or any other officer, shall neglect, refuse or delay, to do or perform any of the duties required of them by virtue of this Act, they shall severally forfeit and pay the sum of fifty pounds specie for every neglect or refusal, to be recovered in the county court where the forfeiture shall happen, and be applied to the use of the poor in such county; and every county commissioner shall, previous to the collection of the tax in his county, transmit to each captain in the county a list of the taxes due from his district for the information of the people, and shall, for the fair keeping and easy

settlement of his accounts, enter all the different articles he may receive and issue in a book expressly kept for that purpose in different columns for each article, and shall give receipts for all articles by him received in the payment of his tax, and shall give due attendance by himself or his deputy for the transacting the business hereby required of him, and shall in due time salt and preserve any pork or beef for the well keeping thereof and shall prevent as far as possible the spoiling or wasting of article, and shall account for all his transactions, and the monies he may receive by virtue of this Act, with the General Assembly, or such other authority as may be appointed by law.

VII. And be it further enacted, That the several county commissioners shall once every six months render an account to the Governor of the State for the time being, of the different specifics on hand, or oftener if the Governor should call for them, and send expresses for that purpose, under the penalty of fifty pounds specie for every offence, and the Governor, with the advice of the council, may cause the same to be delivered to the order of the commander in chief in the Southern department, or he may cause them to be sold for cash when they are not otherwise needed, or he may cause them to be exchanged for such articles as are necesssary for the army.

VIII. Provided, That no person shall be appointed as commissioner for any county within this State unless such person has fully settled for all specific supplies which he may or ought to have received for the preceeding year.

IX. Be it further enacted, That all such persons as choose to pay specie in lieu of specific articles herein before recited, shall be, and are hereby allowed to pay the sum of two shillings and six pence specie for every hundred pounds value of their taxable property respectively, and each person subject to a poll tax may pay the like sum in lieu of his specific tax, any thing herein before contained to the contrary notwithstanding.

[1782, p. 437] CHAPTER IX.

An Act to amend an Act passed the last Session of the General Assembly, intituled, An Act for levying a Specific and Pecuniary Tax. I. Whereas by the before recited Act one fourth part of the pecuniary tax was directed to be paid in Conti

nental currency, which in many parts of this State cannot be procured by the inhabitants thereof;

II. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That it shall and may be lawful for such persons who are still in arrears for the said tax, either to pay the said Continental currency, or the same sum in State currency or certificates upon the public, any law to the contrary notwithstanding: And the collectors of taxes shall account upon oath, and pay into the hands of the sheriffs or county treasurers, all specie certificates they may have on hand, or may hereafter receive, in payment of such taxes, at the same rate they may receive them, and the treasurers shall account in the same manner at the same rate.

STATUTES AT LARGE OF PENNSYLVANIA.

[Printed from "The Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania from 1682 to 1801," Vols. IX (1776 to 1779) and X (1779 to 1781), compiled under the authority of the act of May 19, 1887, by James T. Mitchell and Henry Flanders, Commissioners, and printed by Wm. Stanley Ray, State Printer of Pennsylvania, 1903.]

[9 Stats. 11.]

CHAPTER DCCXXIX.

AN ORDINANCE RESPECTING THE ARMS OF NON-ASSOCIATORS.

Whereas the non-associators in this state have either refused or neglected to deliver up their arms according to the resolves of the honorable Continental Congress and the assembly of Pennsylvania, and effectual measures have not been taken to carry the said resolves into execution:

[Section I.] Be it therefore ordained by the authority of this Convention, That the colonel or next officer in command of every battalion of militia in this state is hereby authorized, empowered and required to collect, receive and take all the arms in his district or township nearest to such officer which are in the hands of nonassociators in the most expeditious and effectual manner in his power, and shall give to the owners receipts for such arms, specifying the amount of the appraisement; and such as can be repaired shall with all possible dispatch be rendered fit for service, and the value according to the appraisement of all such arms, together with the repairs and transportation, shall be paid to the officers 37639°-18- 45

by the treasurer on the order of the council of safety for the use of the owners and defraying the charges.

[Section II.] And be it further ordained, That the same arms shall be appraised by any three reputable freeholders appointed by the commanding officer; but if the owner of any arms shall neglect or refuse to apply for such money within six months the same shall be applied towards the repairs of the arms; and the colonels are hereby authorized to draw for the necessary sums of money for the purposes aforesaid on the council of safety.

[Section III.] And it is further ordained, That the colonels aforesaid shall arm the associators with the said arms and keep an account to whom they are delivered. and return the same to the council of safety; and every associator shall be answerable for such arms or the value unless lost or destroyed by some unavoidable accident or in actual service.

[Section IV.] And be it further ordained, That in case any arms so collected shall not be worth repairing, the same shall be laid by until such time as may be thought proper by the committee of the county to return them to the owners.

Passed July 19, 1776. See Appendix XXXV, and the Act of Assembly passed March 31, 1779, Chapter 836.

[9 Stats. 136.]

CHAPTER DCCLXI.

AN ACT TO PROHIBIT THE SALE OF GOODS, WARES AND MERCHANDISES BY PUBLIC VENDUE AND TO REGULATE PEDDLERS AND HAWKERS IN THIS STATE.

(Section I, P. L.) Whereas the practice of selling goods, wares and merchandises by public vendue, as tending to raise the price of almost every necessary article, and to depreciate the current money of the continent and of this commonwealth within the same is found a great grievance to the good people thereof:

[Section I.] Be it therefore enacted, and it is hereby enacted by the Representatives of the Freemen of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly met, and by the authority of the same, That from and after the publication of this act no public vendue or auction of goods, wares and merchandises shall be held