Page 240 - British Post Office Notices 1666 to 1799

Act of 9 Queen Anne, Cap. 10

respectively have on board such Vessel or Vessels, every such Master or other Person, for every Letter or Packet of Letters
he or they shall so deliver unto such Deputy or Deputies, shall receive the Sum of one Penny, of such Deputy or Deputies,
he or they signing a Certificate of the Number of Letters delivered, and by what Vessel they came, and of the Time when he
or they delivered the same to such Deputy or Deputies, and giving a Receipt for such Number of Pence as he or they shall
receive of such Deputy or Deputies; which Certificate and Receipt shall be by such Deputy by the next Post returned to the
said Postmaster General, together with the Letters so delivered, who shall have Credit on his Account for so much Money
as any such Deputy shall pay on the Account.
XVII. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That no Person or Persons whatsoever, or Body Politick
or Corporate, in any Part of these Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, or other her Majesty's Plantations and Colonies
in the West Indies and America, other than such Postmaster General as shall, from Time to Time, be nominated and
appointed by her Majesty, her Heirs and Successors, and constituted by Letters Patents under the Great Seal of Great
Britain as aforesaid, and his Deputy and Deputies or Assigns, shall presume to receive, take up, order, dispatch, convey,
carry, recarry, or deliver, any Letter or Letters, Packet or Packets of Letters (other than as before excepted), or make any
Collection of Letters, or set up or employ any Foot Post, Horse Post, or Packet Boat, or other Vessel or Boat, or other
Person or Persons, Conveyance or Conveyances whatsoever, for the receiving, taking up, ordering, dispatching, conveying,
carrying, recarrying, or delivering any Letter or Letters, Packet or Packets of Letters, by Sea or by Land, or on any River,
within her Majesty's Dominions, or by means whereof any Letter or Letters, Packet or Packets of Letters, shall be collected,
received, taken up, ordered, dispatched, conveyed, carried, recarried or delivered, by Sea or Land, or on any River, within
her Majesty's Dominions (other than as before excepted), or shall presume to keep, provide, and maintain Horses, or
Furniture for the horsing of any Person or Persons riding Post, that is to say, riding several Stages upon a Post Road, and
changing Horses, or shall let to Hire, or furnish any Person or Persons whatsoever with Horses or Furniture for riding Post
as aforesaid, on any of the Post Roads or Stages now or hereafter to be appointed, with or without a Guide or Horn, for
Hire or Reward, or on any Agreement or Promise of Reward, or whereby he or they may have any Profit or Advantage; on
Pain of forfeiting the Sum of five Pounds of British Money for every several Offence against the Tenor of this present Act,
and also the Sum of one hundred Pounds of like British Money for every Week that any Offender against this Act shall
collect, receive, take up, order, dispatch, convey, carry, recarry, or deliver any Letter or Letters, Packet or Packets of
Letters, by Sea or Land, or on any River, within her Majesty's Dominions (other than as before excepted), or that shall
presume to set up, continue, or employ any Foot Post, Horse Post, or Packet Boat, or other Vessel or Boat, or any other
Person or Persons, Conveyance or Conveyances whatsoever, for the receiving, taking up, ordering, dispatching, conveying,
carrying, recarrying, or delivering of any Letter or Letters, Packet or Packets of Letters, by Sea or Land, or on any River,
within her Majesty's Dominions as aforesaid.
XVIll. "And whereas divers deputy Postmasters do collect great Quantities of Post Letters called By or Way Letters,
and by clandestine and private Agreements amongst themselves, do convey the same Post in their respective Mails, or By-
Bags, according to their several Directions, without accounting for the same, or endorsing the same on their Bills, to the
great Detriment of her Majesty's Revenues:" For preventing whereof for the Time to come; be it enacted by the Authority
aforesaid, That if at any Time hereafter, any Person or Persons employed as a Deputy Postmaster or otherwise, in these
Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, or in any of her Majesty's Dominions and Territories in the West Indies or in North
America, shall not duly answer and account to her Majesty, her Heirs and Successors, for all such By or Way Letters as such
Deputy or Deputies, or any by his, her, or their Order, shall receive the Port for, or that shall not on his or her Post Bills,
exactly mention all the By or Way Letters, he, she, or they shall or do receive, or which shall come to his, her, or their Hand
or Hands, Custody or Power, distinguishing them severally, whether single, double, treble, or Ounce Weight, or that shall
destroy or embezzle any such By Letter or By Letters, Packet or Packets of Letters; every such Person so offending shall
forfeit and pay for every such Offence, such Penalties and Forfeitures, as the Persons herein before prohibited, setting up,
or employing other Posts, or collecting, carrying, recarrying, ordering, dispatching, or delivering Letters and Packets
contrary hereunto, are enacted to forfeit and pay.
XIX. And it is hereby enacted, That all and singular the said several Penalties and Forfeitures by this Act imposed on
any Offender or Off enders against the same or any Part thereof, shall and may be sued for and recovered by Action or
Actions of Debt, Bill, Plaint, or Information, in any of her Majesty's Courts of Record, wherein no Essoin, Privilege,
Protection, or Wager of Law shall be admitted; and the said several and respective Penalties and Forfeitures, that shall
happen from Time to Time to be recovered, shall be and remain, the one Moiety thereof to her Majesty, her Heirs and
Successors, and the other Moiety thereof to such Person or Persons who shall or will inform against the Offender or
Offenders against this present Act, and shall and will sue for the said Penalties and Forfeitures upon the same; and on every

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