February 1654: An Ordinance touching the Assessing, Levying, and Collecting of the latter three Moneths Assessment, appointed by an Act of the late Parlament, Entituled, An Act for an Assessment at the rate of 120,000l...

February, 1654

[17 February, 1653/4.]

Act of 10 Dec., 1652, for monthly assessment for six months for the Army and Navy recited.; Commissioners may alter method of assessment ordained for latter three months by said Act, if prejudicial.

Whereas by an Act of the late Parlament, Entituled, An Act for an Assessment at the rate of one hundred and twenty thousand pounds by the Moneth, for six Moneths, from the five and twentieth day of December one thousand six hundred fifty and three, to the four and twentieth day of June then next ensuing, towards the maintenance of the Armies and Navies of this Commonwealth It is among other things provided and enacted, That if the Commissioners for any County, City, or Town in the said Act named, should at their second general meeting find, that, for want of sufficient time, a just and perfect survey, or rate, of each Parish or place within such County, City or Town, as is directed by the said Act, could not be made, and returned, so as to proceed to the rating and apportioning of the whole six moneths Assessments, in way and manner as is in that Act prescribed, That then it shall and may be lawful for the said Commissioners in any of the said Counties, Cities or Towns, where the said Surveys and rates for want of such sufficient time shall not be made and returned as aforesaid, to proceed at their second general meeting, to apportion the first three of the six moneths Assessment, according to the most just and equal way of rates held in such Counties, Cities, and Towns; And the Commissioners of such Counties, Cities and Towns, in their respective Divisions, to cause the same to be asssesed, levyed, collected and paid. And the Assessors, Collectors, and SubCollectors in their Respective Divisions, Parishes, and Places were thereby authorized and required, in assessing, levying, and collecting of the said first three Moneths Assessment, to proceed accordingly. And in such Counties, Cities and Towns where the first three Moneths Assessment was appointed to be assessed and levyed according to the rates held in such places as aforesaid, the several and respective Commissioners, and other persons therein, were authorized to put in execution all the powers given by that Act unto them, for causing the three said moneths assessment to bee fully and timely assessed, collected, levied, and paid, as if the same had been assessed and rated by a pound rate, and as the six moneths assessment appointed by that Act, were therein directed to bee assessed and rated. But for the apportioning, assessing, levying and payment of the last three of the said six moneths assessment by a survey and pound rate, It was Enacted, That the Commissioners of such Counties, Cities and Towns, where the first three moneths Assessment should bee appointed to be rated, assessed and paid, according to the rates held in such places as aforesaid, or the major part of them present at the said second general meeting, were thereby authorized, and required to appoint a third general meeting, on the first day of March, one thousand six hundred fiftie and three, and at their said second general meeting to give such orders and directions, and appoint such times for the effectual taking, examining and returning of surveys, and determining all controversies which might happen therein, as that a true, and a perfect survey of each parish, and place within such Countie, Citie, or Town might be returned unto them at their said third general meeting. And the said Commissioners in their respective Divisions, and Hundreds, or any two of them were likewise to proceed effectually therein, according to the powers given them in that Act for that purpose. And the Commissioners for such Countie, Citie or Town, or the major part of so many of them as should bee present at the said third general meeting, were thereby required to sum, and cast up the total of the surveys of each Countie, Citie, and Town, and to proceed to apportion levy and raise the said latter three moneths Assessment upon all Estates reall and personal, in such manner and by such wayes, as the Six Moneths Assessments were therein first appointed to be raised, assessed, levied and paid. And whereas by the said Act the latter three moneths Assessment is appointed to be collected so as the same may be fully paid into the high Collectors, and by them to the Receiver General to compleat the whole six months Assessment at, or before the twentieth day of April at the furthest, which shall bee in the year, one thousand six hundred fiftie and four. Now to the end the whole Assessment by the said Act appointed may be fully collected, and paid in for the preventing of free-quarter, and for the more effectual carrying on of the publique service, His Highness the Lord Protector by and with the advice and consent of his Council doth Declare and Ordain, That in case the way or manner of assessing the said later three moneths Assessment by a pound rate in such sort as is prescribed by the said Act shall prove prejudicial, and obstructive to the bringing in the said latter three Moneths Assessment appointed by the said Act, by the time in the said Act for that purpose limited, That then, and in all such cases, the said Commissioners in any of the said Cities, Counties, Townes, and places in the said Act mentioned where such obstructions shall bee or happen, shall appoint a generall meeting together, and the major part of them meeting, may, and are hereby authorized (for the removal of such obstructions, and the more speedy and effectual execution of the said Act) to proceed according to the most just and equal way of rates held in such places in the proportioning, levying and assessing the respective summes charged upon them, any thing in the said Act to the contrarie thereof contained in any wise notwithstanding.