of Hemp or Flax, whether fine or coarse, free of all Duties payable to his Majesty, his Heirs or Succeffors; any Thing in the faid Act of Tonnage and Poundage, or any other Act, or any Thing to the contrary thereof in any ways notwithstanding.

An ACT for better Regulation of the Linen and Hempen Manufactures in that Part of Great Britain called Scotland.

Preamble. § 1. WHEREAS the Advancement of

the Linen and Hempen Ma

nufactures in that Part of the united Kingdom called Scotland (which are now under great Difcouragements) will not only employ great Numbers of Poor, but will be a general Good to the united Kingdom, by adding to the Wealth of the Realm; and whereas feveral Frauds and Abufes are daily committed in the faid. Manufactures, whereby the Growth of Flax and Hemp within that Part of the united Kingdom is difcouraged, the Credit of the faid Manufacture destroyed, and the Demand for the fame leffened, for Want of proper Laws and Regulations for that Purpose: To the End therefore that thefe Frauds and Abufes may for the future be prevented, and that the Manufacture may be encouraged, and the Credit thereof raised; Be it enacted by the King's

moft

vember 1727,

feed to be im

Scotland.

Anno Regni decimo tertio, &c. 13 moft Excellent Majefty, by and with the Advice and Confent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this prefent Parliament affembled, and by the Authority of the fame, That from and After ift Noafter the First Day of November, which no bad Lintfhall be in the Year of our Lord One thou-feed or Hempfand seven hundred and twenty-feven, no ported into Perfon or Perfons fhall import, or caufe to be imported into any Port or Place in that Part of the united Kingdom called Scotland, any bad, mixed, or damnified Lintfeed or Hempfeed; but that, from and after the faid firft Day of November, all Lintfeed and Hempfeed that shall be imported into any Part of Scotland, of the Growth of the Netherlands, Ruffia, Livonia, Poland, Germany, or other Places, fhall be fresh, good, and clean, without Mix

ture.

Lintfeed to be

cels of differ

§ 2. AND be it further enacted, by the No damnified Authority aforefaid, That, from and af-fold in Scotter the faid first Day of November, no land, nor ParPerfon or Perfons fhall vend, fell, or ex-ent Countries. pofe to fale, within any Part or Place in Scotland, any mixed or damnified Lintfeed or Hempfeed, or any Lintfeed commonly called or known by the Name of Short Lintfeed; and that no Person or Perfons do prefume to mix, or caufe to be mixed, different Parcels of Lintfeed or Hempfeed of different Countries or

Growths

Growths together; and that from and after the faid first Day of November, every Perfon who fhall fell or vend any Parcel or Parcels of Lintfeed or Hempfeed, within any Part or Place of that Part of the united Kingdom called Scotland, fhall, Seller to give together with the faid Parcel or Parcels, an Account of deliver to the Buyer, in Writing, a par

the Parcel.

Penalty for felling bad

ticular Account of the Parcel of Lintfeed or Hempfeed fold by him, expreffing the Quantity thereof, the Place from whence the fame was imported, or where it grew, and the Year of its Growth, to the end that, if the Seller Thall have been guilty of any Fraud, he may be the more easily convicted, and fubjected to the Penalties herein after expreffed.

3. AND be it further enacted by the Lintfeed, &c. Authority aforefaid, That from and after the faid first Day of November, all and every Perfon and Perfons who fhall fell, or expofe to Sale, bad, fhort, or damnified Lintfeed or Hempfeed, or who fhall mix what is left of the Lintfeed or Hempfeed of the former Year with what is imported in a fubfequent Year, or fhall mix different Parcels of Lintfeed or Hempfeed together, or who fhall fell Lintfeed or Hempfeed of a different Growth or Age from what he, fhe, or they, have expressed at the Sale, in the Account to be given in Writing, as aforefaid, contrary to the

true

true Intent and Meaning of this Act, fhall, upon being duly convicted thereof, in Manner hereafter mentioned, for every fuch Offence, forfeit the faid Lintfeed or Hempfeed fo fold or expofed to Sale, or the Price thereof, and likewife a Sum not exceeding five Pounds Sterling, nor lefs than fifty Shillings, for every Hogfhead of Lintfeed or Hempfeed fo fold or expofed to Sale; and fo proportionally for every greater or leffer Quantity: and all and every Perfon and Perfons, who fhall fell or vend any Lintfeed or Hempfeed, by any other Measure than the Linlithgow Meafure ftreaked, and the Fractions thereof, fhall forfeit, for every fuch Offence, the Measure used by him, her, or them, and a Sum not exceeding forty Shillings Sterling, to be levied and recovered in Manner' herein after particularly described.

Hempor Lint.

§ 4. AND be it further enacted by the Penalty for Authority aforefaid, That from and after bad fteeping the faid first Day of November, no Hemp or Lint, within that Part of Great Britain called Scotland, fhall be fteeped or watered in any Bog-Hole, Peat-Mofs, or TurfPit; and that no Lint or Hemp fhall be fteeped or watered, for two Years fucceffively, in any standing Pool, or in any Hole or Pit with ftanding Water, unless fuch Hole or Pit is dug near to the Side of a running River or Rivulet, from

whence