said treasurer shall be, and he is hereby impowered and required to pay to such person or persons as the governor or commander in chief of this colony, for the time being, shall by his warrant or warrants direct and appoint, so much money as shall be necessary to clothe and maintain such Indians, in case they do come to the assistance of this colony; and also to purchase goods to be presented to them as a reward for their service, so as the whole sum, to be issued for that purpose, do not exceed three thousand pounds.

IV. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That the treasurer of this colony shall, for the purposes aforesaid, in the first place, apply the money which shall come to his hands from the county-lieutenants or chief officers of the militia, pursuant to an act passed the first session of this present General Assembly, intituled, An act for raising the sum of twenty-five thousand pounds, for the better protection of the inhabitants on the frontiers of this colony, and for other purposes therein mentioned, and if that shall not be sufficient, shall apply so much of the money directed to be issued by an act passed the same session, intituled, An act for amending the several acts for making provision against invasions and insurrections, and for amending and explaining an act passed this present session of Assembly, intituled, An act for raising the sum of twenty-five thousand pounds, for the better protection of the inhabitants on the frontiers of this colony, and for other purposes therein mentioned, as shall be necessary to make good the deficiency, any thing in the said recited acts to the contrary notwithstanding.

ers to state

tobacco burnt, in Crutchfield's and Pitt's

CHAP. II.

An Act for appointing commissioners to take and state accounts of the Tobacco lately burnt in Crutchfield's and Pitt's warehouses; and other purposes therein mentioned.

I. WAEREAS a large quantity of tobacco hath Commission- lately been consumed by fire, at the public warehousaccounts of es at Crutchfield's, in the county of Hanover, and at Pitt's, on Pocamoke, in the county of Accomack, the exact quantity of which, and the names of the proprietors thereof, cannot now be ascertained; to the end warehouses. therefore that it may fully appear to whom the said burnt tobacco belonged, and that a just account thereof may be stated, and the sufferers receive satisfaction for their several losses; Be it enacted, by the Lieutenant-Governor, Council, and Burgesses, of this present General Assembly, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That James Power, Richard Adams, Philip Johnson, Bernard Moore, Francis West, John Baylor, and Edmund Pendleton, gentlemen, shall be, and they are hereby constituted and appointed commissioners for taking, examining, and stating the accounts, claims, and demands of the proprietors of the tobacco burnt at Crutchfield's, and in stating the said accounts the said commissioners, or any four or more of them, shall and they are hereby directed and required to distinguish in separate columns, the number of hogsheads that were inspected and passed, the number that were inspected and refused but not picked and reprized, and the number of hogsheads that had not been inspected, and also the quantity of transfer tobacco that was burnt in the said warehouses, and also an accuunt of all tobacco that hath since the said fire been picked and saved out of the rubbish; and that George Holden, Ephraim Waggaman, Coventon Corbin, Charles Stockley, William Bevans, Daniel Gore, and Thomas Evans, gentlemen, shall be, and they are hereby constituted and appointed commissioners for taking, examining, and stating the accounts, claims, and demands of the proprietors of the tobacco burnt at Pitt's in the same manner, and that the said com

missioners, or any four or more of them, shall deliver to the clerk of the house of Burgesses the accounts by them taken, under their hands and seals before the sitting of the next session of Assembly.

II. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That the said commissioners, or any four or more of them, respectively, shall, and they are hereby impowered and required to meet at such time or times, and at such places as they shall think fit, of which time and place public notice shall be advertised in the Virginia Gazette, and at each respective warehouse at least one month before such meeting, and to examine any person or persons they shall think necessary for their information in all things relating to the said accounts, and to administer an oath or affirmation as the case shall require, for the better discovering of the true quantity of the said burnt tobacco to any person or persons.

III. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That every of the said commissioners hereby constituted, before he enters upon the execution of this act, shall take an oath before the courts of the counties of Hanover and Accomack respectively, the tenor whereof shall be as follows:

I A. B. do swear, that I will, according to the best of my skill and knowledge, faithfully, impartially, and truely demean myself in taking, examining, and stating the accounts, claims, and demands of the proprietors of the tobacco burnt in warehouse, accord

ing to the directions of the act of Assembly, intituled, An act for appointing commissioners to take and state accounts of the tobacco iately burnt in Crutchfield's and Pitt's warehouses; and other purposes therein mentioned.

IV. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That the commissioners hereby appointed for taking the account of the tobacco burnt in Crathfield's warehouse shall, and they are hereby impowered to enquire by such ways and means as they shall judge necessary, by what means and in what manner the said warehouses at Crutchfield's were burnt; and they are hereby impowered to offer a reward or rewards, at their discretion, to any person or persons that will discover the author or causer of the said fire, which rewards, on a certificate under the hands of the said I-VOL. 7

commissioners, or any four of them, the treasurer of this colony is hereby impowered and required to pay to the person or persons entitled thereto, out of the public money in his hands.

Burgesses wages how payable.

CHAP. III.

An Act for paying the Burgesses wages for this session of Assembly; and for other purposes therein mentioned.

I. WHEREAS by one act of Assembly, made in the third and fourth years of the reign of his present majesty, intituled, An act for the better regulating the payment of the burgesses wages, it is among other things enacted, that when any session of Assembly should be thereafter held, and upon examination of the treasurer's accounts it should appear, that there are monies sufficient in his hands to discharge all the money debts, together with the burgesses wages and the salaries and allowances to the respective officers of the General Assembly, saving and reserving in the hands of the treasurer, over and above the said payments, a balance of one thousand five hundred pounds at the least, then every burgess, elected and serving for any county or corporation within this dominion, should be paid out of the public money, the sum of ten shillings, for each day he should serve in the house of burgesses, with such further allowances, and under such restrictions and regulations; as in the said act is at large directed.

II. And whereas by reason of the low circumstances of the treasury, the wages of the burgesses for this present session, cannot be discharged in money according to the letter of the said act, and the payment of the said wages in money will be a great ease to the poorer sort of people, by lessening the levy by the poll: Be it therefore enacted, by the Lieutenant-Governor, Council, and Burgesses, of this present General Assembly, and it is hereby enacted, by the authority of the same, That the burgesses wages, for this present session of

Assembly, shall be paid by the treasurer, on the twenty-fifth day of October next, out of the public money then in his hands, according to the directions and regulations in the said recited act mentioned, any thing in the said act to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding.

III. And whereas the depredations of the French and their Indian allies, upon the frontiers of this dominion, have occasioned the greatest part of the inhabitants of the county of Hampshire to remove themselves, so that no court has been held, or is likely to be held, for the said county, by means whereof their burgesses wages cannot be paid pursuant to the directions of three acts of the General Assembly, made in the twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth years of his majesty's reign, and it is reasonable that the wages of the said burgesses should be paid; Be it therefore enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That the burgesses wages, for the said county, for the sessions in the said acts mentioned, shall be paid by the treasurer out of the public money in his hands, any thing in the said acts to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding.

IV. And whereas the day appointed for holding the Sussex court court for the county of Sussex, is found to be very in- day altered, convenient to the inhabitants of the said county, for rendering the same more convenient, Be it enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That from and after the first day of December next, the court of the said county of Sussex be constantly held on the third Friday in every month, any law, usage, or custom to the contrary notwithstanding,