'Some Amendments to the Coinage Act'

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Some Amendments to the Coinage Bill.

By the Act of Vnion a Mint is to be continued in Scotland under the same Rules as the Mint in England. And therefore all the Coinage moneys for Scotland should be issued out of the Exchequer of great Britain to the Master & Worker (not to the Generall) for the use & service of that Min in general terms & applied not by the Warrants of the Treasury but by the Officers of that Mint to particular uses, those Officers taking care that no greater summ be applied to Salaries, Repairs of buildings, & Incidents then the Coinage Act allows. For this is the Constitution of the Mint in England setled by the Coinage Acts.

In the Coinage Act of the seventh of the Queen, there is a Clause for issuing from the Exchequer of great Britain any summ not exceeding 1200li to the Mint in Scotland for Salaries & repairing that Mint. Had this money been issued in general terms for the use & service of that Mint, as it ought to have been by the Act of Vnion, it might have sufficed for defraying all the charges of that Mint including the coinage, as it did in the rieng of King James II & King William, the whole charge in those days not exceeding 1200li sterling one year with another. But they who drew up that clause have restrained all this moneys to salaries repairs & incidents of the Mint without taking care of the coinage & now come to the Parliament for 500li more out of the coinage Duty to carry on a coinage in Scotland. And thus the coinage Moneys are taken away from the Mint in England, & the Officer of this Mint are sent to the Parliament for more moneys.

For preserving this Mint & reducing the Mint in Scotland to the same Rules, the following amendments to the Coinage Bill are here proposed.

Fol. 2. lin 12. After the words [duly put in execution] add [with relation to the Mint or Mints in England,]

Ibid lin. 14. After the words [of this present Act] add the clauses AA

The first Amendment is for voiding or dropping the aforesaid irregular clause in the Coinage Act of the 7th of the Queen. The second is for setling the Mint of Scotland upon the same Rules as the Mint in England, as it ought to be by the Act of Vnion, & in such a manner that the two Mints may not interfere & obstruct one another.