Holograph copy of MINT00459 (Mint 19/1/366)

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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 General) for the use & service of that Mint in general terms & applied, not by the Warrants of the Treasury but by the Officers of the 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 7th 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 grenerall 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 reign 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 ore out of the coinage Duty to carry on a coinage in Scotland. And this the coinage moneys are taken away from the Mint in England, & the Officers of this Mint are forced to apply 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. 13 After the words [duly put in Execution] add [with relation to the Mint or Mints in England]

Ibid lin 16. After the words [of this present Act] add the clauses AA.

The first Amendment is for voiding or droppping the aforesaid irregular clause in the coinage Act of the 7th of the Queen. The second is for setling the Mint in 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.