Holograph draft of MINT00131 (Mint 19/1/334-5) with minor variations

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18 Carol. II, Chap. v. No moneys leviable & payable by this Act shall be converted to any other use or uses whatsoever other then to the defraying the charge or expence of the Mint or Mints, and of the assaying melting down wast & coynage of gold & silver & the encouragement of bringing in of gold & silver into the said Mint or Mints there to be coyned &c And it is hereby further enacted That there shall not be issued out of the Exchequer of the said moneys, in any one year for the fees & salaries of the Mint or Mints & towards the providing maintaining & repairing of the houses Offices & Buildings & other necessaries for assaying melting down & coyning, above the summ of three thousand pounds sterling money, & the overplus of the said moneys so kept as aforesaid shall be imployed for & towards the expence wast & charge of assaying melting down & coynage & buying in of gold & silver to coyn & not otherwise.

The salaries from the time of making this Act have amounted to 2600li & sometimes above & there have remained only 400li per annum for the buildings & other necessaries. And the buildings alone have usually amounted to two or three hundred & sometimes almost 400li per annum

In the 4th & 5t year of her Majesty another Act passed for enlarging the sum of 3000li to that of 3500li per annum without making any other alteration in the former Act. And thereupon the Moneyers were allowed a salary of 400l & the salarys of the Clerks were intended to be augmented: but several buildings being ready to drop, it was thought fit to rebuild them first. And these have cost about 8 or 9 hundred pounds or above. Two years ago the Engineers shop was rebuilt & cost about 359li whereof 183li comes into the Account of the year 1712 & 176li is reserved for the last year.

In the Indenture of the Mint there is a clause that the charges of making the bullion agreeable to standard shall be born & sustained out of the Revenue arising to her Majesty by vertue of the coynage Act: which clause would have been needless had that charge been recconned within the 3000li. This clause is a Voucher to the Master for the charges of Assaying & Allay, The Act of 18 Carol. II is a Voucher to him for the charges of the Assay Office, & the standing practise of placing the charge of furnaces in his Account is a voucher for that Article. No part of the 3000li should come into the Master's Account except the salaries payable to himself & those under him.