Draft of MINT00044 (Mint 19/1/121)

<120v>

Next to Mr Haynes I reccon Mr Ford qualified for our business. In integrity & exact weighing I believe them equal & he rates & standards well enough to execute the Office.

But if {illeg} {illeg} then the {illeg} {illeg} which at present is only exact skill in weighing, the scales examining {illeg} & weights, any of the competitors upon oath steady hands & judicious eyes may qualify himselfe by practise in a fortnight.

May it please your Lordships

In obedience to your Lordships order of reference signified to us by Mr Lowndes the 7th instant upon the annexed Petitions for the place of Weigher & Teller of the Mint now vacant we humbly represent that the Petitioners did the services mentioned in their Petitions hereunto annexed, & that for the necessary duty of the place (which is only exact skill in weighing & in examining the scales & weights) any petitioner who hath steady hands & is envious may qualify himself by practise in a short time

But its for the service & advantage of the Mint to have an Officer further skilled in our business. And however other Petitioners may be deserving in other respects the most skilfull in Mint affairs is Mr Haynes. He has served in the Mint about 14 years excepting three or four years intermission & while he acted in the Mint he had there a general reputation

The other Petitioners may be very deserving a fit for better business as I could be very glad to oblige them & their friends but of their qualifications further then I have known any of them by their acting in the Mint I do not presume to judge.

One these accounts he was brought back into the Mint from good business of his own in the beginning of the late Recoynage when we could not be within him & soon after the Officers of

in the recoynage Mr Brattel assisted in the Assay Office & was the first Teller who inspected the old & told the new money & examined the tale thereof by the weight of the baggs, & the other Petitioners did the services represented in their Petitions