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406 Correspondence of Governor Sharpe.
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Letter Bk. IV
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of such Warrant a Survey is made & Certificate thereof
returned to the Examiner with a particular Account therein of
the Improvements (if any) on the Land therein described such
as Houses Orchards or the like. The Examiner having found
the Certificate right & passed the same, returns it to the Land
Office where it lies untill the party applies for & carries it to
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p. 81
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the Agent in Order to Compound or pay the Caution Money
& also what may be demanded for the Improvements, & when
the Party has made such payment the Agent endorses on the
Certificate the Sum Total that he has received & signifies
that patent may therefore issue; A Patent being then pre-
pared in the Office is brought to the Governor who being
satisfied by the Agents' Endorsement on the Certificate that
all Requisites have been complied with on the Part of the
Patentee Signs his Name thereon in Token of Approbation &
moreover passes the Patent in the manner above described,
for the Reason already given I likewise send Your Ldp Copies
of a Petition, Special Warrant, Warrant of Resurvey Sur-
veyors Certificate with the Examiner's Endorsement & Agents
Receit or Acknowledgment thereon & also of Patent passed
in Consequence thereof which Copies being stitched together
are marked with the Letter B. — Now my Ld as this Process or
mode of Proceeding is always observed & every Petition,
Warrant, Certificate & Patent regularly entered in the Land
Records, & those Records kept in a Publick Office (the
Judges of which Office as well as the Register being under
the Tye of an Oath to execute their Duty faithfully) I cannot
for my own Part propose any Alteration in the method of
issuing Warrants &c. that could be made for the better, &
really it seems to be generally acknowledged that throughout
N America there is not a more regular & unexceptionable
Scheme pursued, but indeed it was not from the first Settle-
ment of the Province on the same Footing, & to that it must
be principally attributed that the Rent Rolls are & will per-
haps for ever be in some measure erroneous. The Escheat
Warrants that are applied for being very few & the Surveyors
being always very particular in their Descriptions of the Land
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p. 82
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& the Improvements thereon the Agent is never at a Loss to
estimate or Value such Land, & as he acknowledges his
Receit of the Caution Money on the Back of the Certificate
which must go thro the hands of the Judges of the Land
Office & Chancellor there is no more room for Fraud here
than in the Case of special Warrants or Warrants of Resurvey,
concerning which I have wrote very fully to Your Ldp already.
I think Your Ldp will be satisfied by what I have said that it
is scarcely possible for Your Ldp's Revenue to be prejudiced
by any thing that can be transacted in the Land Office unless
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