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Correspondence of Governor Sharpe. 409
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Difficulty in that, since those Accounts are very simple & I
believe all the Gentlemen except perhaps Mr Young make up
& return their Accounts punctually every year within a Month
or six weeks after the 29th of Septr The next Article I shall
take Notice of is that of the Fines & Forfeitures which it is the
Sheriffs Duty to Levy & Account for Annually to the Agent,
to whom also the Clerks of the Provincial Court & of the
several Counties ought to return annually under their Hands
& Seals of Office Lists of the Fines & Forfeitures that are
leviable by the Sheriffs respectively. I know not any other
Accounts besides those I have mentioned that the Agent has
to keep except that of protested Bills of Exchange in which
there can be no great Difficulty, tho from the Nature of it this
Account can never be properly closed annually as I think the
others may, however that would not occasion any Intricacy if
a regular Method is pursued. Having intimated to Your
Ldp what I think might & ought to have been done by the
present Agent & his Predecessors for their own Ease & Your
Ldps Satisfaction, I will take the Liberty to communicate what
I think may be farther done here for the future to prevent
Fraud & Error on the part of the Agent or Receiver General
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Letter Bk. IV
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& save Your Ldp or Your Secretary in England Abundance
of Trouble. It ought then to be an invariable Rule for the
Agent to Close his Accounts every year the 29th of Septr
this indeed he cannot do on that Day because several Parts of
the Revenue are not payable till then, but I suppose he may
get them ready by the Lady Day following (& by saying they
should be closed on the 29th Septr I mean that in his Annual
Account he should give Your Ldp Credit for all & every Part
of Your Revenue that may have accrued or become due
within the year immediately preceeding that Day). As soon
then as he can close his Accounts whether against Lady Day
or any other certain time, The Governor, the Commissary, the
Secretary, the Judges of the Land Office & the Attorney Genl
or at least some three of them may meet together with the
Agent & examine or Review his Account for the preceeding
Year wch therefore he must be instructed or directed to pro-
duce & lay before them together with all such other Accounts
(such as the Naval Officers Accounts Clerks Lists of Fines &c)
& Vouchers as they may call for or have Occasion to recur to ;
when they have examined every Thing & had any Errors wch
they may discover corrected, Let each of them sign or sub-
scribe the Agents general Account & Duplicate thereof in
Testimony of their having so done, or they may order their
Clerk to make such an Entry or write such a Certificate at the
Foot of it as may be thought proper, Such as for Instance
" On the Day of the Debit Side of the above
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p. 86
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