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Correspondence of Governor Sharpe. 437
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Gentleman belonging to the Treasury I think it was Mr West
obtained for one Mr Razer as I have been informed a Com-
mission to act as Collector of Lewis Town District on Dela-
ware in the Stead of the old Collector who was said to be then
dead, when in fact he did not dye nor relinquish his Office till
some time after Mr Razer received his Commission & I have
been told that Mr Razer now acts by Virtue of the Commis-
sion that was issued in his favour before his Predecessor's
Death : for this Reason & as Mr Hough is pretty far advanced
in Years I shall keep the Commission wch you transmitted for
Mr Ridout in my hands untill I again hear from you or receive
Instructions from the Commissioners of the Customs to return
it. Inclosed I take the Liberty to send you a Letter addressed
to those Gentlemen which if you approve of its Contents you
will be pleased to send them or otherwise do therewith as you
shall think proper. Mr Wolstenholme was in a very bad State
of Health about the middle of last Winter, but he seems to be
now again quite well & may probably live a great many years ;
besides him there are three other Collectors in this Province.
The Office which one of them enjoys I mean the Collectorship
of Potuxent is much more valuable than that of Potowmack
but the other two together are not worth so much. That of
Potuxent is held by one Mr Calvert a Gentn of our Council
who likewise enjoys a lucrative Office under the Proprietary
to whom he is very nearly related being a Son of the late
Lord whose name he assumed with his Ldp's Leave a few
years before I arrived in the Province. As He is now a young
man & in good Health there is no great Probability of his
Office becoming vacant many years, & the same might be said
of one of the other two which is enjoyed by Mr Heron Col-
lector of the District of Pocomoke. The other which brings
in little more than the Sallary of £60 a year that is annexed
to it & paid out of the Treasury is I think called the Collector-
ship of Chester (for I perceive it is not entered with the Rest
in the present State of Great Britain) & is enjoyed by the
Revd Mr Iames Sterling for whom I understand it was created
a few years before I left England at the Instance of Mr Nugent
who having promised Mr Sterling some Ecclesiastical Prefer-
ment which he was afterwards unwilling or unable to bestow
on him fell upon that method to get quit of him. As this
Gentleman is now pretty far advanced in Years & hath been
lately much afflicted with the Stone his Death may possibly
make a Vacancy within these few years, but perhaps as his
Office was created purposely to serve him it might be thought
fit to let it drop at his Decease. Besides the Offices I have
mentioned there are four or five Surveyors Places in the Prov-
ince which in fact are so many Sine Cures, the principal of
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Letter Bk. III
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