Acts. 503

shall, by the several Collectors of Excise, established by this Act,
be paid to the said Commissioners, to be by them applied towards
replacing the said Sum of Six Thousand Pounds, until the said

Liber H. S.

No. 1

Sum of Six Thousand Pounds is repaid and replaced, by the Rates
and Duties by the aforesaid Act imposed; and that thereafter the
whole Duty of Six Pence, on all Madeira Wine, as aforesaid, shall
be paid and applied as by this Act is before directed.

And be it further Enacted, That so much of the said Act as relates

p. 232

to the Imposing a Duty on all Madeira Wine, to be imported into
this Province, shall be, and is hereby repealed and utterly made null
and void.

Forasmuch as Divine Institutions ought to be strictly observed
in every well-regulated Government, and as that in Regard to the
entering into the holy Estate of Matrimony may tend to the more
orderly Propagation of Mankind, it ought, not only in a religious,
but political View, to be promoted, and the continuing in a State of
Celibacy discountenanced, especially in every Infant Country: And
as the Rank of Men called Batchelors are not burthened with the
Charge and Expence that usually attends a Matrimonial Condition,
they may be better enabled to contribute a larger Tax towards the
Support of the Community :

Be it therefore Enacted, That the Rector, Vestrymen, and Church-

[Part of the
6000 1. Law
repealed.]

Wardens of each respective Parish, or the Majority of them, are
hereby required to meet at their respective Parish Churches yearly,
on the second Tuesday in July, and having first taken the following
Oath, to wit, " I A. B. will, according to the best of my Knowledge
and Judgment, set down and make a List of such Batchelors in
Parish, as are of the Age of Twenty-five Years and
upwards, and have in Possession, in their own Right, an Estate of
One Hundred Pounds, or upwards," to make a List of all the Batch-
elors within such Parish respectively, who are in their Estimation
of the Age of Twenty-five Years or upwards, and have in Possession,
in their own Right, an Estate of One Hundred Pounds Current
Money and upwards, particularly mentioning in such List the Name,
Place of Abode, and Value of the Estate of every such Batchelor,
which List shall be by the Register of each Parish, who is hereby
obliged to be present at the meeting aforesaid, entered on the Register-
Book thereof, and one fair Copy thereof delivered by him to the

[Vestries
yearly to
make out
Lists of
Batchelors
in their
Parishes.]

Collector of Excise of the County, and another to the Sheriff, within
five Days after such meeting; which Sheriff shall transmit the same,
within thirty Days after such Delivery, to the Commissioners of the
Loan-Office. And the said Collector is hereby authorized and re-
quired to demand and receive in the same Manner, as in this Act
is before directed, as to the Duties on Liquors retailed or consumed.

p. 233