36 LAND OFFICE RECORDS

Office was closed. During this whole period a special land agent
appointed by the Proprietor (he had previously been the Receiver
General) represented and championed the latter in all matters per-
taining to land and it was he who had charge of the rent rolls at
this time. The agent continued to be Receiver General in charge of
rent rolls after the restoration of Lord Baltimore's rights in 1715
but since the tobacco tax took the place of quit rents during the
years between 1717 and 1733 rent rolls were not as important during
these years and not carefully kept Still, the Proprietor attempted
to keep bis records straight in this respect In 1722 he wrote to his
agent Nicholas Lowe:

... You are to acquaint Mr. James Carroll that I would have
him make out my Rent Roll according to my late Directions to
him, In the doing whereof I desire him to Consult with you
and Transmit it forthwith to me.... ⁵⁸

and in 1724 Lord Baltimore granted Carroll fifty-eight hundred
acres of land with the provision "But he is to pay me no fine, it
being a reward bestowed on him (in addition to the 4, 200 acres
formerly given him) for his labor and pains in keeping and making
but my rent rolls... "⁵⁹

In 1733, with the resumption of the payment of quit rents, the
Proprietor issued a great many new instructions designed to facili-
tate collection. The Governor and the Agent were to appoint two
general rent-roll keepers, one. f or each shore. The rents were to be
collected by deputy receivers in each county or by quit rent farmers
who were to return them annually to the rent roll keeper of their
respective shores. The sheriff often served as deputy receiver, if
that method was used. The farmer on the other hand did not
always collect by counties, sometimes collecting in just a part of
a county, or sometimes contracting to collect in two or three coun-
ties. The Eastern Shore debt books date from this period.

The Proprietor made a still more definite and far-reaching attempt
to increase the efficiency of quit rent collection when he established
the Board of Rev-enue in 1766 and gave it highest control over all
matters pertaining to his revenues. It had jurisdiction over every
class of officers concerned in the management or collection of his

⁵⁸ Arch. Md., XXXVIII, 432.

⁵⁹ Warrants, Liber 9, f. 420; Kilty, p. 228-229.