Another holograph draft of MINT00131 (Mint 19/1/334-5)

<336r>

By the Act of 18 Caral. II chap v saith that there shall not be issued out of y^e Exchequer of the said [coynage] moneys in any one year, for the Fees & {illeg}|Sa|laries of the Officers of y^e Mint or Mint or {sic} Mints & towards the providing, main{illeg}|ta|ining & repairing of the Houses Offices & other necessaries [or {illeg}|a|ppurtenances] for assaying melting down & coy{illeg}|n|ing, above the summ of three thousand pounds sterling money & the overplus of the said moneys so kept or to be kept as aforesaid shall be employed for & towards the expence of wast & charge of assaying melting down & coynage & buying {illeg}|in| of Gold & silver to coyn & not others|w||ise.| And in the preceding paragraph {illeg}|th|ese charges are called the [standing] charge of the Mint or Mints, & [that] of the assaying melting down wast & coynage of gold & silver \& the encouragement of the bringing in of gold & silver/ into y^e said Mint or Mints there to be coyned &c.

The first part of y^e charge limited to 3000^li I reccon to be y^e standing charge of Salaries & buildings w^th their nece{illeg}|es|sary appurtenc{illeg}|e|s (such as are convenient Chimne{illeg}|y|s, Hearths, floors, \tables/ & places therein) for constituting a Mint. The latter part to be the charge of the instruments materials workmanshi{illeg}|p| & wast arising from the quantity of coynage & proportional to it, & {coyn} as|&| well as requisite for carrying it on. And of this sort I reccon \Mills/ furnaces, coppels, coats for y^e Assay office, water silver, Aqua fortis, refining, allaying &c. And in this sense the Act has been constantly interp{illeg}|r|eted, as may be under|s|s|t|ood by the old Accounts of the Warden & Master.

In those Acc^ts the salaries upon the establishment of y^e Indenture amounted \formerly/ to 2600^li. And the charges of repairs came to two three & s{illeg}|o|metimes almost 400^li more. The Articles in the Masters Acc^ts for furnaces & charges of assaying refining & allaying were always recconed to y^e charges of coyning. And the extraordinary salaries upon Warrant went w^th the incident charges as an Article{s} not provided for by the Act, excepting that the Master about eight or nine years ago ordered the extraordinary salary of the Wardens Cler second Clerk amounting to 40^li per an to be recconed into y^e 3000^li.

In {illeg}|t|he Acc^ts for y^e 16|7|12 {illeg}|t|he salaries upon y^e Indenture payable by the Wardens amount unto 1435, those payable by the Master unto 1080. The Wardens second Clerk 40, the Graver's Apprentice 35^li The Smith assistant to y^e Gravers 40^li & the Moneyers 400^li. T|A|nd the Repairs of the buildings in the Wardens Ac{o}|c|^ts 3{illeg}|8|9^li 2^s \+ 1.. 13. 6/. The w{illeg}|h|ole amounts unto 3{illeg}9 {illeg} |3430. 15. 6.|

The Articles of incidents in the Wardens Acc^t (amounting to 180. 7. 0 11. 13. 6) was ne{illeg}|{v}{w}| yet recconed to the 3000 pounds. And sometimes there are {illeg}|s|uch large incidents as will not admit of such a recconing as for instance 120^li charge of y^e last trial of the Pix & 160^li the making the last trial pieces. The Press room is ready to tumble fall down & it y^e allowance of 3000^li (now 3500) be too much crouded there will be no room {f} money to rebuild it.

<336v>

viz^t the charge of \stationary ware for the/ ballances weights, \{illeg} Mills/ furnaces, coppels, \water silver Aqua fortis &/ charcoale for the Assay office, water silver, aqua fortis refining, allaying melting & coyning