Fragmentary draft of MINT00291 (Mint 19/3/444) concerning the method of calculating the Queen’s duty on East India Goods

that is, upon the clear value which remains after the allowance for warehouse room & prompt payment & the Duty really imposed & really payable to the Queen were deducted: And upon this supposition I proposed the followeing method of computing the Duty.

S^r

17896. 2. 8$\frac{1}{2}$  1491. 6. 8 19387. 9. 4$\frac{1}{2}$ 8941. 15        1192.  4. 8       10133  19  8 I received this afternoon an Order from the Lords Commissioners of her Majestys Treasury to send you some time tonight a Copy or Duplicate of the Report I made a few weeks ago concerning the method of computing the Duties on unrated East India Goods. Being asked my opinion about this matter by one or two frien{d}s I gave it in writing. But I do not remember that I kept a copy of what I wrote. But the sense was this. It seeming to me improper to call any thing a Duty which is not really payable to the Qeen nor really imposed by Act of Parliament, I was of opinion that the the Act of Parliament might lay the duties upon the clear value of the Goods after all real charges deducted & upon this supposition I proposed the following method of computing the Duty //

The Queens Duty upon any Goods bears a certain proportion to the gross val{u}e by the candle which proportion therefore being found in any one case is found in all.

To find this proportion, suppose that the clear value in any one case is 100^£ & that the Queens whole duty or summ of all the Queens particular Duties upon it computed according to the rates set down in the Acts of Parliament, are D; & to the summ of 100^£ & D, add the seventh part of this summ (the allowances for warehouse room & prompt payment) & the whole summ will be the gross value by the candle in this case. Say therefore As this gross value is to the Queens Duty D, so is the Gross value of any parcel of the like East India Goods to the Queens Duty upon that parcel, & so is an unit to the number N.

Therefore Multiply the gross value of any parcel of East India goods of that sort, by the number N, & the product will be the Queens Duty.

Thus the method of finding the Queens Duty is very shirt & easy, being performed by one single multiplication. And nothing is wanting but to clear the meaning of the Act of Parliament.