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

that is, after\upon/ the clear value w^ch remains after the allowance for warehouse room & prompt paym^t & the Queen \real/ Duty are\really/ computed upon the clear va r imposed & \really/ payable to the Queen are\were/ dedu{illeg}|c|t{illeg}|e|d: And upon this opinion supposition I proposed the followeing method of computing the Duty.

S^r

| 17896. 2. 8$\frac{1}{2}$  1491. 6. 8 19387. 9. 5|4|$\frac{1}{2}$ 2533. 7 8941. 15        1192.  4. 8       10133  19  8 | I received this afternoon an Order from the Co L^ds Comm^ers of her Ma^ts. Treasyry {sic} {illeg}|t|o send you {illeg}|s|ome 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. I do not remember any thin further of this matt{illeg}er then \that upon being asked/ that M^r Lowndes\Being/ asked my opinion about it & I told it him\about this matter by one or two frien{d}s I told it/ my opninion &\I/ gave b it to him \th{illeg}/\afterwards/ in writing. \to one or two friends but I do/ & I did the like to one of the Auditors. I have no copies of any \those/ parpers {sic}, about it, but I remember that \But/ \But/ I do not remember that I kept any\a/ copi|y|es of those papers, but I remember that the method I proposed w|what I wrote. But the sense was this. It seeming to me improper to call any thing a Duty w^ch is not \really/ payable to the Qeen nor \really/ imposed by Act of Parliam^t, I was of opinion that| I was of opinion that {sic} |y^e| the Act of Parliament \might/ lai|y|d the duties upon the clear value of the Goods after all \real/ charges deducted & upon this supposition the {illeg} method of computing the Duty would this|I proposed the Duty may be computed in this manner by the Rules of fals Position in this manner the following method of computing the Duty| // Suppose the clear value in any one case to be th 100^£ & the\the Summ of all whole the Queens/ duties upon it to be D, & the s to the Summ of 100^£ & D add the eight\seventh/ part of this summ for (the allowance for warehouse room & prompt payment) & & you have\{the} whole summ will be/ the gross price\Value/ by |y^e| candle . {illeg}This in this case.

Then say, As the gross value by the candle in this case is to the \Queens/ DUty D in this case, so \an unit to the number N & so/ is the gross value by the candle to the \Queens/ duty upon it in any other case.

Therefore having multiplied the gross va once found the Number N, multiply the gross value of the Good by the number N & the product will be the Queens Duty.

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

To find this proportion, suppose that that the clear value in any one case is 100^£ & |y^t| the \Queens whole duty or/ summ of all the duties Queens \particular/ Duties upon \it computed/ according to the rates set down by|in y^e| Acts of Parliam^t, to be\are/ D; & to the summ of D & 100^£ & D, add the seventh part thereof this summ (the allowances for warehouse room & prop|m|pt paym^t) & 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 an unit to the number N, & so is the Gross value of the\of any {illeg}|parcel| of the like/ East India Goods \in any case/ to the Queens Duty in that any case/upon that parcel\, & so is an unit to the number N.

Or, having once found the number N, say, Ad the\Therefore/ Multiply the gross value of any \parcel of/ East India goods of the|a||t| same sort, by the number N, & the Queens Duty will be the product will be the Queens Duty.

Thus the method of finding the Queens Duty is very {illeg}|s|hirt & easy, being performed by one single multiplication. But|And| nothing is wanting but to clear the meaning of the Act of Parliament.