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Rh hereby imposed which shall be imported directly from any British Colony, Plantation, or Settlement in Africa or America, or which shall be imported by the United Company of Merchants of England trading to the East Indies; nor to charge with the additional Duties hereby imposed, any Deals above Seven Inches in Width, being Eight Feet in Length, and not above Ten Feet in Length, and not exceeding One Inch and a Half in Thickness, nor any Fir Timber being Eight Inches Square, and not exceeding Ten Inches Square, being the Growth of Norway, and imported directly from thence.

50 GEORGII III. Cap. LXXXVI.

An Act to amend Two Acts passed in the Thirty-ninth and Forty-third Years of His present Majesty, for regulating the Manner in which the East India Company shall hire and take up Ships. 15th June 1810.]

HEREAS by an Act of Parliament passed in the Thirty-ninth Year of the Reign of His present Majesty, intituled, "An Act for regulating the Manner in which the United Company of Merchants of England trading to the East Indies shall hire and take up Ships for their regular Service;" it is enacted, That from and after the passing of that Act, the said United Company or their Court of Directors should employ in.their regular Service no Ships but such As should be contracted for to serve the said Company as they should have Occasion to employ them in Trade and Warfare, or any other Service, for Six Voyages to and from India or China, or elsewhere within the Limits of the said United Company's exclusive Trade, in Manner in the said Act mentioned; which Act was explained and amended by an Act of Parliament passed in the Forty-third Year of the Reign of His present Majesty: And whereas it is expedient that the Court of Directors of the said United Company should be empowered to bite and take up, for their regular Service, Ships already engaged or hereafter to be engaged in the Service of the said United Company, in the Manner provided by either of the said Acts, for the further Service of the said United Company, and also that they should he empowered to take up by private Contact, Ships engaged in His Majesty's Transport or other Service, to carry Convicts or Stores to New South Wales, the Cape of Good Hope, or Ceylon, for the Purpose of bringing Home Cargoes from China or India for One Voyage only; be it therefore enacted by the King's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same. That it shall and may be lawful to and for the Court of Directors of the said United Company, by Public Advertisement, to hire and take up for the regular Service of the said United Company for such Number of Voyages to and from India of China or elsewhere within the Limits of the exclusive Trade of the Said United Company, as the said Court of Directors shall see fit, beyond and after the Performance of the Number of Voyages for which any such Ship or Vessel respectively have been or shall be contracted to serve the said Company, provided that such Ship or Ships shall he fit or can be repaired and made fit to serve the said Company for such additional Voyage or Voyages: Provided always, that the Freight to be paid for any such Ship or Ships to be taken up for any additional Voyage or Voyages, to be performed after the Expiration of the Number of Voyages for which such Ship or Ships respectively shall have been contracted for to serve the said Company, shall not exceed the Rate of Freight paid for such Ships respectively under the last Contracts respectively by which they shall have been engaged in the Service of the said United Company, unless the Average Rate of Freight to be paid for the Ships of a similar Description, which shall have been taken up to serve the said Company for Six Voyages at least, in consequence of the Advertisement Under which any Ship or Ships shall have been taken Up to serve the said Company for Six Voyages at least, which shall have been published last immediately before such Contract for an additional Voyage or additional Voyages shall be entered into respectively, shall exceed such Rate, in which Case the Freight to be paid for Ships to perform any additional Voyage or Voyages may be extended to the said Average Rate of Freight, any Thing herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding; Provided also, that in ail Cases of Ships taken up under the Authority of this Act, all the Provisions and Directions con­tained in the said recited Acts shall be adhered to and performed in the same Manner as in the said recited Acts are mentioned and directed, so far as they shall be applicable to the Case.

II. And be it further enacted. That it shall and may be lawful to and for the said Court of Directors of the said United Company from Time to Time to hire and take up by private Contract,