Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/414

 until seventeen years had elapsed that these provisions were repealed.

In many instances, when the public enemy had seized cargoes of tobacco, the duties upon which had been paid, the owners were afterwards permitted to carry out of the Colony the same quantity without being compelled to meet the usual tax. In 1680, the duty was again fixed at two shillings, payable only in the current coin of England; and the whole amount collected was to be devoted exclusively to the support of the government in Virginia. Stringent regulations were again adopted to prevent the evasion of the law. The boatswain&#8217;s book was to be delivered to the collector by the shipmaster, who was to take oath as to the accuracy of the number of hogsheads shown by its entries to have been brought on board; for every part of his cargo which he concealed, he was to forfeit one hundred pounds sterling and treble the amount of the tax, and he might even be compelled to give bond for any possible excess in the quantity of tobacco really exported by him over what he had sworn he had placed in the hold of his vessel. It reveals not only the disposition of shipmasters to brush aside the requirements of the statute, but also the great number of opportunities open to them to do so, that a special allowance of considerable value was made them for returning a perfectly accurate statement as to the size of their cargoes.

The duty of receiving the tax imposed on the hogsheads of exported tobacco fell upon an officer known as the collector, who gave security for its proper performance. This officer was, before the second Navigation Act, appointed by the Assembly. After the passage of that Act, he was empowered to carry out the functions of his