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<p n="336">of hawest and the summoning the assessors and Collectors from<lb></lb>
the distant parts of the County might be inconvenient to them upon<lb></lb>
that account Your Committee confined themselves to Holborn and<lb></lb>
Finsbury Divisions and the Liberty of Westminster, where by reason of<lb></lb>
the great number of houses and consequently the inconsiderableness<lb></lb>
of the assessment upon each house the aforementioned oppression was<lb></lb>
carried on in a manner least likely to be discovered, and the rather <lb></lb>
because upon view of the duplicates it did not appear to them to prevail<lb></lb>
so munch in the County parishes. The assessors generally alledged for<lb></lb>
excuse that what they had done was to satiffy the charges of Collection<lb></lb>
the makeing of the Books and such like and that many persons refused<lb></lb>
to pay their assessment by reason whereof little more could be raised<lb></lb>
than sufficient to satisfy the Treasurer the legall Sum, tho' upon view<lb></lb>
of the Books it appears to your Committee that in most of the parishes<lb></lb>
the assessment has been almost punctually raised. The assessors of St.<lb></lb>
Anns Westm did acknowledge their fault and consess that they did it<lb></lb>
knowingly to give an opportunity to the Collector to raisea Sum of <lb></lb>
money for the support of himself and a numerous Family which <lb></lb>
must otherwise have been burthen Some to their parish and to the end<lb></lb>
of their assessment have deceitfully added the words, Sum Total <lb></lb>
£11:19s:5d: Tho' they mention in the title that £7 only was charged upon<lb></lb>
their parish But upon casting up the Book by some of your<lb></lb>
Committee it appears to your Committee to amount to £17 and <lb></lb>
upwards, It appears that all the Collectors who are for the most<lb></lb>
part the Beadles either in their ownright or as Deputys did this<lb></lb>
with their Eyes open, in regard none of them have paid more to the<lb></lb>
Treasucer'suse than the sum charged upon their parish by the legall<lb></lb>
rate, and they acknowledged that the money by them raised over and<lb></lb>
above what they had paid to the use of the Treasurer was still in their<lb></lb>
hands. Your Committee had it in their intention to have caused all<lb></lb>
the Originall Collecting Books to have been cast up to see what has been<lb></lb>
actually collected and consequently what remains in the Collectors<lb></lb>
hands, but that has not been yet done for want of an opportunity of<lb></lb>
seeing those Books which they consest they had destroyed. In the<lb></lb>
course of this enquiry it appeared that several parishes to prevent<lb></lb>
any appression upon them had ordered the just sum and no more to be<lb></lb>
paid out of the Land tax But this precaution appears also to have been<lb></lb>
abused for upon view of the receipts in some of those parishes Your<lb></lb>
Committee entertained a suspicion that they had paid their</p>
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