WHereas by sundry Acts, Ordinances and Or­ders of Parliament, se­veral Rates & Char­ges by way of New-Impost or Excize, for discharging of publique Debts, and defraying of the Charge of the Commonwealth, have been and are imposed upon divers Commodities, Merchandizes and Manufactures, imported, made or growing, or [Page 1016] put to sale or consumed within England and Wales, and Town of Berwick upon Tweed, as in the said Acts, Ordinances and Orders of Parliament is expressed, and doth more largely appear: The Parliament have thought fit to Enact and Or­dain, and be it Enacted and Ordained by this present Parliament, and by the Authority there­of, That from and after the Nine and twentieth day of September, One thousand six hundred and fifty, George Snelling Esq Thomas Bulstrode Esq Thomas Foot Lord Major of the City of London, William Parker Doctor of Physick, Maurice Thom­pson and Richard Downs, Esqs and no others, are and shall be, and are hereby declared, constituted and appointed Commissioners and Governors of the Excize or New-Impost; and are hereby authorized and required, by themselves or their Subcommissioners, Deputies, and other Of­ficers to be by them authorized and appointed under their Hands and Seals, to collect and re­ceive all such Sum and Sums of Money which shall at any time hereafter from and after the said Nine and twentieth day of September, One thousand six hundred and fifty, become due and payable for the Excize of any Goods, Wares, Merchandizes and Manufactures, imported, or made, or growing, or put to sale, or consumed within England and Wales, and Town of Berwick upon Tweed, in such sort as the said Duties have been, or ought to have been collected by vertue of any Act, Ordinance or Order of Parliament, or any other Instructions from the Parliament, or by Authority of Parliament, which are now in force. And it is hereby Enacted and Declared, That the said George Snelling, Thomas Bulstrode, Thomas Foot, William Parker, Maurice Thompson and Richard Downs, shall have the same Power and [Page 1017] Authority to do all and every act and acts, thing and things that John Towse Esq deceased, John Langham, Thomas Foot, John Kenrick, Thomas Cullum, Esqs Aldermen of London, Simon Edmonds, John Lamot and Edward Claxton, Citizens of London, or any of them, by vertue of any Acts, Ordinances or Orders of Parliament or otherwise, might or could lawfully do.

And it is further Enacted and Declared, That the said Commissioners of Excize appointed by this Act, shall have power to let out, and to Farm the Excize or New-Impost of all Commo­dities, or any part thereof charged to pay Excize by Authority of Parliament within this Com­monwealth, according to such Rules and In­structions as the Parliament, or Committee of Parliament appointed for Regulating of Excize, shall from time to time give unto them: And the said Committee are hereby impowered to give Rules and Instructions accordingly.

And be it further Enacted and Ordained, That the said Commissioners shall have and take to themselves for their care and pains, Three pence in the pound for all and every such Sum and Sums of Money respectively as shall be raised, collected and gathered for Excize or New-Impost, and for all such Fines, For­feitures and Amerciaments, which shall be im­posed, assessed and collected to the use of the State, for or by reason of the same.

And be it further Enacted and Ordained by the Authority aforesaid, That all Subcommis­sioners, and other Officers and persons now im­ployed in the Service of the Excize under the late Commissioners for the Excize, shall remain and continue in their respective Imployments, [Page 1018] until such time as the Commissioners herein named, shall by and with the consent and appro­bation of the Committee for Regulating the Excize, otherwise Order and Appoint, Any thing in this Acts contained to the contrary notwith­standing.