House of Commons (Disqualification) Act 1693

XLVI. A Transfer Office to be kept in London.

When Fortunate Tickets adjusted, Tickets, Books, &c. remaining in the Hands of the Managers, to be delivered to the Commissioner of Transfer Office.; Duty of the said Commissioner thereon. Directions as to numbering, flourishing, and cutting off the middle Tickets and Tallies.; No Fee.; Tickets or Tallies for the Annuities of £1 per Annum payable at the Exchequer.; Person bringing a false Ticket,; Penalty £5; not paid, Imprisonment.

And to the end that all and every the payments of or upon the Annuities abovementioned may bee duely made to such person or persons that shall or may become rightful Proprietors thereof as is herein and hereby directed and appointed and for the makeing the said payments easie and safe to the adventurers in this adventure and for the negociating settling and disposeing of the annual and other payments aforesaid soe that they may become more valuable and useful in payment to and from each person as the occasions of the Adventurers and their Assignes may require Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid That a Transfer Office be erected and establisht in London and a Commissioner or Chief Officer appointed thereunto by their Majesties by Letters Patents under the Greate Seale of England for the purposes hereafter expressed And that when the abovesaid fortunate Lotts shall be adjusted by the abovesaid Managers and Directors all the Tickett-Books and Ticketts which shall remaine in the hands of the said Managers (except that Book which is to bee transmitted into the Exchequer) shall bee delivered to the Commissioner of the Transfer Office who is alsoe to receive in all the ten pound Ticketts delivered out as aforesaid and to deliver to the bearer of each of those Ticketts sixteen Vellom or Paper Ticketts or Tallies for the sixteen yearely payments upon the annuities of one pounds by the yeare and Two and thirty Vellom or Paper Ticketts or Tallies for the Two and thirty halfe-yearely payments upon the higher annuities as hereafter is expressed And that Books upon a particular sort of Vellom or Paper on the back-side clouded shall by the care and direction of the Commissioner and Chief Officer of the Transfer Office bee printed to containe as many Ticketts as bee necessary for this purpose and that three of one sort bee alike numbred and flourished as hereunder described. That the middle Paper Tickett or Tally of the three bee cutt off indent-wise to bee delivered out as aforesaid That one of the X1 three bee bound upp in a Book to remaine in the Transferr Office for any person to know whether the Tickett or Tally that is offered to bee disposed bee a true or false one And that the other of the three bee bound upp in a Book and delivered into the Exchequer to pay by when the middle Tickett or Talley becomes payable And alsoe that the middlemost of these three Ticketts or Tallies that shall bee delivered to any person or persons that shall bee entituled to any fortunate Lott bee signed by the said Co[m]missioner of the Transfer Office or his sufficient Deputy for whom hee will answer And that att some time within fourty days before the growing due of every payment of the said Annuities exceeding one pounds per annum the Commissioner or his Deputy of the Transfer Office for the time being shall examine the Tickett or Tally for that particular payment and if it answers the counterpart in that Office hee shall signe his examinac[i]on thereof all which shall bee done without fee or charge And then the Officer of the Exchequer examineing the same and finding it to answer the counterpart lodged in his Office hee shall take it upp and pay the contents thereof to the Bearer att or within the time before appointed for the payment thereof without any further or other warrant or order to bee sued for had or obtained in that behalfe And that the Ticketts or Tallies for the annuities of one pound per annum apeice shall bee paid and payable att the Exchequer without any further examination or attestation and without any further or other warrant or order as aforesaid by the Commissioner of the Transfer Office And that in case a false Tickett or Tally upon either the examinations aforesaid bee found That the Officer for the time being att the Transfer Office or the Exchequer doe cutt a slip out of it and that the person that brings it bee liable to pay a Fine of Five pounds to and for the use of their Majesties their heires and successors to bee recovered by the Oath of either of the said Officers of the Transfer Office or of the Exchequer to bee made before one of the Barons of the Exchequer and the said Fines shall bee payable into the receipt of the Exchequer to and for the use of their Majesties their Heires and Successors And for want of payment any one of the said Barons of the Exchequer is hereby impowered to send the party offending to Goal and him her or them therein to detaine until payment bee made of such Fine.

Editorial Information

X1 Variant reading of the text noted in The Statutes of the Realm as follows: other O. [O. refers to a collection in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge]