[1706/10/448]¹

Act in favour of the town of Aberdeen

Our sovereign lady and estates of parliament, considering a petition given in by the provost, bailies and council of Aberdeen representing the expense they have been brought to by the reparation and building of a bulwark for supporting their harbour, by the reparation of their prison and expense they will be put to in bringing water in to the town, by which, and their former debts, they are reduced to straits, and therefore craving a prorogation of a former gift in their favour for the space of twenty-five years after outrunning thereof. Therefore her majesty and estates foresaid do hereby ratify and approve the said former act in their favour, which is dated 16 July 1695 and, after expiration thereof, prorogate the same for the space of twenty-five years more, to be uplifted and collected by them in such form and manner during the said twenty-five years as they shall think fit, they being always obliged to apply the sum so uplifted, by virtue of this and the former gift, towards the payment of the principal sums due by them in the first place, and that at the sight of [James Ogilvy], earl of Seafield, lord high chancellor, [John Erskine], earl of Mar, lord secretary, [Charles Hay], earl of Erroll, [William Keith], earl Marischal, [John Keith], earl of Kintore, the lords [William Forbes, lord] Forbes and [Charles Fraser, lord] Fraser, Sir Thomas Burnett of Leys and the present commissioners to the parliament for the shire of Aberdeen, to whom, from year to year, they are to be accountable for their management, with the burden always of £40 sterling yearly during the continuance of this and the former gift towards a salary to Doctor Thomas Bower, regius professor of mathematics in the King's College of Aberdeen, and his successors in office, payable at two terms in the year Whitsunday [15 May] and Martinmas [11 November] by equal portions, beginning the first term's payment at Whitsunday next; and £30 sterling payable at Whitsunday and Martinmas next, by equal portions, to Alexander Baillie, servant to the lord register or his assignees, in part payment for his great pains and expense in putting in order the records and warrants in the lower parliament house, making inventories of the books and searching out and writing a register of the old public treaties between this and other nations, and ordain the magistrates of the said burgh to pay the said respective sums accordingly. And to the effect the said town of Aberdeen may be the better enabled to pay the said sum of £40 sterling yearly to the said Doctor Bower and his successors and the said £30 sterling to the said Alexander Baillie, in manner foresaid, out of what arises from the said gift, and in regard they have several public and useful works of their own to finish and carry on for the public utility, therefore, her majesty and the estates of parliament extend the imposition upon liquors mentioned in their said gift to what shall be brewed and vended in the old town of Aberdeen, college bounds, Spittal and Seaton, from and after the said term of Whitsunday next, and statute and ordain that all liquors brewed and vended in the said old town, college bounds, Spittal and Seaton, from that term and during the continuance of this gift, shall be liable to the same imposition on liquors that are brewed and vended in the new town, and that the said town of Aberdeen, their collectors or tacksmen, may levy, collect and uplift the said imposition during the space foresaid in the same way and manner as they have levied and collected or shall levy and collect the same from their own brewers and retailers, and declare this act to be as effectual as if it had been contained in their first gift hereby prorogated.