application to this assembly to pass an act, appointing persons, in the room of the trustees so dead, to execute a conveyance for the said thirty acres of land.

II. Be it therefore enacted, That John Thomas Blow, Henry Westbrooke, and Thomas Edmunds, or any two of them, shall, and they are hereby authorized and required, together with the surviving Indian chiefs of the Nottoway tribe, to execute a deed of conveyance for the said thirty acres of land, to the said Edwin Gray, in fee. And whereas by one other act of assembly, passed under the former government, persons were appointed to lease certain lands belonging to the said Indians, and to receive and lay out the rents arising therefrom, for the benefit of the said Indians: And it being represented that all, or the major part of the said trustees, are dead, and that it is necessary to appoint others:

lease out

III. Be it therefore enacted, That the said John Additional Thomas Blow, Henry Westbrooke, and Thomas Ed- trustees apmunds, shall be, and they are hereby appointed, trus- pointed to tees also for receiving annually the said rents, and lay- lands of Noting out the same, for the benefit of the said Indians. toway Indi That upon the death of any of the said trustees, the ans. court of the said county of Southampton shall have power, and they are hereby required to appoint others, who shall have the same powers, in collecting and laying out the said rents, as those particularly named in his act.

CHAP. XXXIII.

[Chap CXXVIII in

An act concerning surveyors, letting original.] the next county surveyor survey [Chan, Rev when the county-one cannot be had.

p. 179.1

I. WHEREAS by the laws of this commonwealth, Preambl no entry for vacant and unappropriated lands can be made with any person except the principal survey or of the county in which such vacant and unappropriated land lies, and in many of the counties on the east

eastern wa

non-resi

dents.

ern waters great inconveniencies have arisen from having no surveyor, nor any person residing within the Surveyors on county willing to undertake the said office: Be it theretes may be fore enacted, That where the court of any county on the eastern waters shall recommend any person, not resident in their county, to the governor and council, who shall be found qualified by the president and masters of William and Mary college, to execute the office of surveyor, the governor may, and he is hereby authorized to, commission such person in the same manner as if he was actually resident within the county from which such recommendation came; and when thus commissioned as surveyor, such person may and shall act and do in all respects as the surveyor of such county. And where any person shall hold a warrant from be madewith the land office, or be desirous to make an entry in any clerk, where county on the said eastern waters for vacant and unapno surveyor. propriated land, and there shall be no surveyor qualified to act in such county, then it shall and may be How survey lawful for such person to make such entry with the clerk of the county court, and the same surveyed by any legal surveyor of the next or neighbouring county, shall be good and sufficient to enable such person to obtain a patent or grant therefor.

Entries may

cd.

Principal

survevor

11. And be it further enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the principal surveyor of any county may appoint within this commonwealth, to appoint one deputy, for a deputy. whose conduct the principal shall be answerable; who shall, in the absence or indisposition of such principal, keep the office, and transact the business of the same, in the same manner as such principal surveyor might have done.

Entries in

III. And whereas the death of the right honohe Northern rable Thomas Lord Fairfax, may occasion great Neck, how made. inconvenience to those who may incline to make entries for vacant lands in the Northern Neck: Be it therefore further enacted, That all entries made with the surveyors of the counties within the Northern Neck, and returned to the office formerly kept by the said Thomas Lord Fairfax, shall be held, deemed, and taken, as good and valid in law as those heretofore made under the direction of the said Thomas Lord Fairfax, until some mode shall be taken up and adopted by the general assembly concerning the territory of the Northern Neck.

CHAP. XXXV.

Ch. CXXVU

in original.

180.

An act to amend the act for defend- Chan. Rev. ing and protecting the trade of pa. Chesapeake bay.

See May, 1782, ch. 23.

1. BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That Sale of ship the commissioners appointed under the act for defend- Cormorant, ing and protecting the trade of Chesapeake bay, shall, directed. and they are hereby empowered and required, to sell and dispose of the ship Cormorant, with her appurtenances, in such manner and upon such conditions, as they may judge best, and the money arising therefrom, to be by the said commissioners applied towards building and fitting out other vessels more proper for the defence of the trade of the said bay.

riners.

11. And be it further enacted, That the several and Tax on sea, respective naval officers within this commonwealth, men and ma shall receive from each captain or commander of any vessel at the time of their entrance or clearance, one shilling for every seaman and mariner on board his vessel, an account of which each and every captain is hereby required to render upon oath, and pay to such naval officer, before he shall be permitted to clear or enter his vessel, to be accounted for and paid by the said naval officers in like manner and under the same penalties and forfeitures as is directed and prescribed in the case of other duties; and that the money arising from the duty aforesaid, shall be applied towards For an hosbuilding and supporting an hospital for disabled sea- pital. men and mariners.

III. And to the end that the officers, seamen, and mariners, may be punctually paid their wages, Be it enacted, That the said commissioners shall fix certain days and a particular place for paying the said wages once in three months, at which time and place the same shall be paid to each respective officer, seaman, and mariner. In case any officer, seaman, or mariner, shall fail to attend as aforesaid to receive his wages, the same shall be paid whenever afterwards demanded. If any officer, seaman, or mariner, be killed in action with the enemy, his widow and children shall receive the wages due at the time of his death, And that all VOL. XI.

V

Wages of seamen, how to be paid.

Land bounty officers, seamen, and mariners, or their representatives, to officers, shall be entitled to the same bounty in lands and other emoluments as the officers and soldiers of the Virginia line on continental establishment.

seamen, and marines.

Their fitness

IV. And be it further enacted, That the executive to be enquir- shall direct a court to be held to consist of not less than éd into. three experienced officers in the naval department, for the purpose of enquiring into the abilities and fitness of the several officers belonging to the navy, and the said court shall certify their proceedings to the executive, who are empowered and required to discharge such of the said officers as shall appear expedient to them; and the governor with advice of council shall have power to commission, on recommendation from the commissioners, any other officers that may be judged necesTM sary and proper.

Ch. CXXVII in original.

Ac' for sei

demnation

of British

CHAP. XXXV.

An act to repeal part of the act for seizure and condemnation of British goods found on land.

1. WHEREAS an act passed the last session of zure & con- assembly for the seizure and condemnation of British goods found on land, but the operation thereof was suspended until the other states of the Union should pass similar laws, which suspension has been found productive of a ruinous and shameful clandestine trade. with the enemies of this commonwealth, to the destruction of fair and open commerce: In remedy whereof,

goods found on land, to ge into im mcdiate opertion.

II. Be it enacted, That from and after the first day of April next, the said recited act shall be held and: deemed to be in full and absolute force, any thing therein contained to the contrary notwithstanding.

CHAP. XXXVI.

Ch. CXXIX in original.

chan. Rev.

P. 180.]

An act for the better collecting the fees due, or to become due to the clerks of the superior courts. See ch. 48.

When the

accounts of fees to be

I. FOR the better collecting and paying the fees which are now due, or may hereafter become due, to the clerks of the court of appeals, high court of chan- del vered by cery, and general court, Be it enacted, That the clerk clerks of sti of each of the said courts shall annually before the perior first day of May, deliver, or cause to be delivered, to the sheriff of every county within this commonwealth, their accounts of fees due from any person residing therein, which shall be signed by the said clerks.

courts,

When to be accounted

And the sheriff is hereby empowered and required to When to be receive such accounts, and to collect, levy, and re- collected. ceive, the several quantities of tobacco therein charg ed, of the persons chargeable therewith; and if such person or persons, after the said fees shall be demanded, shall refuse or delay to pay the same until after the first day of July in any year, the sheriff of that county wherein such person inhabits, shall have full power, and he is hereby required, to make distress and sale of the slaves or goods and chattels of the party so refusing or delaying payment, That the sheriff of every county shall, on or before the fifteenth day of September in every year, account with each of the for. said clerks for all fees put into his hands pursuant to this act, and pay the same to them at their offices in Richmond, or in such other place as the treasury may be kept in at the time of the payment, abating ten per cent for collecting. And if any sheriff shall refuse or neglect to account or pay the whole account of fees put into his hands after the deduction aforesaid is made, together with an allowance of what is charged to persons not dwelling, or having no visible estate, in his county, of which insolvencies an account shall be made out upon oath; it shall and may be lawful for each of the said clerks, upon a motion made to the next succeeding general court, on the twentieth day thereof, to demand judgment against such sheriff, for all fees wherewith he shall be chargeable by virtue of

Commis.

sions for collections.

Remedy against.