[Appendix A(27) 1792 Report of Commissioners of Inquiry]

N° 27.

The EXAMINATION of JOHN QUAYLE, Esq. Clerk of the Rolls, taken at Douglas, in the Isle of Man, the 28th Day of Sept. 1791.

[Examined by the Duke of Atholl.]

R, QUAYLE states, that the Herring Custom, of ten Shillings a Boat, was, for many Years, perhaps a Century prior to 1765, paid to His Grace's Family, and that Duty was paid once a Year, usually about Christmas, to the Water Bailiff for the Use of the Lord Proprietor.

[Cross-examined by the Keys.]

That there was also a double Herring Duty upon foreign Boats not belonging to the Island, which was paid without their entering the Harbour, or coming on Shore ; and this Duty was paid by the Boatmen the first Time they came upon the Coast, to the Deputy Searcher, who boarded the Boat for that Purpose, if they did not come on Shore. That ten Maze of Fish subjected a Manks Boat to pay the whole Duty to the Lord. That five Maze, and not seven and a Half, subjected a Manks Boat to the Payment of Half Duty. If two Maze and a Half, Quarter Duty. If less, no Duty was paid. The Foreign Duty, he apprehends, was abateable in the same Proportion, but he does not recollect an Instance. That the Payment in Kind of a Castle Maze of Herrings to the Garrisons of the Island, has ceased; he believes it ceased at the Time the ten Shillings Commutation commenced.

JOHN QUAYLE,

Jn^o Spranger.
W^m Osgoode.
Will^m Roe.
David Reid.

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