[From Crown Agent's Letter Book 1]

To the Commissioners of his Majestys Wood & Forests &c

The Memorial of James Mc Crone their agent in the Isle of Man. 4 July 1833

Humbly Sheweth

That on the recommendation of William Courtenay, Esquire, now depute Clerk of the House of Lords, your Memorialist was appointed to take charge of the Crown Property in the Isle of Man, after being conveyed to his Majesty by the Duke of Atholl in 1827. That the property under the Memorialists charge consists of quit rents, payable by every individual holding any property whatever within the Isle; of Alienation and Pinfold fines, of Wrecks & Strays, of the rent of Demesne and Abbey lands with Customs, Boon services, of the rents of Baronies, of certain portions of the tithes of six parishes, & of the Royalties of Mines &c, besides a vast tract of the appropriated Commons.

That in the Management of this property & collecting the rents &c, the Memorialist has continued down to this date, and his whole time has been occupied thereby & therewith to the total exclusion of any other employment.

That in the discharge of his duty he has been called upon to sell from time to time, the [most?] part of the Demesne Lands in lots to the value or intent of £12294 3 1. That in the performance of all the duty. the Memorialists has had very considerable trouble, and has been subjected to all the risk, attending the collecting and remitting the rents & Royalties & faithful discharge of his duty and liability to the Crown, he entered into Bonds with sufficient bail to a considerable amount. That the Memorialist's Commission bears, that he is to receive [a twentieth part of the] Money collected for his trouble, without receiving [any further] Salary or other emolument whatsoever.

That the amount of the said twentieth part since the commencement of his labours in 1827 and down to 1831 being 5 years, arising from annual rents & royalties has only averaged £147 9 5.5 per annum - which is so inadequate for the trouble he has had, that if it were not that he also considered himself entitled to the same commission on Sales, it would not have been worth his while to have embarked in the employment - for it is to be observed. that this annual average is the gross amount, while the incidents, travelling charges & perpetual expense of necessarily entertaining all who come, almost daily from every part of the Island, on Crown business reduces the free? emoluments to a very small sum.

That in the sales of the Crown Property, your one memorialist took the sole charge of drawing up the advertisements - getting the same inserted in the newspapers, corresponding with your Board and with intending purchasers - and making all the sales public and private and in receiving and transmitting the considerable monies & expense of conveyances and that without employing any attorney or solictor (excepting in one instance to the amount of one guinea of costs) which would have incurred a very considerable Bill of Costs, against the Crown. Therefore for all these reasons and bearing in mind that the Memorialist had the risk of buying and depreciating Bills for the amount of the price, he considers himself fairly entitled to an equal commission in those sales receiving, negoticiating risks &c as on that of Crown Rents.

And your Memorialist with deference considers himself, the more justified in making this claim when he reflects how frequently he has been called upon by the Board to enquire into, and report upon a great variety of things connected with the Crown, in which he, as the Commissioners know, has had considerable trouble, and he has necessarily incurred expenses in the enquiries going here & there, in order to gain personal infornmation, and in all this, and in drawing up the report, sending the same to the Board, keeping duplicates & he has not made any charge nor received any emolument whatever. And to all this he may add the fact, that by the sales of the Crown lands, the commission with rents has come to an end and the amount of future commission depends mainly now on the prospertity of the mines & royalties which are always fluctuating and uncertain.

The Memorialist therefore humbly hopes that the Commissioners of his Majestys Woods &c will think him entitled to take credit in his accounts with the Board for an bequal commission on the sales of Crown property, as on the collection of rents and royalties, and he prays they may consider his case favourably and allow him to take credit accordingly - And your Memorialist will ever pray

James McCrone

Enclosing letter to Alexr Milne secretary Office of Woods &c - dated Isle of Man 5th July 1833

Sir

I take the liberty to enclose a memorial for myself, which I request you will lay before the Board, and when the Commissioners consider it in all its bearings, I am hopeful they will think my claims reasonable, and that in allowing it full extent, they will thereby remunerate me in some degree for many incidental things, which have caused considerable trouble, yet unrequited - nor could I make up a charge for the same, though I were inclined, as I am not, to make a charge for the same - I have the honor &c

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