I. THE Bill is for two purposes : The first is , to Relieve the Sellers against the great Oppressions they lie under by the ill use the Cheesemongers , and their Agents , have made of the Statute 14 Car . II .

The Cheesemongers , soon after the making of that Statute , did set up in all the Port-Towns in the Counties where this Commodity is made , an Officer whom they call a Weigher ( who is no Officer by Law , nor Sworn ; but is usually a decayed Cheesemonger , sent from London by them ) and he takes upon him ( after the Factor hath bought the Goods at the Sellers House , and searched and approved them there , when they come at the Coast , it may be 20 or 30 Miles from the Sellers House , and are out of his possession ) to Weigh and Search the Goods over again , and sets Rates of Deduction as he thinks fit , upon every Mans Goods , and writes back Notes to the Factor who bought the Commodity , that he must discount so much out of the Price agreed for , which if the Seller refuseth to discount , then Informations are exhibited upon some of the Branches of that Statute , and much Oppression is thereby .

About the year 1674. one Everard , a Weigher in the Port of Ipswich in Suffolk , exhibited in one Quarter-Sessions , above 200 Informations upon this Statute , against the Makers or Venders of this Commodity ; and not one of them was tryed , but the Makers were under a Necessity of compounding with him ; because the Statute gives the Informant half the Penalty , and double Costs if the Offender be Convicted : But the supposed Offender hath no Costs if he be acquitted ; and the Persons informed against , chose rather to give the Informant 30 or 40 s . apiece to agree with him , than to spend 3 or 4 l. or more , to be acquitted .

And since this the Countrymen have not much contended with them , but have submitted to abate what the Weigher hath adjudged , rather than to stand an Information , in regard he can have no Costs if he be acquitted : And by this practice the Weighers , who are the Cheesemongers Servants , raise in one County , viz. in Suffolk , as near as can be computed , 600 l. per annum , which is supposed , pays the Factors and the Weighers Wages , and more .

II . The second part of the Act is to prevent the Trade being ingrossed by a few Men , and to make it open and free to all the Cheesemongers , and the makers of the Commodity .

The Trade out of Suffolk and Norfolk is now totally ingrossed by about 22 Thames-Street Cheesemongers , who oblige their Weigher at the Coast , to receive no Butter and Cheese , or put it on Board , but for these 22 : And they oblige all the Hoymen ( who go by Sea between London and Suffolk , in the Nature of Common Carriers by Land , to carry and recarry Goods ) to take into their Vessels no Butter and Cheese , but for some , or one of these 22 Men . These very Hoyes bring any other Goods for any persons : But by the contrivance of these 22 Men , no Butter and Cheese can be brought up , but it must be their Goods , or consigned to them , or the Countryman must have leave from one of them , or he cannot send up his own Goods , nor send a Firkin of Butter to a Friend .

These 22 have every Wednesday a Clubb where they meet , and they set the price of the Goods below , and dispatch their Orders accordingly ; and also set the Price of the same Goods here ; and make the rest of the Cheesemongers that they exclude , by this practice , give them their own Price for the Goods here .

There are 300 Cheesemongers free of the City of London , and they would all ( probably ) Trade more or less , if these 22 did not exclude them ; but they have excluded 20 Cheesemongers that did actually Trade into Suffolk and Norfolk , within a few years , and have very lately turned out a considerable Trader ; and by degrees , if not prevented , they will lessen this Number , as they have already threatned to do .

These 22 Men object two things against this Act , First , That it lets in all the Inconveniencies of the Statute of 14 Car . II . provides against : Secondly , That it invades their Properties .

As to the first , the Act proposed doth not Repeal the Stat ' of 14 Car . II . for that Statute will be the standard of the Weight , and goodness of the Commodity still : And if the Goods are not made according to that standard , the Factor may , and doubtless will , refuse to buy them : And he also may ( if he doth not buy them ) Indict the Maker upon that Statute , for not making the Goods according to it ; and the Statute gives him Encouragement enough , viz. double Costs , and half the Penalty . And as to the Factors carrying Weights about them , they need not ; for every Maker of Butter and Cheese hath Weights sufficient , and such as the Factors have always hitherto used to buy by ; and if they have not , the Factor is not obliged to buy the Goods ; and besides , may Indict the Seller for bad Weights , there being already Laws sufficient to oblige him thereto ; and there is a sufficient Provision in the Act proposed to prevent any Frauds in the Seller after the Goods bought : And the Seller is willing to submit to any Penalty shall be thought fit in Parliament to restrain him therein ; and the Factor that buys them , will be a Witness of such Fraud , and one Witness by the Act , is enabled to Convict the Offenders . And besides , the Buyer hath by Law an Action of the Case against the Seller for any such Fraud or Wrong .

That these 22 Men make is , That it gives every Trader an equal Property in their private Shops , Warehouses , Servants and Vessels , without recompence .

The Act proposed doth not meddle with any Mans Shop ; and these 22 Men have no sole Property in any of these Vessels or Warehouses , or Servants , but the Vessels are the Common Hoyes that carry to and from London , and ought to be at Liberty to be freighted by every Man alike , that brings Goods to them before they be full ; and not to be ingrossed by any one Body of Men : Neither do these Men freight them wholly , but if there happens not to be Butter and Cheese enough at that Port where they Lade , the Hoy-master is at liberty to take in any other Mans Goods to make up his freights , and doth so constantly ( provided it be not Butter and Cheese ) Neither do these 22 Men freight the said Vessels back from London , but they take in Goods of every Man , as they can get freight , as Common Carriers by Land do . And the Weighers are paid by the Load , and out of that they pay for the Warehouses themselves ; and so they are no Mans proper Servants : And whereas these 22 Men engross the whole Commodity in Suffolk , it would be the same thing to the Weigher , if this Commodity were bought by 300 Men , instead of 22. for he would have the same Mony for every Load that he hath now .

This Act being only to prevent Oppressions made by the ill usage of the Statute of 14 Car . II . and being to make a free Trade , which is a Common Good to Mankind in general , and to prevent Ingrossers in this particular , It s humbly desired that it may pass into a Law .