EXperience hath long since shown , That the use of Bills , or Notes of Credit , is absolutely necessary in great Commerce and Traffick ; because it makes Payments of Mony easie , quick , and certain , by preventing the trouble and loss of Time in telling it over , and damage from Light and Counterfei●-Mony .

And because great Losses have happen'd here in England , from the Insolvency of several Persons that have given out Bills or Notes of Credit ; therefore great Thoughts and Industry has of late Years been imploy'd , both by the Publick and Private Persons , in setling Funds of Credit to prevent Losses ; All which Attempts have hitherto prov'd unsuccessful .

And yet , upon due Consideration it plainly appears , that both Publick Funds and Private Mens Estates , without an Act of Parliament , are very capable of being so Setled , as to make a certain Fund for Bills of Credit to pass in Payment as well as Ready-Mony . And therefore , the reason that such Attempts have not as yet prov'd successful , must be solely from the want of Knowledge and Skill in the Managing such Funds of Credit ; by reason , perhaps , that some Persons who had great share in the contriving of the Settlements of such Funds , had no part in the Management of them .

Upon these Considerations , and especially from that of the more than ordinary Occasion for Bills of Credit at this time , since the Quantity of the Mony is greatly lessen'd by the new-coinage of it . And , to the intent that so Useful a Design to the Publick , and of so great an Advantage to the Nobility and Gentry ; As the making the Lands of England a Fund for Bills of Credit , might not be lost , from the Discouragement some Attempts of this nature have met with , for want of Success ; this Office for Transferring and Discounting Land-Bills was formed , and setled upon the Terms and Conditions herein express'd .

I. That the Masters and Managers of the Office ( to be chosen as is herein express'd ) will provide proper Persons to accept the Trust , and to take the Conveyances of all Mannors , Lands , Rents , Tenements , and Hereditaments , which the Owners thereof shall desire to convey , pursuant to the Settlement of the Office for Transferring and Discounting Land-Bills , which is to this effect : That the Owners of the Lands may draw Bills of Credit on their Estates , as far as Three Fourths of the Value ; and that such Conveyances shall be made in Trust , in the first place , for payment of those Persons to whom such Bills are assign'd , and afterwards in Trust for the Owners of the Lands . The Conveyances are to be enter'd in the Books of the Office . The Fee for Conveying and Settling in the Office , is Twenty Shillings per Cent . of the Value of the Estate , and Five Shillings per Cent . for entering the Conveyance in the Books of the Office , and Twelve-pence per Bill .

II . That the Value of all Estates may be the better known , upon which Bills are to be drawn not exceeding the Value of Three Fourths , the Rates are as followeth , viz. Ground-Rents in Fee , Two and twenty Years Purchase . Lands in Fee , Twenty Years Purchase . Houses in Fee , insur'd , Seventeen Years Purchase . Leasehold Estates , according to the length of the Term . Ground-Rents of Sixty Years , with a Reversion of the Improvement , Eighteen Years Purchase . And so in proportion for shorter Terms . Improv'd Rents , a term of Sixty Years and upwards , well Tenanted , Fourteen Years Purchase . Fifty and upwards , Thirteen . Forty and upwards , Twelve . Thirty and upwards , Eleven . Twenty and upwards , Ten ; with the Allowance of a Years Purchase more or less , according to the Country , Place , Certainty of the Rent , and other circumstances .

III . That if any Difference should arise betwixt the Master and Managers of the Office , and the Owners of the Lands , about the Title or Value of any Estate , 't is to be determin'd by a Council of Seven , to be Yearly chosen by the Owners of the Lands .

IV . That after any Estate has been Enter'd in the Office Six Months , and the Bills in the interim have been once Assign'd , that the Value of such Bills may be the better known and approv'd of ; The Bills drawn on such Estates , upon giving a Months Notice to the Office , and paying after the rate of Twenty Shillings per Cent . shall be Discounted and Paid in Ready-Mony , by the Office , without any other Deduction than a Month's Interest , payable on such Bills ; so that such Interest be not less than Two-pence per diem .

V. That the Interest of the Bills is to be paid by the Office every Six Months , according to the Date of the Bill : And therefore every Person , upon Conveying and Entering his Estate in the Office , is to deposite a Years Interest ; and also to pay to the Office the Interest every Half-year , Ten Days before it is due .

VI . That all Bills are made Assignable and Transferrable only in the Books of the Office , wherein the Habitations of the Persons to whom the Bills are Assign'd are mention'd ; There being no other way to prevent Counterfeiting of the Bills ; Or to know where to send for the Bills when any Person desires to call for them in , and discharge his Estate ; which the Office undertakes to procure upon a Months Notice , and to deliver to the Parties that have such Bills , Mony or Bills of the same Value , at the Election of the Parties . And after Notice left at their Abode , the Interest of the said Bills ceases , till they bring them to the Office . The Fee for Assigning of a Bill is One Shilling .

VII . That the Bills drawn on Estates in Houses , may be of the same Value as Bills drawn on Land ; the Houses , before they are Convey'd and Enter'd in the Office , are to be Insur'd from Fire : And to that intent there is an Office for Insuring Houses from Fire , wherein several Hundreds of Houses are Insur'd , annex'd to the Office for Transferring and Discounting Land-Bills .

VIII . And that all Bills , after they have been Discounted by the Office , may be of a more certain Value , there is Ten per Cent . of the Stock of the Office , and One per Cent . of the Value of all Estates , Convey'd , ( which is to be deposited at the time of Conveying and Entring the said Estates ) Appropriated , and made a Fund or Security to make good all Losses , if any should happen , to such Bills . And to distinguish them from other Bills , a Stamp of the Office is to be set upon them , after they are Discounted .

And because the Care of Safely Lodging and Disposing of Mony is not much less troublesome to some Persons , than the Care of Wanting to others ; those that lodge their Mony in the Office , shall have Bills Discounted by the Office Assign'd them , and their Mony repaid upon a Months Notice , without paying for their Discounting . And if they Assign those Bills to a third Person , they are to be allow'd Ten Shillings per Cent . by the Office .

IX . That there may never be wanting in the Office a Sufficient Sum of Mony to Discount the Bills , and to Reimburse the Stock of the Office ; the Masters and Managers of the Office are to call for in equally , Ten or more per Cent , of the Value of all the Bills drawn on Estates Convey'd and Enter'd in the Office ; for which Mony Bills are to be Assign'd ; and after Six Months , upon a Months Notice , those Bills are to be again Discounted by the Office . And those Persons as shall refuse or neglect to pay such Proportions of their Debt as shall from time to time be call'd for , or neglect to pay their Interest , when due , the Masters and Managers are to call for the whole Sum due on such Estates : And after Six Months demand , and not paid , the Trustees are to sell the Estates , by the publick Sale of the Office .

X. That it may be the Interest of the Owners of the Lands to assist and promote the Circulation of their Bills , by making their Payments by Bills of the Office ; the Owners of the Lands are to be Sharers with the Office , in the Profit of the Discount ; that is , for every Hundred Pounds that the Owners of the Lands pay into the Office , they are to have Bills Assign'd them : And upon Reassigning the said Bills to a third Person , they are to be allow'd Ten Shillings per Cent . by the Office .

XI . That the Owners of the Lands , having a joint Interest with those that are Sharers in the Office , to support the Credit of the Land-Bills , have Power , by the Settlement , to hold General Courts , and make such Rules and Orders for the Advancing the Credit of their Bills , and promoting the Circulation of them , as they shall from time to time think necessary . And also chuse Annually among their number Seven Persons , who are the Council of Appeals , and are to determine all Differences betwixt the Owners of the Land , and the Master and Managers of the Office , about the Title or Value of any Estates Convey'd and Enter'd in the Office .

XII . That the Stock of the Office is divided into Five hundred and Twenty Shares , each Share being Fifty Pounds , with a Power , by the Settlement , for the Owners of the Stock to enlarge it when they find Occasion . The ●overnment of the St●ck is by a Master and Ten Managers to be chosen Yearly . But for the better establishing of the Office , the Master is appointed by the Settlement , for the first two Years : And every Person that has 〈…〉 es is to be one of the Managers for that time . And because there is no present Occasion for Mony , Bills being not to be Discounted by the Office till after Six Months ; therefore there is only Five Pounds for each Share to be paid to the Cashire , at the Admission into the Office ; And the rest is to be paid when the Masters and Managers shall call for it .

XIII . That there is a publick Sale to be appointed , once a Year , or oftener , by the Master and Managers of the Office , for the Selling of Lands and Houses ; which will be found to be of great Advantage to the Owners of Lands , who are often forc'd to Sell their Estates at Undervalue , for want of Customers ; And of as great Benefit to the Purchaser , who is too often impos'd on in the Value of the Estate . Whereas the Value of Lands Enter'd in the Office will be well known . The Fee for Selling Estates is Ten Shillings per Cent . of the Value the Estate is Sold for . And all Estates Convey'd and Enter'd in the Office are to pay Ten Shillings per Cent . whenever they are Clea●'d and Discharg'd of the Office .

These are the Chief Conditions of the Settlement of the Office for Transferring and Discounting Land-Bills .

The Advantage to the Publick by this Office is ; That by this Settlement the Lands of England are made a Fund for Bills of Credit ; which makes such Bills undeniably certain , and will prevent Losses : For the Person that draws the Bill , the Estate , the Credit of the Office , and the Fund of Insurance , are all engaged for the Payment of the Monies due on the Bills . And had this Design been sooner thought of , it might have prevented the Loss of near Three Millions of Mony , which have been lost within these Thirty odd Years , being within the time since Goldsmiths Notes have had a Credit .

The Advantages to the Owners of the Lands are very great : They may have Mony on their Estates , after the first Charge of Entring them in the Office , as far as Three Fourths of the Value at Three per Cent . And if they make all their Payments by Bills in the Office , they may save that Interest . Besides , they may pay off and discharge any part of their Debt , at any time , without Notice : Which Single Conveniency will preserve many a Family from Ruin ; for , by those Wholesale Mortgages , the Mony being all to be paid together , and being too great a Sum to be easily borrow'd , the Owners of the Lands are too often foreclosed of the Equity of Redemption , and lose One Fourth Part of the Value of their Estates .

But by this Settlement of the Office the Lands there Convey'd and Enter'd are as good as Ready-Mony ; for tho' no Bills are to be Discounted by the Office till after Six Months ; That does not lessen the Value of the Bills , because they may be Assigned in the Interim , and will be accepted and taken , if they are of Value , according to the Settlement : And if they are not of such Value , they ought not to be Discounted by the Office . And as to the Charge of One per Cent . for Discounting them , that cannot prejudice the Value of the Bills ; for the Interest of the Bills may , for the most part , pay it : But if not , the Bills cannot be reckon'd worse than so many Guineas ; for they change their Value Two-pence or Three-pence a Guinea once or twice a Year , in the most setled times of Payment , and yet no man refuseth them ; because there may be a Loss of One per Cent . by taking them ; nor are the Bills the worse because they are not to be Discounted without a Months Notice , because , in all Dealings , Payments within a Month are reckon'd as Ready-Mony .

It is not design'd by this Office , to make these Land-Bills better than Ready-Mony ; for if it were possible to manage Funds of Credit , which are not Mony , by Bills with Interest , all Payable on Demand , and to make the Payments in Mony certain , such Bills were better than Ready-Mony ; because of the Interest of the Bills , which Ready Mony does not produce . But , how can those Payments be made certain , when it is uncertain what will be demanded ? Unless the whole Mony owing lay in a Chest , or the Directors or Managers had Midas's Power , that whatever they touch'd , they could turn into Gold .

But such a Power the Masters and Managers of this Office do not expect , and therefore have placed the Belief of the punctual Payments of their Bills upon this Probability : That having always a Month's Notice of what they are to Pay , they may the better provide to comply with their Payments , especially when it is in their Power to call for Ten or more per Cent . of their Bills , whenever the Office wants Mony ; And when it is the joint Interest of the Owners of Lands , as well as of the Office , to support the Credit of their Bills ; And so easie for the Owners of the Lands to comply with the Occasions of the Office ; because , if they have not Mony , having Bills , which are real Security , Assign'd them , they may easily borrow it ; and much easier borrow Part , than the Whole ▪ which in all other Mortgages they are forc'd to do whenever the Mony is call'd for ; and especially since those Bills are again to be Repaid and Discounted by the Office , after Six Months , upon a Months Notice . For these Reasons it is very probable the Office can never want Mony to Discount their Bills .

And since by this Account of the Office the Directors and Managers of other Funds may seem to be reflected on , by saying , That the want of Success was for want of Skill in Management ; if any Displeasure should from thence arise , to cause some Retaliation : It is hoped that it is out of the Power of Anger or Revenge to lessen the Value of these Land-Bills . And as to the Punctual Payment of them , the Master and Managers will be content to fall under the Severest Censure , whenever any Person comes twice to the Office for his Mony , after once his Bills are due .