hundred and sixty four, all Goods which shall be found concealed in any
Place whatsoever on Board any such Ship or Vessel, at any Time after
the Master thereof shall have made his Report to the Collector or other
proper Officer of the Customs, and which shall not be comprized or men-
tioned in the said Report, shall be forfeited and lost, and shall and may be
seized and prosecuted by any Officer of the Customs; and the Master or
other Person having the Charge or Command of such Ship or Vessel (in
case it can be made appear, that he was any wise consenting or privy to
such Fraud or Concealment) shall forfeit Treble the Value of the Goods
so found.

And it is hereby further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That from
and after the Twenty ninth Day of September, One thousand seven hun-
dred and sixty four, if any Goods or Merchandizes whatsoever, liable to
the Payment of Duties in any British Colony or Plantation in America by
this or any other Act of Parliament, shall be loaded on Board any Ship
or Vessel outward bound, or shall be unshipped or landed from any Ship
or Vessel inward bound, before the respective Duties due thereon are paid,
agreeable to Law; or if any prohibited Goods whatsoever shall be impor-
ted into, or exported out of, any of the said Colonies or Plantations, con-
trary to the true Intent and Meaning of this or any other Act of Parlia-
ment; every Person who shall be assisting, or otherwise concerned, either
in the loading outwards, or in the unshipping or landing inwards, such
Goods, or to whose Hands the same shall knowingly come after the loa-
ding or unshipping thereof, shall, for each and every Offence, forfeit
Treble the Value of such Goods, to be estimated and computed according
to the best Price that each respective Commodity bears at the Place where
such Offence was committed; and all the Boats, Horses, Cattle, and other
Carriages whatsoever, made use of in the loading, landing, removing,
carriage, or conveyance, of any of the aforesaid Goods, shall also be
forfeited and lost, and shall and may be seized and prosecuted, by any
Officer of his Majesty’s Customs, as herein after mentioned.

And it is hereby further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That from
and after the Twenty ninth Day of September, One thousand seven hundred
and sixty four, if any Officer of His Majesty’s Customs shall, directly or
indirectly, take or receive any Bribe, Recompence, or Reward, in any
Kind whatsoever; or connive at any false Entry, or make any collusive
Seizure or Agreement; or do any other Act or Deed whatsoever by which
His Majesty, His Heirs or Successors, shall or may be defrauded in His
or Their Duties, or whereby any Goods prohibited shall be suffered to
pass either inwards or outwards, or whereby the Forfeitures and Penalties
inflicted by this or any other Act of Parliament relating to His Majesty’s
Customs in America may be evaded; every such Officer therein offending
shall, for each and every Offence, forfeit the Sum of Five hundred Pounds,
and be rendered incapable of serving His Majesty in any Office or Em-
ployment Civil or Military: and if any Person or Persons whatsoever
shall give, any officer, or promise to give, any Bribe, Recompence, or Reward,
to any Officer of the Customs, to do, conceal, or connive at, any Act,
whereby any of the Provisions made by this or any other Act of Parlia-
ment relating to His Majesty’s Customs in America may be evaded or
broken, every such Person or Persons shall, for each and every such Of-
fence (whether the same Offer, Proposal, or Promise, be accepted or per-
formed, or not) forfeit the Sum of Fifty Pounds.

And whereas by an Act of Parliament made in the Seventh and Eighth
Year of the Reign of King William the Third, intituled, An act for pre-