Series 5 > Miscellany [of the Scottish History Society] XIII

70
A MEMORANDUM ON THE CUSTOMS, 1597
4s to 37s 6d, with foreigners paying 2s 6d in the pound on value.1
Wool was a special case, as export had been prohibited since 1581,
though allowed under licence. Here the duty on the sack was raised
from 26s 8d to £6.2 English goods imported continued to be classified
with exports, paying the old rate of 2s 6d in the pound.3 An annex to
the table listed values for different types of English cloth and hats,
which were to pay 12d in the pound, as the additional duty imposed
on forbidden English wares.4
Though the new tariff for imports largely preserved existing
duties, there was now an apparent determination to make the system
work properly. On 5 June 1597 the auditors of exchequer passed three
acts regulating the issuing of cockets (certificates of payment of
customs).5 On 21 July they ordered the custumar of Aberdeen to levy
the custom of woollen cloth, salmon and other customable goods
according to the tenor of the ABC of the customs (alphabeti
custumarum) and acts of parliament.6 Stricter assessment of quantities
may be reflected in the Edinburgh customs account for 1598 where
cloth exports were stated in ells instead of‘dozens’ and wool in stones
instead of sacks.7 Overall the measures introduced in 1597 helped to
produce a spectacular increase in customs revenue. In 1596-7 the
comptroller had received a mere £4,317.8 From March 1598 the
customs of Montrose, Aberdeen and north-east were farmed by
Thomas Menzies for £1,800 per annum and in December 1598 a Leith
merchant, Bernard Lindsay, took the other ports for £24,000.9
Lindsay’s syndicate received a substantial rebate the following year,
but the upward trend of revenue continued. By 1609 the customs were
being farmed for 115,000 merks (£76,666 13s 4d scots, £6,388 17s 9d
sterling) yearly.10
1 Ledger of Andrew Halyburton, cxiv; original and altered duties on salmon and wool
appear in E76/1/1.
2 1581 c. 18, APS, iii, 220-1, 379; RPC, v, 477; E76/1/1.
3 The table of imports includes English beer and English woolskins, Ledger of
Andrew Halyburton, cxii-cxiv.
4 APS, iv, 137.
5 ER, xxiii, 510, re-enacted by parliament 19 Dec. 1597, APS, iv, 137; similar acts
dated July 1597 appear in E4/3 fo. 14.
6 ER, xxiii, 189; re-enacted by parliament 19 Dec. 1597, APS, iv, 137.
7 ER, xxiii, 238
8 Ibid., 193.
9 ER, xxiii, 270, 358-9; RPC, v, 508.
10 RPC, vi, 230, viii, 810-3.