Following the moneyers' petition, the House of Commons has granted the Mint an extra £500 for salaries and maintenance from Christmas 1705
To the Right Honourable the Lord High Treasurer of England
May it Please Your Lordship
In Obedience to your Lordships Order of Reference of the 2d: of Augt: last, upon the Petition of the Provost and the Rest of the Fellow Monyers, wherein they lay before Your Lordship the substance of what we have formerly Reported to your Lordship in relation to the poor Condition they are reduced unto for want of Coynage, and Represent to Your Lordship, that upon their Petition to the House of Commons, setting forth that the sallarys of the Mint and Repairs of Buildings being restrained to £3000 per annum they could have no Relief outt of that sum in the Miserable Case they were in, that Honourable House was thereupon Pleased to Order a Bill to be brought in to Empower Your Lordship to dispose of £500 per Annum more than the former Act for Encouraging of Coynage had Granted, which Bill being Pass'd into an Act, Your Petitioners Pray that the £500 per Annum as above mentioned may be paid to their Provost for their use
Wee humbly Certifye to Your Lordship that by the Indenture and Constitution fo the Mint there is no Provisions made for sallarys to the moneyers, butt only an Allowance per pound weight for all the Gold & Silver Moneys they Coine; And Considering that they have been seven years Apprentices to perfect themselves in the Art of Coining, Wee are therefore humbly of Opinion that the sum of £400 per Annum may be allowed to your Petitioners (who and now One and Twenty in Number) to be Divided equally amongst them, untill their Number be Reduc'd to sixteen, which Wee think sufficient for carrying on the service of the Mint upon Extraordinary Occasions.
And Wee are further humbly of Opinion that for keeping the Fellow Moneyers to this Number, your Petitioners be Obliged to take no Apprentices for the future without the Approbation of the Master and Worker, and if at any time they should happen to exceed the said Number, that then the said sallarys of £25 per piece per Annum may Commence from Christmas last; the time from which the above mentioned Act takes place, & that the same be paid to their Provost by Warrant Directed to the Master & Worker for that purpose.
All which is humbly submitted to your Lordships Great Wisdom
{illeg}
Mint Office the 25th Septr 1706
<206v>After My Hearty Commendations, I have Perus'd the Report within written, And Do Approve thereof These are therefore to Pray and Require You Out of such Moneys as are or shall be in your hands of the Coinage Duty, to Pay unto the Provost of the Monyers of Her Majestys Mint in the Tower of London for Himself and the Rest of the said Moneyers the summ of Four Hundred pounds Yearly by Quarterly payments the same to Commence from Christmas last past, and to Continue untill further Order. And you are to take Care that the said Moneys be Divided amongst the said provost and moneyers, their Number Reduc'd & they Restrain'd from takeing Apprentices According to the said Report And for so Doing this shall be as well to you, As to the Auditor and all others Concern'd in Allowing the said payments upon your Account a sufficient Warrant Whitehall Treasury Chambers 19 Novr 1706.
Godolphin.
To My Very Loving Friend Sir Isaac Newton Knight Master and Worker of Her Majestys Mint.
Source
MINT 19/1/206, National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, UK25 September 1706, c. 582 words.