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vellers, and to the public in general, they will undoubtedly be continued.

The mail coach from Edinburgh is now dispatched about nine o'clock in the morning, and arrives at Aberdeen betwixt five and six o'clock next morning; and the mails for the north, and for other places in the county are immediately forwarded. That for the south is dispatched from Aberdeen about half past three in the afternoon.

Alexander Dingwall, Esq. is the present postmaster, having been appointed to the office in the year 1787.

There are four runners, for delivery of letters within the town and its vicinity; but they are paid by those who receive them.

OF THE CUSTOM HOUSE.

The institution of a custom house at Aberdeen was established immediately after the treaty of union; and a collector, comptroller, and other officers, were appointed by government for conducting the affairs of the revenue. In the year 1710, the limits of the port were fixed by the collector, the provost of Aberdeen, and certain other persons, appointed by a commission which was issued for the purpose by the barons of exchequer of Scotland. These limits were the Todhead, on the south, and the north part of the harbour of Cullen, on the north. Within these were comprehended Stonehaven, Newburgh, Peterhead, Fraserburgh, Auchmedden, Banff, and Portsoy ; at which places only, goods, wares, and merchandize, were permitted to be landed or shipped.

The inconvenience attending this extensive district was long complained of, particularly by merchants and ship owners in the northern parts of it, on account of the great trouble and expense they were subjected to in their journies to and from Aberdeen. In order to remedy this inconvenience, a custom house was instituted at Banff in the year 1801, when Fraserburgh, Banff, Portsoy, and other creeks, were disjoined from the port of Aberdeen, formed into a district by themselves, and have so continued since that time.

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The ordinary business of the customs was, for many years, conducted in a house on the north side of the Shipraw, near the Shorebrae. About forty years ago, a very neat and commodious building on the quay was purchased by government, and fitted up, as a dwelling house, for the accommodation of the collector, having, on the first floor, a long room, and other apartments, for the several officers of this branch of the revenue. The establishment consists of a collector, comptroller, land surveyor, tide surveyor, four land waiters, twenty eight tidesmen, and six boatmen, besides a weigher and a warehouse keeper.

Alexander More, Esq. is the present collector, and Alexander Lyall, Esq. comptroller.

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The following is a list of the successive collectors and comptrollers of the customs since the commencement of the institution :

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The excise district of Aberdeen was formerly very extensive, but, of late years, it has been considerably diminished in its limits. It now extends only a little way beyond Inverury on the north, comprehends Peterhead, and all the other parts of the county southward of those places, and includes Stonehaven, in the county of Kincardine, and intermediate parts. The district is divided into five divisions, under the collector of Aberdeen, in which there are five supervisors and forty one officers employed, besides two assistants, and two clerks in the permit office of the town.

Gray Gray Campbell, Esq. is the present collector, having been appointed to that office in the year 1803.

OF THE LINEN STAMP OFFICE.

As the linen manufacture forms a considerable branch of the trade of Aberdeen, petty dealers in this article, instead of endeavouring to procure an extensive sale by the quality of their goods, not unfrequently attempt to grasp at an immediate profit by those frauds which are not always obvious to detection, but which would ultimately tend to ruin their reputation and their trade. For the purpose of checking abuses of this kind in the district of Aberdeen, and marking linen cloth intended for sale, a stamp office was early instituted in the town, by the board of trustees for manufactures, in consequence of the act of parliament, and has been attended with salutary effects.

Mr. James Milne is the present stamp-master, and has under him proper persons, for inspecting linen yarns, and for marking, with the office stamp, cloth intended for sale, as required by the statute.

The quantity and quality of cloth manufactured from flax, for four years, preceding November 1st, 1817, will appear from the following table, which will, at the same time, show the progressive increase of this branch of manufacture :

TABLE of LINEN CLOTH Stamped for Sale at the ABERDEEN OFFICE, and estimated Value thereof, for the several periods after-mentioned.

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The whole quantity of linen stamped for sale in Scotland, was, for the years under-mentioned:

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The office for receiving the cess, or land tax of the borough, is in the town house, and the collector, who is appointed to the office by the council, is also receiver of the taxes payable to government. The land tax, which amounts to L.526 10s. sterling annually, is proportioned upon the rents of houses within the town, lands and salmon fishings within the liberties, and also upon merchant trade and casual profits, by a certain number of the citizens, under the title of the board of taxers, who are nominated annually, for that purpose, by the council. As the rents of property and the trade of the town have, of late, considerably increased, this tax is very little felt by the citizens comparatively with other assessments. For the year 1817, it was at the rate of only eight pence on every L.100, Scottish money, or L.8 6s. 8d. sterling, sterling, of rents and trade; although, not many years ago, it was as

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The assessed taxes for the town were, for the under-mentioned

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The only other public offices in the town are those of the collector of the cess, or land tax, and assessed taxes of the county, and of the distributor of stamps for this district; but with regard to these assessed taxes, or the amount of stamp duties for Aberdeen, we have, for obvious reasons, not been informed.

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