Adam Smith, bureaucrat (part 3)

Here are parts 1 and 2. The next piece of official customs-house correspondence in my sample is Letter #112, which is dated __ October 1784 (alas, the day is cut out of my copy of the letter) and is signed by three members of the Board of Customs of Scotland: Adam Smith (top signature), Basil Cochrane (middle), and James Edgar (bottom). This letter is short and sweet, for it reads as follows: “It appearing by a List of Balances at the 5th. Ultimo laid before us by the Compt. General, that there is sufficient Money in the Collector’s hands, he is forthwith to remit the sum of Four hundred Pounds to the Receiver General, or to assign his reasons for not complying with this order.” In other words, after taking notice of a recent financial statement (“List of Balances”) prepared by the board’s chief financial accounting officer (“the Compt. General”), the board (here composed of Smith, Cochrane, and Edgar) orders a local port collector to remit £400 (over £77,000 in today’s money; see…