BERRY

In Council July 7 1739

Read and ordered that the further Consideration of this Report be
referred to the next Sitting, and that the Petitioners be in the
meantime freed from paying any thing toward the support of the
ministry in the Towns to which they respectively belong

Sent down for Concurrence

J WlLLARD Sec'ry

In the House of Rep'tives June 7: 1739 Read and Concurred

J QUINCY Sp'kr:

Consented to

J BELCHER

In Council Decem'r 27, 1739.

Read again and Ordered that this Report be so far accepted as that
the Lands mentioned and described therein, with the Inhabitants
there be erected into a Separate & distinct precinct, and the Said
Inhabitants are hereby vested with all Such Powers and Priviledges
that any other Precinct in this Province have or by Law ought to
enjoy and they are also impowered to assess & levy a Tax of Two
pence per Acre per Annum for the Space of Five years on all the
unimproved Lands belonging to the non residents Proprietors to be
applied for the Support of the Ministry according to the Said
Report.

Sent down for Concurrence

SIMON FROST Dep'y Sec'ry

In the House of Rep'tives Dec 28. 1739 Read and Concur'd.

J QUINCY Sp'kr:

Janu'. 1: Consented to,

J BELCHER

[Massachusetts Archives, cxiv, 272, 273.]

While this petition was before the General Court, another one was
presented praying for a new township to be made up from the same towns,
but including a larger portion of Groton than was asked for in the first
petition. This application met with bitter opposition on the part of
both places, but it may have hastened the final action on the first
petition. It resulted in setting off a precinct from Dunstable, under
the name of the West Parish, which is now known as Hollis, New
Hampshire. The papers relating to the second petition are as follows:--

To His Excellency Jonathan Belcher Esquire Captain General and
Governor in Chief in and over His Majesty's Province of the
Massachusetts Bay in New England, the Honourable the Council and
House of Representatives of said Province, in General Court
Assembled Dec. 12'th, 1739.

The Petition of Richard Warner and Others, Inhabitants of the Towns
of Groton and Dunstable.

Most Humbly Sheweth

That Your Petitioners dwell very f