In consequence of this reference, an Act of parliament was passed in the year 1597, directing that an actual admeasurement of the said seven miles (eight furlongs to every mile) should immediately take place, and begin to be measured from the crane key in Yarmouth, and to proceed the directest way towards the roading place, near the sea shore, where the fishermen usually anchor for the sale of their herrings; and at the end of the said seven miles, a post or some other apparent mark, should be erected near the sea shore, to signify to all persons whom it may concern the termination of the said seven miles, prescribing the boundary of the liberties of Yarmouth. {82} In this defence of their rights and liberties, the town of Lowestoft expended £120 which was collected from a voluntary subscription of the inhabitants; some subscribing £10, some £6, some £4, and others lesser sums, according as their abilities enabled them. But exclusive of the above expenditure, the inhabitants were under the necessity of contracting a debt of upwards of £50 which, by reason of their distressed situation they were utterly unable to discharge any other way than by appropriating a part of the rents and profits of the town lands; for it had always been an established maxim of the town to support and maintain the free trade of buying and selling herrings in Lowestoft roads; therefore, at a general meeting of the inhabitants, it was resolved that as a large sum had already been expended in support of this right, that out of 200 persons who reaped advantages from this fishery, many were unable to contribute towards the above expense; and that if the fishery was not supported, the town would be inevitably ruined. Therefore, the state of the town being thus considered, and the affair regarded as a case of necessity and charity, and of the utmost utility to the inhabitants; they agreed, That, it was a very justifiable application of the rents of the town lands, in the present emergency, in discharging the said debt. An Act of the 39th of Elizabeth, for the measuring of seven miles from the town and haven of Great Yarmouth, in the county of Norfolk, mentioned in the statute made in the 31st year of King Edward III, and certain letters patent, granted by the same king unto the bailiff and burgesses of the said town of Yarmouth.