Start with the kiln-duty roll and its exemption slips. It is the source used to make a decision about whether the city’s largest kilns should carry a larger share of the ash levy; it is not the decision itself. The rule only works if the source describes the conditions at the Upper Chamber of Measures.
The latest count is 36 hearth entries; the prior file listed 39. The responsible office has offered a limited remedy with an end date for review. The difference is a signal to check, not a verdict about who is right.
The disputed point is practical: The levy is assessed by furnace capacity, while small workshops say capacity does not show how many hours a kiln actually runs. One side relies on the posted total, while the other points to a pair of soot-darkened brass weights used to compare household allotments.
The risk of reading the file too broadly is that an entry becomes a conclusion. Mara Veld checked the kiln-duty roll and its exemption slips against the field notes. The method is to begin with the signed text, then test it against the people asked to carry it out; it confirms the entries, but not every interpretation attached to them.
Next: The chamber’s committee must publish a revised rate table before the next firing season. A useful update will publish the method, exceptions and review date with the number.
