'The state of the Tinn'

The state of the Tinn.

Her late Maty contracted wth Cornw in Decem. 1703 for 1600 Tunns of Tin stannary weight annually f{illeg}or seven years together at ye price of {illeg}3li per TonnC &besides {illeg}ye Coynage Duty of {illeg} 4s per C & post groats of 4d per C wch shee {sic} remitted, to them. & sShe received also about 40 Tunns per an at the same price from Truro in Devonshire. And {illeg}After 6$\frac{\mathrm{1}}{\mathrm{2}}$ years she renewed the contract 2 Iune 1710 for 1600 Tunns from Cornwal annually during the war & 180{illeg}0 in times of peace besides about 80 Tunns annually from Cornwall at the price of 3li. 9s 4d including the Coynage Duty & Post groats. And in both contracts she sold the Tin to Merchants at the rate of 76li per Tunn merchants weigh. In the time of the first contract the consumption carried off about 16560 Tuns per an merchants weight, in that of the second about 1260 Tuns merchants weight or 1170 Tunns stannary? {sic}. For the high price {illeg}& the war together diminished the consumption & we do find that it begins yet to mend.

NB. The Tun consists of 20 C, & the Stannary C of 120ll Averdupois, the merchants C of 120li averdupois.

At her Mats de{illeg}

Her Maty at her death left {illeg} about {illeg}5240 Tunns in ye hands of Trustees for paying her debts upon the Tin

Her Maty placed the Tin in the hands of Trustees for paying the debts of & at her death left in their h{illeg}ands abut 5{illeg}240 Tunns {illeg} merchants weight for that use.] And if the contract cease Queens Contract for Tin be not renewed the {illeg} Commrs must sell the Tin at so low a price that it may not be worth the whole to hinder dig so much Tin in Cornwall as will hinder the sal{illeg}e of her Mats Tin. a considerable quantity of her Mats Tinn. How low that price shall be must be detea is difficult to affirm. But since Tin has been sold formerly at 40 or 50li per Ton, it may be presumed that to sell as much of the Queens Tin as shall be sold inby Cornwall, (suppose about 650 Tunns per an, {illeg}the whole consumption being only about 1260 pr an) the price must come down to 45li per Tun or less. An The If {illeg} the Trustees could sell 650 Tuns merchants weight per an at 45li per Tunn the {illeg} sale would last eight years & produce an annuity of 29250li during that time. And if the charges of warehouse room selling & accidents, {illeg} wch may be recconed at {illeg} 9500li per an or above, be dedeucted the annuity will be but 28750li per an. And this Annuity for eight years to come is worth {illeg}in prsent money. if the interest be rebated at 5 per cent, is worth at present m 185817li, but in eight years tim{illeg}e will pay off de produce 1486536li 2230000li for paying off debts the Queens debts. [And in the meane time, the since the whole consumption of Tin amounts only to 1260 Tunns or in ye next round number, to 1300 Tuns merchants weight, the {illeg} C{illeg}ornwall {sic} & Devonshire will sell only 1650 Tunns per an so little Tin & at so low a price that {illeg}it must create great discontent & murmuring amongst theat people. And on the other hand if the Contract be And {illeg} continued & the King for 1840 Tunns stannary: there will be received annually about 7010 Tunns (merchants weight,) more then will be sold, to the Merchant, wch bei{illeg}ng added every year to the dead stock will make an encrease the mischief & make it every year more & more difficult to put an end {illeg}to {illeg}these contracts.

If Vpon making the last contract the Officers of the Mint gave their opinion that no more Tin should be contracted for then would go off the consumption would carry off. The consumption at present is about {illeg}1260 Tuns Merchant wt or 1170 Tunns stannary,. or, in ye next round number, 1200 Tuns If the King should contract for 221100 Tuns stannary besides about 40 Tuns from Devonshire., The & buy the Queens Tin of the Commrs for {illeg}an annuity of about 28000li or 30000li per an and to be continued for 8 yeares to come or for any other equipollent price the [recconing would stand as follows

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{illeg}1140 Tunns of Tin st. wt per an at 3li 1{illeg}0s. 4d pr C including coynage duty post groats & freight per	}	80180
Other expences & hazzards annually, about		500
Advanced annually to pay off the Queens debts & purchase her Tin about		30000
Totall charge of the Crown annually		110680
Produced annually by the sale of

Artic. 1. The present value of the Queens Tin wthout a contract.

2 1. A new continuation of the contract will in four years put the Queen King in a wors codndition then ye Queen is at present was at her death. unless he purchase the {illeg}Queens Tin. at the just value

32 2. The present value of the Queens Tin without a contract,

3. Th{illeg}e The King cannot purchase this Tin at {illeg}the present value unless wthout a clamour unless {illeg}all the Queens credits {illeg} subscribe.

The Queens loss by the Tin contracts.

T

A continuation of the present contract would in four years bring the king into a worse condition then the Queen was at her death.

The only remedy is {illeg}for the Owners of the Tin lands to purchase to contract for a less quantity & to prevail wth the Queens creditors to consent in writing that the King shall have the Queens Tin at the present value

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contract would in my humble {illeg}opinion would be advantageous both to Cornwall & to the Queens Commers. For if the King should {illeg}only contra If Cornwall should only dig 400 Tunns stannary wt per an & the king should contract with them for it at ye rate of 3li 9s 4d per C: it would be better for them then to have no contract at all & sell only 6 or 7 hundred Tunns pr an at 40 or 45 shillings per C till all the Quens Tin is sold. And therefore if the King should contract with them for six or eight hundred or a thousand Tunns per an they w{illeg}ould have great reason to rejoyce at it. And if he should contract with them for 1100 or 115200 Tuns per an besides 40 Tunns from CornwallDevon it is as much as the consumption will carry off at present.

If he contracts wth Cornwall it will be requisite that he contract also wth the Que Commissionalso buy the Queens Tin of the Commrs & if he pays for it about 28 or 30 thousand pounds per an for eight years toge{illeg}ther, or any other an equipollent price in any other mann, they will in my humble opinion have an advantageous bargain. no reason to complain of the bargain. B{illeg}ut if his Maty buys not the Queens Tin he will be a very great loser by the bargain. For he will contract with Cornwall. For if the {illeg} contract should be for three or four years, he would sell no Tin of his own till the end of the contract, & then his own Tin will sell for no more then {illeg}about 40 or 45s per C unless the con{illeg}tract be renewed.