"Report of the Officers of the Mint upon the Petition of the Pewterers to her Majesty in Council"

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To the Most Honorable the Lord High Treasurer
of Great Brittain

May it please your Lordship

In Obedience to your Lordship's order of Reference to us upon the annexed Petition of the Pewterers of London to her Majesty in Council, We humbly represent to your Lordship that we have considered the same, and upon examining the Allegations thereof do find that the Petitioners are by law oblidged to make their pewter perfectly fine (which we believe they have complyed with) and that on the contrary forreign Nations manufacture theirs by mixing lead at pleasure with Tin, whereby they may undersell the Petitioners, as we Iudge by the several tryalls and experiments they have made before us of sundry sorts of forreign pewter, the best of which has appeared to be considerably inferior in goodness to that Manufactured in England.

We do likewise find that the Pewterers have some times purchased 500000lwt of Tin per Annum of the Stannarys to be totally manufactured by them, paying £3. per hundred to the Owners of aid Tin, and 18s per hundred to the King or Prince of Wales, for the right of preemption, and covenanting that no other Tin should be sold to be manufactured in England, nor disposed of to the Merchants at a lower rate then to themselves, and when other subjects have farmed the Tin, they have sometimes abated 18s per hundred to the Pewterers for 100000lwt. of Tin per Annum, which abatement we humbly conceive to be the price of the preemption: But the Petitioners have not made it appear to us that the Crown upon farming the Tin hath sold it at a lower rate to the Pewterers then to the Merchants.

We Also humbly certifie to your Lordship that the Dutys of three shillings per hundred upon Tin, and two shillings per hundred upon Pewter exported do determine the 1st. of August next, as the petition setts forth, and that it appeares to us by Certificates we have from the Office of the Inspector General at the Customehouse that the pewter exported for Nine years last past hath amounted at a Medium to about Two hundred Tun per Annum.

And further we humbly represent to your Lordships that the Petitioners do not now claim an abatement of the price of Tin as a matter of right, but submitt their case, as to the Encouragement of the exportation of pewter, to her Majes. Grace and pleasure.

All which is most humbly submitted to your Lordship's

great Wisdom

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Crav: Peyton

Is. Newton

In. Ellis

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Report of the officers of the Mint upon the Petition of the Pewterers to her Majesty in Council, {sic}