Catalogue Entry: MINT00694

John Williams: 'Considerations Relating to the Advancing the Price of Tinne'

Author: John Williams

Source: MINT 19/3/578-82, National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, UK

[Normalized Text] [Diplomatic Text]

Contents

Another refutation of the view that increasing the price of tin will bring other countries into the trade to England's disadvantage. This is like saying the Dutch should sell spice cheap 'for feare that wee should plant spice bedds in Englande and spoyle their Trade'. Good tin is extremely difficult to find and exploit so the English mines represent a virtual world monopoly. The demand for tin has always outstripped supply. It is essential to many trades so people will pay whatever they have to for it. The English will not suffer from the price increase as 80% of tin is exported, and the increased revenue will save them from a tax that would otherwise have to be levied to refill the royal coffers. Williams considers tin would have to rise to over £20 a hundredweight to be overpriced.

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