'A Report made Sept. 23. 1706 upon the proposals of M^r Holt & M^r Williams dated May 31^th & Iuly 17^th 1706'

<545r> ^[1]

In Obedience to yo^r Lord^ps Order of Reference upon the annexed memo {illeg}|p|roposal of M^r Williams we have considered the same & are humbly of opinion that it amounts to the same thing as if your Lord^p should \a{b}/ raise the price of \all/ the from 3^lb 16^s. to 4^li per C & give the {illeg} \|the {sic} advanta|ce|g{illeg}| differs /of\ the price{illeg}/ to the Pewterers. For if the Tin were at 3^li 16^s upon the wharf {illeg}|&| \at/ 4^li in the store houses, the Pewterers would attend the wharf & buy \there/ at 3^li 16^s \when the ships come in/ & the Merchants who do not attend the Wharf would \afterwards be/ obliged to buy {&} buy of y^e Pet|w|terers at 4^li. And \further/ when the Pewterers have sold their stick, they would defer {sic} buing {sic} till the next ships come in, w^ch would\might/ be as much a disadvantage to the sale of the Tin as their buying beforehand would be an advantage. |All w^ch being considered we are humbly of opinion that if the price of y^e Tin be raised to 4^li p^r C upon the Wharf it be also raised to 4^li p^r C in the storehouses so that y^e advantage of raising it may go to her Maj^ty & not to y^e Pewterers b|B|ut we do not think it advisable to raise the price at all.|

In the second year of this {illeg}|her| Ma^ts \present/ contract for Tin we {had} |For| the sale of the Tin in the two first years of the present contract being very slow, {illeg} we had it \then/ under consideration \at that time/ whether {illeg} the slowness of the sale might not be \in some measure/ recompenced by raising the price. For it was represented to us with great confidence that |[|it might be done w^thout danger from|]| the East Indian Tin :|[|that Tin|]| being\was/\it might be done without danger of stocking the Market forreign markets with East Indian Tin by the Dutch, that Tin being of {sic}/ of a bad sort of {illeg} little in quantity so that the Dutch could not bring much more of it from India \into Europe/ then they did already, there not being sufficien enough for y^e uses of the Indies. Hereupon we {illeg}|made| made \And this representation was backt with a better {intended} to be writ by a Dutch \East India/ Merchant, who who having been concerned in East Indian Tin was better able to give us an account of it then our own Merchants could do who trade not in that commodity. Vpon w^ch we took time/ \but upon making/ |to| enquire into the nature & quantity of East Indian Tin & finding\we found/ that some of it was \very/ bright & good\good & bright/ & fitter for some uses then our own we were\Tin/ & that y^e Dutch might have it in as great a quanty {sic} as {illeg}|th|ey pleased, \& thereupon/ we came to a resolution that y^e {Tin} it was not ad{illeg}|vis|able to raise the price of her Maj^ts Tin, & we have since met with no reasons to change o^r opinion.

In the beginning of the present contract for Tin the Merchants had stored the Markets ab{illeg}|r|oad & the Pewterers had p{illeg} provided a stock of their own w^th w^ch they suppl{illeg}|i|ed the Merchants \at home/ above a year \& a quarter/ longer. And these things made her Maj^ties Tin sell very slowly during the two first years of the contract, so that \at Christmas/ in the end of those two years there remained in the Tower          Tunns of Tin stannary weight. In the end of the third year there remain{illeg}|e|d in the Tower          Tunns. In y^e end of the fourth year w^ch was last Christmas, there remained          Tuns. And at present there {is} \remains/ a{illeg}|bo|ut          {illeg}|T|unns remaining in the Tower whereof we expect that about        or          Tunns will be shop of f{illeg}|or| the Straits within a few days. And when the war w^th France sh so that the consumption has been continually upon the improvement \& the quantity remaining in the Tower has increased but little during the two last years/. And when the present war with France ceases we exprest that the quantity remaining in the Tower will decrease provided the Merchants be not amused & dissatisfied by raising\altering/ the price

All w^ch is most humbly submitted

<545v>

A Report made Au Sept 22|3|. 1706 upon the {petion} proposals of M^r Holt & M^r Williams dated Apr May 31^th & Iuly 17^th 1706.