INDUSTRIES 



law reads, ' ought to buy or receive any black 

 tin, otherwise than openly, at a wash, from the 

 sheet, nor buy or receive any tin shift, or the 

 leavings of blowing-houses, from any suspicious 

 person that is not known to be an adventurer 

 for tin, a worker of white tin, or owner in a 

 blowing-house.' l In later years this rule was 

 supplemented by one which compelled the pre- 

 sence of two witnesses at each sale, and the entry 

 on the book of the blowing-house where the tin 

 was to be smelted of the names of the person 

 from whom it was purchased, and the amount; 

 and the blowing-house books were to be open to 

 the inspection of any who desired. 8 



Ore which had passed the wash, and perhaps 

 had already changed hands once, was still subject 

 to the control of the central authorities. Each 

 owner was made to register a private mark at 

 the stannary exchequer at Lostwithiel, 3 and on 

 the court book in his own stannary district. 4 

 Each proprietor of a blowing-house also must 

 register his private mark, 5 and must not employ 

 a blower (or, after 1752, a smelter) without 

 having first presented him at the steward's court, 

 there to be sworn to use himself according to his 

 vocation, and without corrupting or mingling 

 tin in deceitful manner. 6 The reason may be 

 seen in the fact that the blowing-house, by 

 reason of its technicalities of operation, offered 

 strong temptations to unjust dealing. Several 

 qualities of tin were possible : soft or standard 

 merchantable tin, hard tin, pilian tin, cinder tin, 

 and reli.stian tin, each a grade poorer than the 

 one above. According to law, every block had 

 to be stamped by the blower with the initial 

 letter of its quality, 7 and, besides, with the 

 owner's mark, and the mark of the blowing- 

 house. In case a dealer found that he had been 

 cheated, he might return a piece of the tin con- 

 taining the marks of identification. The sample 

 was melted in court, and, if bad, the original 

 owner was obliged to recompense the dealer, and 

 forfeit his tin to the prince, besides paying a fine, 8 

 while the blowing-house owner was dealt with 

 in proportion as it could be proved that the mis- 

 demeanour had been due to his negligence or 

 connivance. 9 But for the blower himself no 

 excuse might avail, and he was fortunate if he 

 escaped with a fine of $. l If, on the other hand, 

 the tin proved good, the complainant himself 



1 Convoc. Cornw. 22 Jas. I, c. 24. 

 * Ibid. 12 Chas. I, c. 21. 



3 Prince Arthur's Ordinances of 1495 (Add. MS. 

 6713, fol. 101). 



4 Convoc. Cornw. 1 6 Hen. VIII, c. 1 8. 



5 Prince Arthur's Ordinances of 1495 (Add. MS. 

 6713, fol. 101). 



6 Convoc. Cornw. 1 6 Hen. VIII, c. 17. 



7 Ibid. c. 20. 



8 Ibid. 12 Chas. I, c. 10. 



9 Harl. MS. 6380, fol. 33. 



10 Convoc. Cornw. 12 Chas. I, c. 10 ; cf. Add. MS. 

 6713, fol. 242. 



was fined. 11 A further Act imposed penalties 

 upon any merchant who connived with the 

 owner of tin to conceal its falsity. 12 



These regulations were based upon the as- 

 sumption, not only that the merchant should be 

 protected against fraud on the part of the tinner, 

 but that the whole consuming public had an 

 interest in the blocks being what they were re- 

 presented. This explains two further restric- 

 tions. No person owning blowing - house or 

 crazing or stamping-mill might allow irrespon- 

 sible persons to ' knock braws, rocks, or any other 

 stuff whereof tin might be made, black or white, 

 without the said owners will answer for the same 

 tin.' 13 Pewterers and plumbers were not to be 

 sold 'ashes, skimpings,' or other leavings of the 

 blowing, under penalty of a fine to buyer and 

 seller. 14 



At the coinage, again, the tinner was hedged 

 about by rules designed not only to protect the 

 consumer, but to guard against the loss of duchy 

 revenue. To ensure that no tin left the blow- 

 ing-house without being brought to the coinage 

 town, the blowing-house owner at each coinage 

 was made to deposit at the stannary exchequer 

 at Lostwithiel a bill certifying, with the names 

 of the owners, how many pieces of tin he had 

 blown. 15 The conveying and selling of uncoined 

 tin was punished by imprisonment, confiscation 

 of the metal, and satisfaction to the prince in the 

 shape of a fine. 16 In the later Stuart period, 

 coincident with the efforts to put down smug- 

 gling by the appointment of supervisors of blow- 

 ing-houses, 17 ordinances appear prescribing the 

 disposal of the tin after smelting. No carrier 

 was to take any tin above one pound in weight 

 from the blowing-house, otherwise than by the 

 direct and common road from blowing-house to 

 coinage town ; 18 the journey must be made be- 

 tween sunrise and sunset ; 19 the shortest road 

 was to be taken, and a reasonable time only 

 allowed for the trip. 20 



One more rule remains to be noted, namely, 

 the persistent enactments against the conveying 

 of shares in a tin work to wealthy or powerful 

 men, for the purpose of getting their assistance 

 at law or in other ways, 21 a provision similar to 



11 Add. MS. 6713, fol. 243. "Ibid. 



13 Ibid. fol. 279. Presentment of the grand jury 

 of Penrith and Kerrier, 1636. 



14 Convoc. Cornw. 1 2 Chas. I, c. II. 



14 Prince Arthur's Ordinances of 1495 (Add. MS. 

 6713, fol. 101). 



18 Convoc. Cornw. 1 6 Hen. VIII, c. 14. 



17 Cal. Treat. Papers, i, 13 ; Treas. Papers, ii, 10 ; 

 xi, 10. 



18 Convoc. Cornw. 2 Jas. II, c. 17. 



19 Ibid. 

 M Ibid. 



" Convoc. Cornw. 1 6 Hen. VIII, c. 1 1 ; Parl. 

 Devon, 2 Hen. VIII, c. II. This ordinance appears 

 in Derbyshire (Houghton, The Compleat Miner, p. 22; 

 Compleat Mineral Laws of Derbyshire, pt. I, art. 24). 



539 



