330 Tin Ore of Mergui. [No. 161. 



" The consumption of tin throughout the world increases so slowly, 

 and the supply at present being more than equal to the demand, there 

 is little inducement to speculate in tin mines. 



" The produce of Cornwall is 6,000 tons per annum, and we cal- 

 culate that the quantity produced at Java together with what is 

 raised in the Malayan peninsula, will rather exceed the produce of 

 Cornwall. The average price of tin in Cornwall has been about 72s. 

 per cwt., but it is now as low as 56$., which is the present price of the 

 best Straits tin, and tin mines are suffering greatly from the deprecia- 

 tion in the value of their metal. 



" It may serve for your guidance to know, that at this moment tin 

 ore of the description of the sample twice- washed, would fetch in Eng- 

 land about £ 46 per ton." 



3. The following calculations of the probable result of a shipment 

 of tin ore, and of the metal, have been obligingly made for me by 

 two mercantile gentlemen of Maulmain. They are based on the 

 lowest prices which, according to Mr. Bolitho, were obtainable in the 

 market in April 1843, and show a probable profit on tin ore of 7*- Sd. 

 per cwt. ; but a loss on the shipment of the metal of 12s. 4d. per cwt. in 

 one case, and 4s. 9d. per cwt. in the other. 



July 1843. Tin ore from Maulmain purchased at 45 rupees per 

 hundred viss, equal to 365 lbs. 



45 Rs. per % viss = per cwt. 1 4 rupees, or 



Charges. 



Duty, 



Stout boxes and shipping charges in Maul- ( 

 main, , . . . . . . . . . $ 



Freight home £ 2 per ton, 



Insurance 2J °/ on 40s 



Commission and London charges 5J °/ . . 



Interest commission 5 % on purchase, 



Sale price per Mr. Bolitho, 



Leaves a profit per cwt. .. .. .. 7 8 









£. s. 



d. 









28 







£. 



s. 



d. 











3 















1 















2 















I 















2 



2 











1 



2 



10 



4 









38 



4 









46 







