[October, 
510 Cornish China Clay , 
companies who did not understand the nature and proper 
modes of working china-clay works, or who were ignorant 
as to what could and what could not be worked at a profit. 
The result with such people is, that after large expenditure 
they find themselves overstocked with china clay, raised at 
heavy cost, and for which they cannot find a sale at remu- 
nerative prices ; and their clay is now being disposed of for 
what it will fetch, some even being sold by auction at a 
merely nominal value, either to wind up the concerns, if 
they be public companies, or to get back money for pressing 
emergencies to those who have not sufficient capital to with- 
stand the fluctuations of the market. At present, too, the 
habit of “ forcing the royalties ” forms a serious obstacle to 
the progress of the clay trade. The royalty is a certain sum 
per ton payable to the landowners by the lessees on all clay 
raised. The lessees or renters of the land generally pay a 
fixed minimum rent, which is allowed to merge into the 
royalty until the royalty exceeds the minimum rent, when 
the former is paid no matter what amount it may reach. 
Some of the lessees who have very large works, and whose 
leases are soon to expire, have been forcing their outputs of 
clay, and selling at a very reduced rate, in order to gain 
favour with their landlords by raising the royalties to as 
large a sum as possible beyond the minimum rent so as 
to obtain new leases on favourable terms. This method of 
proceeding is a well-known faCt only to the few concerned, 
but the wisdom of a course which it is plain must seriously 
damage the market is certainly very questionable. The de- 
crease in the demand for the Cornish article, owing to the 
more extensive use of native clays in America and other parts, 
will probably be now soon counterbalanced by the increased 
development in those branches of industry in other places 
where the home clay is employed. And even if there should 
be some cause for alarm it ought only to stimulate the 
Cornish proprietors to discover fresh means of disposal for 
their material. The scheme suggested a few years since 
for establishing a local industry by the introduction of the 
manufacture of porcelain in situ or into Cornwall instead of 
* The fixed royalty dues vary from 2s. 6d. to 4s. per ton. The system of 
royalties may perhaps be made clearer from the following illustration: — 
Suppose the minimum rent is ,£100, and the dues 4s., the tenant must raise 
500 tons of clay (at 4s. per ton) to cover his rent. Whatever quantity under 
500 tons is raised he must pay ,£100 ; but whatever quantity over 500 tons is 
raised he would pay 4s. per ton — thus 1000 tons, say at 4s., £200— hence the 
rent is said to merge in the dues or royalty, 
