RWANSEA.
Ore smelted . • 56,285 tons Value . . . 674,0121.
Produce per cent. of metal 15 Quantity of copper . 8,476 tons Of the above, the following portion was foreign ore : Quantity of ore . . 30,367 tons Metallic copper produced 6,510 „ Produce percent. of metal 211 The copper yielded by the British mines being more than sufficient for the use of the kingdom, a considerable quantity is exported every year, both in its unwrought and in a manufactured state.
The quantity of British copper retained yearly for use, on an annual average of each decennial period during the present century, is calculated by Mr. Porter (' Progress of the Nation,' iii. p. 92), as follows : 1801-10, 3°94 tons.
1811-20, 3172 1821-31, 4912 1831-40, 6290 The exports since 1820 have been : Years. Tons. Years. Tons.
1820 . 6,094 1831 . 8,530 1821 . 6,271 1832 . 9,730 1822 . 1833 . 7,811 1823 . 5,326 1834 . 8,886 1824 . 5,305 1835 . 9,111 1825 . 3,931 1836 8,076 1826 . 4,799 1837 . 7,129 1827 . 7,171 1838 . 7,469 1828 . 6,206 1839 . 7,687 1829 . 7,976 1840 . 5,926 1830 . 9,157 In the accounts of English produce and manufactures exported, the Custom House statements include brass and copper manufactures together : the total quantity and declared value of these shipments averaged as follows for each year in the four years ending 1831 and 1835 : Years. Cwts.
1828-31 . 165,222 . 790,405 1832-35• 213,627 . 964,321 From 1838 to 1844 inclusive the quan tity and declared value of the exports have been as under: Years. Cwts.
1838 . 265,204 . 1,221,737 1839 . 272,141 . 1,280,506 1840 . 311,153 . 1,450,464 1842 . 395,210 . 1,810,742 1843 . 364,128 . 1,644,248 1844 . . 1,735,528 The quantities and declared value of the principal shipments in 1842 were as follows : £ France . . 155,848 682,833 East India Company's Territories & Ceylon 109,107 514,945 Holland . . 36,934 163,988 United States of North America . 19,097 89,952Italy and the Italian Islands . . 13,813 62,691 Belgium . . 13,166 57,480 And the remainder to forty other States and countries.
In the year 1843 the exports of British copper consisted of 8463 tons un wrought, in bricks, pigs, &c., 60 tons of coin, 8386 tons of sheet, nails, &c., 6 tons of wire, 598 tons of wrought copper ; making a total of 17,515 tons.
Within the last twenty years a con siderable quantity of copper-ore has been brought to England for the purpose of being smelted and re-exported in the me tallic state. These importations amounted only to 2 cwts. in 1825, and have gradu ally but rapidly increased as follows :— Years. Tons. Years. Tons.
1826 . 64 1836 . 18,491 1827 . 32 1837 . 19,465 1828 . 334 1838 . 30,000 1829 . 1,212 1839 . 30,195 1830 . 1,436 1840 . 41,925 1831 . 2,545 1841 . 34,150 1832 . 3,955 1842 . 48,546 1833 . 5,931 1843 . 54,391 1834 . 6,987 1844 . 55,720 1835 . 13,945 The duty on copper-ore is paid after smelting, but it is paid upon the ore : in 1843, 64,445 tons of ore produced 11,640 tons of metal. Since July, 1842, the duty has been charged according to the fol lowing proportions of metal which the ore contains.
Ore containing Duty per ton.
Under 15 per cent 5,460 £3 3 0 15 and under 20 10,339 4 14 6 Above 20 . . 48,630 6 6 0 The duty on copper-ore from British pos sessions is 21s. per ton, but only 14 tons
from Australia were imported. Copper mines have been recently discovered in South Australia, which, it is said, are likely to prove very productive. In 1843 we received 31,683 tons of ore from Cuba ; 19,829 from Chili ; 1200 from Mexico ; 1151 from the United States of North America ; and smaller quantities from Peru, the British West Indies, Italy, Spain, and some other places.
The value of the foreign copper-ore imported in 1843 was about 900,00C1., the freights varied from 21. 10s. to 61.
per ton. It is a valuable return cargo to vessels trading to the Pacific, Australia, and especially the western coast of South America, which afords few commercial products. A high duty on such a com modity is more especially impolitic, as it may be an inducement to other countries to commence smelting operations on a large scale, and since the increase of duty in 1842 this has taken place in France, Holland, and the United States. Any diminution in the foreign supply, which now amounts to nearly three-sevenths of the copper made in Great Britain, would be seriously felt by the smelters and manufacturers of this country. Although the import of foreign copper is now so much greater than it was ten years ago, the price of British ore has not fallen, but is at present higher than it was in 1832, and the supply from our own mines has also steadily increased. COPYIIOLD, a term in English law applied to lands held by what is called tenure by copy of court roll, the nature of which is thus described by Littleton (§ 73, 4, 5): " Tenant by copy of court roll is as if a man he seised of a manor, within which manor there is a custom which hath been used time out of mind of man, that certain tenants within the same manor have used to have lands and tenements to hold to them and their heirs in fee-simple or fee-tail, or for term of life, at the will of the lord, according to the custom of the same manor. And such a tenant may not alien his land by deed, for then the lord may enter as into a thing forfeited unto hini. But if he will alien his land to another, it hehoveth him after the custom to surrender the tenements in court into the hands of the lord to the use of him that shall have the estate. And these tenants are called tenants by copy of court roll, because they have no other evidence concerning their tenements, but only the copies of court rolls." From this it appears that the title to cop) hold lands is not only modified but altogether constituted by custom ; subject to the estates in them which the custom confers, they are held by the lord under the common law as part of the demesnes of his manor. For these customary estates were in their origin mere tenancies at will, though by long usage they have in many instances acquired the character of a permanent inheritance, descendible (except where otherwise modified by custom) according to the rules of the common law ; and as tenancies at will they continue to be con sidered in all questions relating to the legal as distinguished from the customary property in the land.