Report on copper coinage schemes

May it please yor Lordp

We beg leave to acquint {sic} yor Lordp that by the last Post we h

Mr Daniel Stuart the Collector of the Bullion for her Majties Mint at Edinburgh, being, as we hear, very far spent in a consumption is dead (as we hear by the last Post) so yt his death when the last Letters came we heard last from Scotland was daily expected. We humbly beg leave to aquaint your Lordp therewith & to represent or opinion that upon his death thise place should cease of Collector of the Bullion should cease [as being contrary to ye Scotch Act of Parliamt wch setled the Bullion upon the said Mint [& that the oneys in his custody be paid into the hands of ye General & Master of thaet sd Mint upon account to be kept in a chest in ye Treasure of the said Mint under the keys of the General the Master & the two WArdens of the said Mint, & & to be accounted for annually by the Master of ye said Mint.] And that for the future the said sd Bullion be kept as as it shall be be collected in for the future be the manner appointed by the Scotch Act of Parliamt wch setled this Duty on the Mint & be kept in a dis apart in the Exchequer in a proper chest under the keys of the Cash Keeper of North Brittain & also (if it be thought fit) under the Key of the General of the sd Mint as the said Act directs, to be issued out thence by {illeg} from time to time by Warrants to the General & Master of the said Mint & kept into the Chest Treasury of the sd Mint by Warrants & & kept there under the keys of the said Oficers to for the uses of service General the Master & the Wardens for defraying of the said Mint the charge of coynage & repairs & vaynes of Salaries & be accounted for annually by the Master of the said Mint, according to the direction of as the Indenture of her Majties Mints directs.

For putting an stop end to proposals & petitions about the coynage of Copper half pence I humbly represent that about six hundred Tunns of such money is sufficient to stock ye nation England & there being seven hundred Tunns coyned by ye last Patent, the nation is still sufficiently stockt wth them & the so that a new coynedage may be delayed two or three years longer at ye l{illeg} or above & when they b they such money shall begin to be wanted I am humbly of opinion that the coynage of 40 Tunns once in 4 or 5 years will be sufficient to supply the uses of the nation & that they it should be coyned of such copper as will endure ye hammer when heated to a dark red & (upon account or by a neare estimate) of such a value as will pay all charges upon account & or by a near estimate & that it will be above two pence in the pound weight cheaper to make the blanks by casting then by hammering cheapest to& best safest best to have the whole coinage performed in the Mint the blanks being made by casting, & that the copper be bought {illeg} at the Market price to be allowed by yor Lordp & paid for by the Master & Worker out of the copper money. And that a pound weight be not made into more then 20d unless the price of Copper rise considerably.