Welsh Journals

management. This committee was to be elected annually and was to meet once weekly or oftener. It had no power to declare a dividend which was to be done by the general meeting. The parties to this deed also agreed that at the general meeting they might raise a stock for carrying on the mine, provided it did not ex- ceed £ 2 for each of the four thousand and eight shares, and that none should buy above sixty shares nor any sell under £ 17 a share. Furthermore, they agreed that Sir Carbury Pryse and his partners should 'upon sale made of any of their shares, pay to the cashier of the mine £ 4,008 out of their shares' which was to be a stock for carrying on the work. This sum was to be paid in accordance with the number of shares held by each of them. In order to pay Sir Carbury the sum of £ 1,500 agreed upon originally, it was now decided that the amount due from each partner be apportioned as follows: the Earl of Danby, Sir Charles Bickerstaffe, Phillip Bickerstaffe, and William Powell, £ 250 each; Sir Humphrey Edwin, £ 375, and Edward Pryse £ 125. These sums were to be paid out of the first money each of them made by way of sub- scription, transfer and sale of their respective shares. Dame Dorothy Pryse was by the first agreement to receive £ 100 a year out of the twelve shares, in lieu of her interest in the mine. When it became difficult to decide upon what fund that yearly rent might be settled, it was agreed that Sir Carbury Pryse should accept £ 500 from his partners (who held the twelve shares) and then suffer the £ 100 to be charged on the whole four thousand and eight shares. In order to achieve this it was concluded that each partner should subscribe as follows: Sir Humphrey Edwin £ 125; the Earl of Danby, Sir Charles Bickerstaffe, Phillip Bickerstaffe, and William Powell, £ 83 6s. 8d. each; and Edward Pryse £ 40 13s. 4d. Then it was settled that they were at liberty to sell 'one moiety of their proportion of the said four thousand and eight shares', and no shares were to pass except through the transfer books of the company. For his salary the Secretary had two shillings a share yearly out of each of the four thousand and eight shares, and he was to discharge the accountant and clerks. The accountant was to give £ 1,000 security to make a true account. All shareholders were to have recourse to his books, but were not entitled to take copies but of what con- cerned themselves. He was also to keep a book for recording all buyings and sellings and agreements which related to the mine. The Secretary was likewise to keep a record of all transfers of shares and acceptances for which he was entitled to 2s. 6d. for every entry.1 According to William Waller who was steward of the mine for many years, Sir Carbury Pryse on his advice refused a cash offer of £ 40,000 from an eminent merchant for a half-interest in his newly discovered mine at Esgair Hir. Waller's contention was that with a sufficient stock he would be able in a few years with six hundred men, to bring in a clear profit of £ 70,500 per annum, as follows:1 Six hundred men employed at the great Work when the levels are up, at 8s. 6d. per Tun, for Getting Washing, and making merchantable, as it is 1 Waller, William, An Essay on the value of the mines late of Sir Carbery Price (London, 1698), pp. 8-9.