7 Eaton Place South
16th Feb: 1858
My dear Sir
I did not recollect giving an opinion as to the toll on the railway – However I have thought that question over & I think, provided you undertake the transport from the canal at the nearest point to the workings to the Great Western without any further exten expense to the lessee, such arrangement as to the toll as you propose would not be unreasonable. Altho, as I have always said, the object of the landlord must be to give the tenant every facility – i.e to assist him to reduce the working expenses as much as possible – by which means ore otherwise unsaleable may be made available for the markets –
Competition cannot of Course be wholly guarded against – but no competition can be so bad as that in the self same one – The difficulty on this head might be obviated by the landlord agreeing to give the tenant the right of working the ore in preference to a stranger –
The carrying out the workings upon a large scale is of course the main object of the longer term & the greater amount of land – The comparative cost of all appliances for working on a large scale is much less than on a small – For instance you may work in several places along a line at the same time instead of at a single terminus – and I consider it very essential to have the whole of the larch wood & the field adjoining on the Lacock Side (<your?> boundary on the South) with sufficient surface land for working it to the best advantage – If it should turn out that any further land could be advantageously worked at the same time that might be left to the <good?> sense of landlord & tenant
Yours faithfully
G Cottrell