"
The merchant witnesses were in favour of throwing open the trade of
Hudson's Bay; and this Mr. Tomlinson said more ships would be sent, and
more people brought down to trade. "This is confirmed," he said, "by
the experience of the Guinea trade, which, when confined to a company,
employed not above ten ships, and now employs 150;" and "that the case
of the Guinea trade was exactly similar (to the Hudson's Bay), where
the ships near one another, and each endeavours to get the trade; and
the more ships lie there, the higher the price of negroes."
The capital of the Hudson's Bay Company, increased by doublings and
treblings of its nominal amount, was, in 1748, 103,950_l_., held
by eighty-six proprietors.
The trade between London and Hudson's Bay was carried on in 1748, and
for some previous years, by four ships. The cost of the exports was in
1748 5,102_l_. 12_s_. 3_d_., and the value of the sales
of furs and other imports in that year amounted to 30,160_l_.
5_s_. 11_d_d. The "charge attending the carrying on the
Hudson's Bay trade, and maintaining their factories," in 1748, is
stated at 17,352_l_. 4_s_. 10_d_. The original cash
capital was 10,500_l_. That capital was "trebled" in 1690, making
the nominal capital 31,500_l_.
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