The text below has been received from the Cornish Stannary Parliament and is deserving of a space on this website. The Cornish Stannary Parliament is an institution which has, over the years, shown itself to be the most pro-active of the many Cornish political organisations which have emerged during the twentieth century. Its members have continually placed themselves in the frontline of action and have been willing to be openly accountable for what they do. What the CSP have to say is, for the most part, over the heads of ordinary folk and not always well received.
This is not because they are wrong but simply because they are challenging the very legality of the so-called Imperial Democratic Machine. If they are wrong, then why does the Duchy of Cornwall and UK Government not make a joint public and substantiated statement to this effect, rather than forcing each action through a financially extortionate legal process? The simple message of the action below is to query why, historically, the Cornish had to pay more tax on winning tin than our English neighbours across the Tamar? I would also liked to have seen included, in the Table, the comparable totals for the English Tin Production.
CORNISH STANNARY PARLIAMENT
9 Coombe Park, Bal Lake, Camborne, Kernow/Cornwall TR14 0JG
Phone 01209 710938
Contact: http://www.cornishstannaryparliament.co.uk/form.htm
15 May 2000
Press Release
DEBT RECOVERY FROM THE DUKE OF CORNWALL - PRINCE CHARLES
Following the refusal of the British Government to recognise, or even discuss, the status of the Cornish as a national minority, the Cornish Stannary Parliament has today sent a debt recovery invoice to the Duchy of Cornwall’s chief officer, the Lord Warden of the Stannaries. The invoice is for the recovery of just one of the many unauthorised overcharges made by the Duchy of Cornwall to enhance its income from Cornwall. This test case exposes the secret Duchy income of excess ‘coinage’, or tax on tin production from 1337 - 1837, amounting to £20 billion.
This latest action is further motivated by the urgent need to reverse Cornwall’s economic and cultural decline caused by overcharging and under-investment by successive central government bodies. Despite years of empty promises, the GDP for Cornwall remains one of the lowest in Europe while many young people are forced into exile. At the present time, the state subsidised English Heritage is at liberty to pass off as English, pre-English and other, Cornish heritage sites leased from the Duchy of Cornwall. This official English body is imposed on Cornwall, in the absence of an official "British Heritage" organisation, and is supported by the English educational system, with the result that our British, Celtic and Cornish heritage is in serious danger of elimination.
Redress is obstructed by the undemocratic nature of an injunction which denies Members of Parliament the right to ask questions concerning the activities of the Duchy of Cornwall and the Prince’s Trust in the House of Commons. (Letter from the House of Commons Library to Andrew George, M.P. dated 16 June 1997.)
The ‘coinage’ overcharge reveals that Cornwall was either exploited contrary to English Law or administered separately under Duchy jurisdiction. These discriminatory policies effectively combine both to protect the feudal privileges of the Duke of Cornwall and to suppress the facts about the Celtic national identity of the Cornish.
Recovery of this historic £20 billion debt would finance a viable "Cornish Heritage and Culture Agency", a realistic "Business Development Fund" and an "Objective One Programme" to guarantee cultural and economic suvival for Cornwall.
E.R. Nute
Keeper of the Seal
for and on behalf of the Cornish Stannary Parliament.
Attached: Copy of Invoice to the Duchy of Cornwall.
CORNISH STANNARY PARLIAMENT
9 Coombe Park, Bal Lake, Camborne, Kernow/Cornwall TR14 0JG. Tel. 01209 710938
15 May 2000
INVOICE
The Earl Peel
The Lord Warden of the Stannaries
The Duchy of Cornwall
10 Buckingham Gate
London, SW1E 6LA
To RECOVERY OF UNAUTHORISED OVERCHARGE ON TIN PRODUCTION IN CORNWALL BY THE DUCHY OF CORNWALL contrary to the provisions of Magna Carta, the Stannary Charters of 1305 & 1508, Duchy Charters of 1337/8, the Case of Mines 1568 & the Royal Mines Act 1693 AD and without parliamentary authority.
Cornwall - 872,504 taxable units of tin production charged @ £2.00 each.
England (County of Devon) - all units of tin production charged @ £0.78 each.
Difference due - 872,504 @ overcharge rate of £1.22 per unit.
Production figures taken from "The Stannaries by G.R.Lewis, Harvard University, U.S.A (1908). Formula for historic values from "The Sunday Times" Rich List 2000. Coinage as % average historical GDP* by century x £865 billion (GDP 1999).
872,504 units overcharged @ £1.22 each + % GDP = £20,067,900,000.00
Final Total subject to agreement on V.A.T. £20,067,900,000.00
E.&O.E. Terms:- 120 days.
| ||||||||||||
