Alignment is critical, and the most difficult thing I've found is a shop with equipment that will fit 10" wheels, although I found one. But also remember that 60% or so of your weight is on the front tires, as well as the steering, torque, and braking. A basic check is to chalk them and see how your chalk pattern shows up on the pavement. If the sides are not transferring, you have too much air and wear in the center. If the center is not transferring, you have too little air, wearing out the sides.

Rotate at least at 10,000 miles to get the wear even, or the rears will pass their age limits or dry rot.

I'm quickly approaching 200,000 miles on my personal driver. Running a 998 with a 2.95 CWP I rotated tires with every oil change. No power little torque they lasted well. When installing my 1360 Cooper S engine with a wide ratio tranny and 2.56 finial drive ratio via a 2.76 and two O/D drops. Running 145 /12 s on Rover rims, I could not stop the fronts from spinning. Needless to say there was no time to rotate before they were worn out. Moving on to 165 / 12 s and trying to act grown up wheel spin is much reduced. 

Fully adjustable suspension parts are reasonable and easy to work with. I have the Dunlop toe gauge, caster/camber gauge, turn tables and electronic scales. Once basic alignment is chosen, ride height and corner weights set it's fun to make little changes and see what they do to your handling. Steve (CTR) 

IMHO, the tires need to be rotated regularly in order to get the maximum drivability out of the set. Most of us will have the tires crack and rot before they wear out.

With the way tires last lately i tend to rotate them. If i leave the rears in place i have found that they crack before the tread wears out and they end up out of date with a lot of tread left on them, this is especially so here in Florida in more seldom used cars where the heat seems to aggravate the situation so i just prefer to replace all four.
I know in the UK i have bought cars with three different tires on them so people seem to sometimes replace them one at a time.

when I got my mini many years ago,  a brand new set of cheap 12 inch Firestones wore out in front  in a few thousand miles.
The problem was the tires, not the car. Pirellis and Michelins have held up nicely.

Same for me with Alex's method. I have done it for years.

Even with perfect alignment the rear tyres last about 2-1/2 times as long as the fronts.
Rotating them just wears all four out faster - I haven't bothered rotating in 20 years and just wear out the fronts and change them when required.

Rotate them more often.

You could have some alignment problems, but keep in mind that even with the alignment set correctly, the front tires will wear faster than the rear.

Are you burning rubber on take off. .?

Big AL

If it is an alignment issue the tires usually wear more on the outer or inner edge depending if the the car is toeing in too much or out too much.
You can use a string method off the rear wheels to get it close enough.
Mini's have to be set 1/16" toe out.

I've experienced this too. I'd have the alignment checked first. My problem seems to be that my right shoe is too heavy.

I have a 1969 Australian built MK1 with 10" tires. The front tires are wearing out way too fast compared to the rear tires. Could this be an alignment issue? I was told more than likely it is. I live in the So. Cal area so the next challenge is to find an alignment shop that has an alignment ramp that is narrow enough to fit a classic Mini cause classic Mini's are rare in the states. Has anybody else experienced the premature wear on the front end of their Mini?