superior sugar for this market, and it is understood that they have suggested the abolition of the rate of 16s. chargeable under the denomination of white-clayed, as being excessive in comparison with the other rates in the scale. The fact is, however, that the ordinary sorts are still required to pay more duty in proportion to the sugar they contain, than those which are equal to white-clayed; and, inasmuch as these ordinary sorts constitute the greater part of the whole quantity taken for home consumption, they have the first claim for concession if the Chancellor of the Exchequer should be induced to reconsider the scale. Before it was settled in its present form these ordinary sorts of sugar were even more disproportionately taxed, and the West India Committee, with a view to the correction of this evil, had urged the adoption of refining in bond. The nearer approximation to just proportions, which was effected by the new scale, afforded some relief from the oppressive inequality of the tax, and that proposal has latterly not been pressed. But, if the question should be re-opened, and an attempt made to disturb the relations between the different descriptions of sugar to the further disadvantage of the ordinary sorts, it would become absolutely necessary for the West India Committee to use every means in their power to direct attention to the justice of their claim to be permitted to refine sugar in bond.

The petitioners seem to object to any scale, and to argue in favour of one rate for every variety of sugar, without reference to refining in bond. When it is considered that this variety is expressed, according to the latest prices current, exclusive of duty, by quotations of 44s. for the best refined, and 16s. for the lowest unrefined sugar, the absurdity of such a proposal will be apparent. This variation in the market value of sugar does not arise, as do the variations in the value of tea and coffee, from an essential difference in the quality of sugar, but from variations in the component parts of the articles sold under that term. The highest quotation of 448. represents the purest sugar obtainable in the London market; the quotation of 16s. represents a compound of sugar, treacle, and dirt, but the crystallizable sugar it contains is of equal quality with the best, and only requires to be separated.

It may be presumed that these varieties of sugar are sent to this country in the form which the several growers find to be most compatible with the circumstances in which they are placed. The adoption of one rate of duty on every compound called sugar would, of course, act as a prohibition against all but refined. The ordinary mixtures known as Muscovado would of necessity be sent to the adjacent countries on the Continent, in foreign ships, for the purpose of undergoing refinement, and subsequent transmission to this country.

Many other parties, including the greatest of all, the consumers, are concerned in the refinement of sugar in bond; and this measure is recommended by considerations of national importance, for it is eminently fitted to give freedom and extension to the sugar trade. The revenue is also concerned in its adoption; for, contrary to an apprehension which has sometimes been expressed, the tendency would be to prepare refined sugar at a cheaper rate, and consequently to extend the consumption. A very large proportion of all the sugar consumed in this country, perhaps, 350,000 tons, already passes through the refineries, but the proportion would be greatly augmented, and refined sugar would probably supersede every other description; whilst it is obvious that the enormous adultera

tion of brown sugar, which is now so injurious both to the revenue and the poorer consumer, would thus be rendered impossible.

West India Committee Rooms, Walbrook House, London.

Report of the Committee of the Chamber of Agriculture appointed to examine the Question of the Differential Duties on Sugar.

1. The Chamber of Agriculture have often called the attention of the different Secretaries of State to the necessity of a prompt revision of the law which establishes a scale of differential duties on sugar as unfair in principle, as it is difficult and vexatious in practice; but to the present time their representations have not been successful, and no reasons have been given by the Government for maintaining a legislation so opposed to the great principles of commercial freedom.

2. The same silence was not observed towards the colonists when they protested against the assimilation of the duties on sugar from all countries without distinction, whether the produce of slave or free labour. The Government then declared that the time for protection to commerce or industry was past; that each country ought to be left to its own resources; that the interest of the consumer should take precedence of all others; and that the British colonies, instead of looking for protective duties, must apply themselves to the improvement of their manufacture, and endeavour to produce as cheap as slave colonies.

3. In presence of these formal declarations this colony was obliged to accept the struggle with foreign possessions, however unequal it then appeared; but it hoped, at the same time, that the government, from a sentiment of good faith and justice, would lose no time in repealing the differential duties on sugars of different qualities.

4. This hope appeared to be on the eve of realization when his grace the Duke of Newcastle, who at that time accupied, as he does now, the office of Secretary of State for the Colonies, addressed a despatch to Governor Higginson on 17th May, 1853, requesting the opinion of the inhabitants of this colony on the propriety of revising the law on the differential duties, a question, said the Secretary of State, which has been brought prominently to my notice by Sir H. Barkly, Governor of Jamaica. 5. The despatch to Governor Higginson enclosed a copy of a letter from the Board of Trade, which, on being consulted by the Duke of Newcastle, replied in the following terms :

"To strike with a superior duty of one pound of sugar which, by a better mode of manufacture, contains more saccharine matter than another pound obtained for the same raw material, is to inflict direct discouragement upon improvement."

6. On pressing these documents to the Legislative Council, Governor Higginson, convinced that differential duties had seen their day, publicly congratulated the colony on the event.

7. The Legislative Council, called in its turn to give an opinion on the 21st October, 1853, unanimously adopted the report of a committee formed from its body, which concluded in the following terms:

"The committee entirely concur in the opinions expressed by the Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council for Trade, and by Governor Barkly, with reference to the injurious influence of the duties in question on the improvement of the manufacture of sugar in the colonies."

8. Everything then tended to encourage the hope in the minds of the colonists that an era of liberty was about to commence for their branch of industry.

9. Under this impression, and having in view the struggle to be sustained against foreign colonies by the equalisation of the sugar duties fixed for 1854, they made enormous sacrifices for the improvement of the manufacture of their sugar. According to the customs returns, the estimated value of machinery for the manufacture of sugar imported in 1852, 1853, and 1854, was as follows:-1852, 13,761.; 1853, 31,210.; 1854, 87,9021.

10. It is easy to conceive, after what has been said, how great was the disappointment and discouragement of our planters when they suddenly learnt that on the 9th of May of that same year, 1854, the Right Hon. Mr. Gladstone, Chancellor of the Exchequer, far from improving the state of things, had asked and obtained from Parliament, a measure which rendered the position of the colony worse than before; the duties on sugar were to be levied on no less than four classes. This decision, the most unfortunate that could be imagined, as regarded colonial industry, would have rendered useless all the sacrifices made at that time for the improvement of the quality of our produce, if France and Australia, finding we were making superior sugars, had not taken part of their supplies from this market. It cannot be denied that these two countries prevented Mauritius from retrograding, after having boldly entered the path of progress.

11. The division of sugar into four classes paying 128. 8d., 13s. 10d., 168., and 18s. 4d., is an obstacle to all progress. Experience has proved it in the most positive manner. Who does not perceive in reading these figures, that it is impossible for the colonial producer, under the present legislation, to make any progress without being deprived, by an extra duty, of the advantage resulting from improved manufacture.

12. Was it an ad valorem duty that it was intended to establish? That an ad valorem duty can be justified, at least the difference of price between two sugars should be in proportion to the difference of duty paid. In practice, this does not occur. Experience, for instance, has proved that sugar paying a duty of 16s. often obtains in England but 6d. to 18. above sugars paying 138. 10d. An inquiry would establish this fact without difficulty. Consequently the division of sugar into four classes for the fixation of an ad valorem duty is not founded on an equitable basis.

13. On the other hand, what can be more arbitrary and more uncertain than the principle of an ad valorem duty dependent on the colour of a sugar? How can the just limit be established between the colour which is to pay one, and the colour which is to pay another duty? The Customhouse officer is thus left sole arbiter to fix the duty. One officer in cloudy weather will class the same sugar differently from his colleague who will examine it in sunshine. Two parcels of the same quality will be taxed 168. in London, and 13s. 10d. in Liverpool. This happens frequently. What is remarkable is, that the better the sugar, the greater the uncertainty, the doubt, the error, and the contradiction in the classification.

14. So irrational a law cannot but lead to bad results. As a proof, the purchasers for the British market never buy sugars that are above the classification paying 13s. 10d. If by chance a purchaser buys sugar paying 168. duty, he calculates his purchase on a difference of only 18. or even 6d. above the price of sugar paying 138. 10d.; as the difference of duty, 2s. 2d.,

it naturally follows that he can only purchase the finer qualities at a price actually less than the sugars paying 13s. 10d.

15. There are those who, being ashamed of this legislation, endeavour to explain it by pretending the question of commercial liberty comes into conflict with the question of revenue. The difficulty according to them is how to touch the legislation on sugar without endangering the resources of the imperial treasury.

16. The committee do not look on the matter in the same way. There is no question of reduction of duty. The colony has nothing to say against the enormous sum levied on sugar consumed in England. However hard it may be for Mauritius to see an article, its only production and one of universal consumption, taxed for 6,000,000l., it does not murmur as the consumer is more directly concerned. What is claimed by the producer in Mauritius is a change in the manner of establishing this duty. Where is the danger if the same amount were to be levied by means of one uniform duty?

17. It must not be concealed that the interest which was thought in danger, and the interest which it was intended to protect by these differential duties, was that of the refiner. But has not the colony the right to invoke against this protection accorded to refiners the great principles of commercial liberty, in the name of which were abolished the duties that protected the British colonies from the competition of foreign colonies? It is now seven years ago since the protective duties, established originally for the benefit of colonial industry, have disappeared, and yet the colony has been always condemned to produce only inferior raw sugar for the benefit of British refineries. This is not just; it is not consistent; it is not worthy of the British government.

18. If that full commercial liberty which is commanded by justice cannot be accorded, the government ought at least to remedy the injury inflicted on the colonist by a more equitable arrangement of the scale of duties. The example of France ought to inspire it with confidence, and enlighten it in this respect. Need we mention that the refineries of Paris, Havre, Nantes, Bordeaux, and Marseilles, are in full prosperity under a legislature which divides sugar into two classes only.

19. The committee go still further, and think that the British refiner himself would gain by a change in accordance with the system adopted in France. At the present time he cannot procure the raw material so cheap as the French refiner, as the latter purchases in this colony the finest sugars which pay 16s. duty in England, at the same price as the British refiner pays for inferior quality which pays 13s. 10d. in England.

20. For all these reasons, the committee confidently recommend the Chamber of Agriculture to solicit the repeal of the present differential duties on sugar, which have proved so prejudicial to the agricultural interests of this colony. No time could be more opportune than the present, when the British public are beginning to perceive the injustice done to themselves as well as to the colonial sugar producer by retaining these duties, and when the policy of maintaining them is again about to be discussed in the British Parliament.

(Signed)

Port Louis, 12th November, 1861.

C. ANTELME,

Chairman of the Committee.

Report on Sugar Refining in Bond, dated 1st August, 1848. HONOURABLE SIRS, From what we have seen of the ordinary working of a sugar refinery, we do not think it practicable to establish a survey for the purpose of taking an account of the liquor or syrup in the several stages of operation without materially interfering with and fettering the refiner's operations; but we are of opinion the duty on raw and other sugars when manufactured into refined and bastard sugars and treacle may be secured by the following regulations: :

1st. Before a refiner be allowed to work foreign or foreign and colonial sugars for home consumption, he shall deliver an entry stating the quantity the house is capable of refining in one week.

2nd. All sugars to be delivered from a duty-free warehouse. No greater quantity to be delivered in any week than the house is capable of refining, and the refiner to be debited with the quantity delivered to him.

3rd. No refiner to have more than three weeks' supply of sugar on hand; this supply to include the sugar syrups and other products in process.

4th. A certain time to be allowed for the refining of a given quantity of sugar, and the products of the sugar to be returned into bond.

5th. Two bonded warehouses, at least, to be provided, one for depositing the sugar, &c., intended for home consumption, the other for depositing for exportation.

6th. When a refiner deposits refined sugar, &c., in such bonded warehouses, he shall give a written declaration, stating from what description of sugar it was made, and whether intended for home consumption or exportation, and the sugar to be deposited accordingly.

7th. When the whole of the sugar delivered in any week is refined and deposited, the refiner to give a written declaration of the quantities made from foreign, clayed, and muscovado sugar respectively, and what portion of such refined sugar is intended for home consumption or exportation, such declaration to be held binding on the refiner, and the duty allowed on the exportation, or charged on delivery for home consumption accordingly. Penalty for untrue declaration.

8th. For every 112 lbs. of raw sugar delivered, the refiner to be required to produce a certain quantity of refined and bastard sugars and treacle (upon the data which the customs appear to possess, this is 42 lbs. of double refined, 26 lbs. of single refined, 21 lbs. of bastard sugar, and 19 lbs. of treacle, 4 lbs. being allowed for waste, or 68 lbs. of single refined, 21 lbs. of bastard, and 19 lbs. of treacle, 4 lbs. being allowed for waste).

Under the proposed regulations, the refiner will be debited with the quantity of each kind of sugar received from the bonded warehouse, and must produce a certain amount of refined and bastard sugars and treacle, which, with the limited amount of waste, must equal the amount of raw sugar delivered, and the proper duties being levied on these various products will realise the duty on the raw sugar.

It will be seen the refiner could have no object in substituting one kind of sugar for another in his declarations, for were he (having credit in the revenue books) to send for exportation 100 tons of sugar declared to be refined foreign sugar, although made from British, he would gain no advantage, because he must keep for home consumption a like quantity of foreign, in order that the balance of his stock might be correct.

(Signed) WILLIAM MILSON MOXON, S. G. Examiners.

1st August, 1848.

GEORGE PHILLIPS,