The Sun.
London, England, 1839-01-12 00:00:00

PRICE OF SUGAR

EFFECT OF MONOPOLY.

The bounty on refined Sugar having, in October last, been reduced to
355. Bd., per cwt., no sales for exportation at that rate of bounty have
been effected ; the excessively high prices paid by all British consumers
cannot, therefore, now be attributed to the bounty. Nevertheless.
this reduction still leaves, allowing 1 s. per cwt. for the poisonous dirt con.
tained in the Muscovado or moist Sugar—and which is extracted by the
process of refining, a clear bounty of 10s. Bd. per cwt., which would, in
the event of an ample supply of Sugar from the West Indies, come into
active operation, and by stimulating the exportation of refined Sugar,
always maintain the average price of West India Muscovados at 10s. per
cwt. above the price of free labour Sugar from other quarters.
British Treacle is worth Bs. Gd. per cwt. in the foreign markets. The
same has Leen sold this week at 31s. per cwt., being an excess of price
paid by the nation of 225. 6d. per cwt., in other words, 225. Gd. per cwt
on Treacle contributed by the poorman towards West India Bounty, and
not, as it is erroneously supposed, towards revenue.

COFFWE.—The duty on West India Coffee, the price of it ranging from
955. to 138 s. per cwt , is 565. per cwt., about 50 per cent. ad valorem.
The duty on St. Domingo Coffee, the average price of it being 425. per
cwt., is 140 s. per cwt., or about 300 per cent. ad valorem. The protec_
live duty, therefore, on West India Ogee is equivalent to 250 per cent.
Some importers of Coffee, availing themselves of the privileges conferrred
by the East India Company's Charter, have absolutely shipped Coffee
from the Brazils to the Cape of Good Hope, and thence to England,
where, in consequence of the privilege alluded to above, it is admitted for
home use at a duty of 84s. per cwt. A sale of Brazil Coffee brought by
this circuitous route occurred in Mincing-lane this week, so that through
trickery, and favouritism in duty, the British public are unconsciously
made consumers of Coffee raised by stave labour, to the exclusion of that
cultivated by free hands in St. Domingo.
In our statement of last week we promised to give in round numbers
the value to the West Indians of the various monopolies they enjoy—
the amount of them is, of course, just so much money taken through
excessive price from the mother country. We, therefore, subjoin the
following computation founded on the prices of the day : •
Ihe proceeds of a duty of 245. per cwt. yield, it is said, a gross reve-
nue of five millions per annum on Sugar.
If, therefore, 245. give 5,000,000/., 13s. will give ... £2,750,000
The Treacle imported in the Molasses, which is sold here
to the poor man at 30s. per cwt., the Continental Market

value of it being Ss., may be taken, communilms annis,
at a weight of 600,000 cwt., which, at 225. per cwt , the
excess in price paid here for it, give
'he value of the Coffee monopoly may be set at

600,000
500,000
100,000
100,000

Ditto Ruin ditto
Ditto Cocoa Nuts ditto
Ditto Pimento, Ginger, Preserves, and other
articles of minor importance, at

at
at

100,000

Giving a total paid, per annum, over and above the intrinsic
value of the different articles, and the duty on them, by
the British nation, for the benefit of the West Indian
Colonies, of £4,210,000

CITY ECONOMY.—A writer in a late number o

tha Loudon and IVcstminster Review stated that new Lon-
don Bridge and the approaches cost upwards of 3,000,0001.
sterling. It appears that from the year 1824 to 1834 in-
clusive, 13,577/. were expended for the bridge in Parlia-
mentary expenses alone! During the same period, 58,838/.
were expended in law charges, costs on disputed claims, and
verdicts in favour of claimants ; very considerable portions
of these sums went to the creatures of the Corporation ;
19,562/. Qs. 2d. are also charged for " incidental" ex-
penses! Mr. Lambert Jones (the deputy of Sir Matthew
Wood, the venerable Reformer of the City) is the Chair-
man of the Bridge Committee, and has lately been lauded
as having so well managed the affairs connected with the
new bridge, " that many are of opinion that there would
by this time have been no bridge at all" without him. The
Government would have built the bridge and approaches
much better at half the cost. As it is, before the Duke of
Wellington would lend any money from the Treasury to
the City jobocrats, the designs of the latter were withdrawn,
and others substituted by the Government.

On Thursday evening, a fine male child, a few
weeks old, was left in a basket at the door of a house in
Brunswick-squat e. It was very carefully wrapped up, and,
from its dress, appeared to belong to prents in a com-
fortable rank of life. It was taken to St. Pancras work-
house, and the parish authorities are endeavouring to trace
out the unnatural mother.
The Menai Bridge, which was so much shaken by
the furious gale of Sunday night, as to produce a large
chasm in the wooden carriage way, is so far repaired as to
be passable for foot passengers only.
THE HURRICANE.-The provincial papers re-
ceived to-day furnish additional evidence of the violence of
the late elemental visitation. The details, however, being
so similar to those that have already appeared in The
Sun, do not seem to demand to-day any lengthened
notice. Under the heads, respectively, of Scotland and
Ireland, a few particulars will be found, brought by the
papers from those parts of the kingdom.

It gives us pleasure to learn that the Oxford Me-
morial of the martyred Bishops has received the patronage
of the Bishop of the diocese, and a subscription of .50/.
each from the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Bishop
of London.

GRESHAM LECTURES.—These lectures for the

Hilary Term commenced yesterday at the Theatre of the
City of London Schools with a lecture on Astronomy, by
the Rev. J. Pullen, M.A., F.R.S.A. The audience was
an extremely thin one, there not being 30 persons present.
This may, perhaps, be attributed in a great measure to the
unfavourable state of the weather.

We are happy to learn that Miss Kelly is recover-
ing from her severe and prolonged indisposition, and that
the lovers of the drama may soon expect again to be
gratified by the exercise of that happy talent which ren•
dered her so peculiarly and deservedly a favourite.
A correspondent informs us that Charles Kean has
been engaged by Wallack, the lessee of the National
Theatre in New York, to act for fifty nights, for which he
is to receive sixty pounds for each night's performance.
Miss Shirreff, Mr. Wilson, and Mr. Seguin continue their
attraction in the theatres of the United States.

On Thursday evening Hounslow was lighted up for
the first time with gas, supplied from the gas works at
Brentford. There arc eighteen lights, the expense of the
erection of which will amount to 132/., of which 1141. has
been raised by public subscription of the inhabitants, whose
intention it is to maintain them by similar means.

POOR RATES IN ST. MARTIN'S-IN-THE-
FIELDS.—A meeting of the parishioners took place yes-
terday, in reference to the appeal cases which came before
the Justices for the Strand division of Middlesex on the
previous day, relative to the new assessment of property in
the parish of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. The senior churchwar-
den took the chair, and explained that the hearing of the
appeals had been postponed to admit of further inquiry
on the part of the appellants. He stated also that it was
not the intention of the authorities to uphold the new as-
sessment any further than it should be found to be just
and reasonable, the object of all parties being to procure an
equitable valuation. A good deal of discussion took place
relative to the asssessment of public houses, which, it
was contended, had been rated at a much higher sum than
the value of the premises, if converted to other uses, would
warrant. It was urged, in reply, that, the license being
attached to a particular house, rendered it more profitable
to the owner of the premises than ordinary houses. It
appears that some of the publicans in the parish have had
the assessment raised as much as one-third above the pre-
vious estimate. A vote of thanks to the chairman was
then carried, and the meeting broke up.

The Devonport mail, which left London last Sun-
day night, was upset, about three miles on the London side
of Deptford Inn, at four o'clock on Monday morning.
The hurricane was so overpowering, on reaching nearly the
top of Castle Hill, that the horses could not face it, and
they became unmanageable, and stopped, when the violence
of the gale actually drove the mail backwards, and the
horses, almost worn out, were dragged after it for several
yards, until the coach was stopped by a bank at the side of
the road, and instantly blown over. There were two in-
side passengers only, one of whom (Mr. John Marshall, of
London, the Australian emigration agent) sustained a con-
tusion in the shoulder ; the other passenger, as also the
coachman and guard, escaped unhurt. Assistance was
obtained from Deptford Inn, and, after two hours' deten-
tion, the Mail was got. up again, and proceeded on its jour-
ney to Devonport. Mr. Marshall, we hear, is doing well.
—Devonport Independent.
PORTUOUBSA VVoMESt.—it la not uncommon ni
some of the provinces to find women, who have not a shoe
to their feet, ornamented by necklaces of gold, some of them
of great value. Mrs. —, the lady of a merchant at Oporto,
related to us an odd anecdote of a servant whom she had
obtained from the country. The girl entered upon her vo-
cation with every appearance of being quite competent to its
duties, and, indeed, she proved to be so ; but to the great
annoyance of the English prejudice of her mistress, she wore
no shoes. The lady mentioned the circumstance to the
girl as unusual in English families, but was answered by
the domestic that she wore stockings, which was more
than servants in the country did, and that she deemed
that a sufficient concession to the fastidiousness of a fo-
regoer. The lady perceiving that, independently of
the want of shoes, the domestic's wardrobe was de
ficient in what her mistress judged to be essential
articles of dress, and conceiving that the want of
funds on the part of her new servant was the cause of
their not being procured, kindly volunteered an advance on
account of wages. The offer was, however, received with
some marks of indignation by the domestic, who opened In.r
box, and displayed a wealth of jewellery, in the shape of
gold necklaces, which quite astonished her mistress, and
which was produced as irrefragable proof, that if she was
not provided with the articles that wore deemed necessary
to her equipment, it was not for want of means of pur-
chasing them.—Landscape Annual for 1639.

Table showing the ex-duty price of West India Sugar in Mincing_
lane, and comparing the same against foreign sugars : _ _

London, Jan. 11, 1839.
The Gazette of this day quotes the average price of British Per cwt.
Plantation Muscovado Sugar, exclusive of duty, at 3ss. 71d.
Muscovado Sugars raised by free labour in the Manilla are
worth this week from 21s. 6d. to 235. per cwt., being
about 13s. per cwt. less than the average price of West
India Sugar.