The Sun.
London, England, 1806-06-21 00:00:00

TORTOLA FREE PORT ACT

Earl SPENCER moved the second reading of the
Tortola Free Port Aft

The. Duke of MONTROSE. expressed his regret
at the thin attendance of their Lordships on a ques-
tion which he conceived to- be one of the greatest
importance. He Was .at.a loss to conceive the rea-
sons upon which the present measure was founded.
The. present' Board of Trade had aeted in this in-
st::lnce diametrically opposite to ,the decision of the
Board of Trade of last year. He'had hoped that
Upon this question the Noble Lord at the head of
the Tie sury wonld have attended, but understand-
ing that Noble Lord was prevented from attendincr
by a slight indisposition, he must request his Noble
Friend in the Blue Ribbon (Earl Spencer) to at as
Umpire upon this question between the two'Boards
of Trade. The principle upon which the Board of
Trade of last year had a6led was clearly this, that in
allowing the free importation from Foreign Islands
into,one of our own Islands, of Sugar and Coffee,
and those articles which our own Islands produced, '
it was impossible afterwards' to •prevent the impor-
tation from thence into this Country of such' foreign
produce,
.upon the same terms as the produce of our
own.lslands, thereby materially injuring the inte-
rests of our own West India Islands. This princi-
ple applied to the Island of Tortola, from whence;
foreign. Sugar was to be allowed to be imported
thither, all the ingenuity of ,man could not after-
wards prevent the ingenuity of man from finding
means to import that Sugar into this Country, un-
der the pretence of its being Sugar of the growth
of our OVVII Islands.. The establishment of a free
Port, according to the provisions pf this Bill, in the
Island of Tortola, was therefore, in his opinipn, 'a
measure highly impolitc, 'and a measure which he
thought the Noble Lord at the head of the Board of
Trade could only have been induced to bring for-
ward by the representations of the very ingenious
Agent of that Island. .He thought, therefore; that
the consideration of the Bill had better be postponed
for the pres:•nt Session..
Lord AUCKLAND defended the Bill, which he
considered- 4 measure of sound policy. The obje&
of it was to render Tortola a carrying Island, and to
take from St. Thomas's some part of the carrying
trade in the possession of that Island, in which a
DU'ilber of British Shipping were employed. This
was 'a measure; which he conceived, would there=
fore be beneficial to our (..;onnnerce and Navigation,
whilst, with respe2t to OW 'West 'lndia Trade, it
would not be' injured, nor did, any of the persons
concerned in that Trade, or connected with the
-West India Interests, Whom he was in the daily
`habit of seeing, make the least coMplaint that any
such injury was likely to result from it. As to the
dangers which the Noble Duke apprehended, there
was, an express provision in this Bill for the purpose
of preventing the importatio4 into this Country
of Foreign. Sugar; as there was a Clause• by which
no more Sugar was to be imported into this Coun-
lryfrom Tortola' thail the amount of the average
annual produce of that Island. This, therefore,
negatived all those evil conseqUences apprehended
by the Noble Duke—as it was not to be supposed
that Officers employed in the Customs of Tortola
would grauf false Documents, when, at the end of
the year, on making up the Acconnts, the fraud
must necessarily he discovered, and those guilty of it
lose their offices.
Lord_ HAWK ESB UR Y supported the arguments
urged by the Duke of Montrose, and supposed that
this measure, must have come before the Board in
the absence of the Noble Lord (Auckland) oppo-
site, whose accurate knowledge upon the subjed
forbade the supposition that he had been present when
the measure was discussd.
Earl SPENCER observed, that, in his new office
of Umpire, conferred upon him by the Noble Duke,
he had little difficulty in deciding, as be found
that the present Board of Trade had, in this mea-
sure, only followed the example of the former
Board of Trade, by whom an Ad similar to the pre-
sent was brought ' forward, last SeSsion, for esta-
blishing a Free Port al Nassau, in the Bahamas.—
His Lordship likewise supported the Bill on grounds
similar to those urged by Lord Auckland.
The Duke of Moxraosn and Lord AUCKLAND
explained.
The Bill was read a second time and committed
for Monday.--Adjourned till Monday.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

FRIDAY, JUNE 20.

Mr. LETH,BRI6GE was sworn and took his seat as
Member for the County of Somerset.
A Message froM the Lords required the attend-.
ance of the Ho6e. at their Lordships' Bar, where
the Royal Assent was given ,by Commission to se-
veral Mts. [For which see the Proceedings of the
Lords].
Mr. 'HolmousE. bough up the Report of the
Committee of Expiring
The Resolution for • continuing. the East India
Shipping At was agreed to, and a/Bill orderedac-
Oofdingly.
The AssesSed Tax Bill, the. Duke of Grafton's
Bill, the Prussian Yarn importation. Bill, and the

Gibraltar Postage Bill, were read a third time and
passed. •
Ott the Motion of Lord TEMPLE, the T-lon3e went
into a Committee on the American Intercourse
—ln answer to a question from Sir C. Paicn,
TEMPLE stated, that he had the concurrence of those
who had been most a&ive in opposing the Nil, for
carrying it through a Committee, the further 0pp0...
sition being reserved for the subseqdent stages.

Sir-W. CußTrs declared his intention to opipose
the Bill in a future stage. Several Amendments
were made, and 'several were declared by Sir C.
PRICE to be still necessary.—Lord TE:.irt:c said, it
would be competent to propose any further Amend-
ment that may be, deemed necessary upon the third
reading. The' Report was ordered to be received
on Monday, and the Bill, as amended, to be printed.
On the Motion Of Lord H. PETTY, it was ordered,
that there be laid before the House a Copy of the
Report of the Comptrollers of Army Accounts, dated.
the 13th 'instant-,- on :the manner in which Mr.
Trotter (the Contractor for Army Stores) made up
his accounts ; together with a Copy of the Mimite
of the Treasury thereupon ;• also. Copies of two
Minutes of the Treasury on the Accounts of Messrs.
Pierce, Army Clothiers, with respect to some sup-
plies on the Continent.
Mr. WILLIAMS WYNNE presented Copies of the
InstruC.lions issued to Commanders of Yeomanry
Cavalry since the first ofJanUary last.
On the Motion of Mr. FOSTER, the further- con-
sideration of the Report of the Corn Intercourse Bill
was postponed till this day se'nnight, with a view
to some further information.

The Irish Endowed School Bill was read a second
time, and ordered to be committed on Monday.
The Irish 'Spirit Licence Bill was read a second
time, and is to be committed on Tuesday.
Mr. Meux, from the India-House, preseuted se-
veral Papers relating to the condb4. of Lord Wel,
esley.

On'the- Motion of Mr. VAN SITT A RT, the Report
of the Committee on the Newfoundland 'Fishery
Petition was referred to a Committee of the whole
House ; the House to resolve itself into"that Com-
mittee on ,Mohday.
In consideration of the examination of witnesses
on the condua of Lord Wellesley, .the • hour ap-
pointed for which (live- o'clock) was. 'approaching,
Mr. VANSITTART deferred till ,Monday his Notice
of Motion relative to the Arm? Extraordinaries and
Miscellaneous Services. He also gave 'notice of a
Motion in the Committee. of Ways and Means for
that day, the substance of which, from thc.. very low
tone in which he spoke, it wa4 impossible to col-
le&, but the objeE was supposed to be an issue of
4,500,0001. in Exchequer sills, to cover the like
amount issued on the Aids of last year, and nOw to
be called in.

Mr. ALEXANDER gave notice, that he would on
Monday, move for leave to bring in a Bill to amend
the ACts relating' to Eleetions in England.,
The Amendments on the Custom-House Attend-
ance Bill were agreed' to, and the Bill ordered to
he read a third time on Monday.