The Sun.
London, England, 1853-08-05 00:00:00

thought the subject of the promotion of colonial officers i
was deserving of attention. Lord Grey had set a very good
example in this respect, which he (Sir J. Pakington) had
very humbly endeavoured to follow. Still he thought there
ought to be a more distinct understanding that the princi-
ple of promotion should be regularly acted upon with re-
spect to colonial governors. Nothing could be more un-
certain than the course pursued at present. A gentleman
was appointed governor of a colony for a term of six years;
and at the end of that period he had no security whatever
that he would remain in the service of the Crown ; but,
having abandoned his profession, perhaps, in the first in-
stance, to become a governor, he was left without employ-
ment after his recall, and perhaps had no income to fall
back upon. He (Sir J. Pakington) would, therefore, sug-
gest to the noble lord, whether the Government ought not
to consider if it would not be for the improvement of our
system of governing the colonies, that the principle of
promotion should be acted upon more than it had hereto-
fore been ; and also that a scale of retiring pensions should
be introduced for the benefit of colonial governors leaving
the public service, and returning to this country. Having
thrown out these suggestions, and pointed out, as he felt
bound to do, the extent to which he concurred in the
course indicated by the Government, he was sorry to add
that in one respect, he must dissent from that course, as
being open to considerable censure. The unfortunate state
of affairs in Jamaica had been well known for a very long
period of time, and yet the noble lord had not announced
to the house the course which the Government intended
to take until the month of August, 1853,. and the noble
duke, in another place, did not make his similar statement
until July. He thought that, at the time when the pre-
sent Government entered upon office, no part of our colo-
nial policy so urgently demanded immediate attention as
the critical state of the island of Jamaica. The crisis had lasted
for a considerable period, and the collision between the two
chambers had led to the complete stoppage of all revenue.
He did not wish to speak with the slightest disrespect of
Sir C. Grey, to whom indeed he must pay a tribute for the
ability he had displayed in the administration of public
affairs ; but he must say that he thought the late governor
of Jamaica had been led into some indiscretion in the lan-
guage he had addressed to the Assembly. Terms of mu-
tual reproach passed between the governor and the Assem-
bly, and the governor held out the threat that the impri-
soned felons in the island would be let loose ; and, indeed,
in some degree, his threat was carried out, and social dis-
organisation ensued. Now, he thought her Majesty's Go-
vernment might have have averted the whole of these evils
if they had done in January or February last what they
had stated they intended to do in July. When the hon.
member for Westbury (Mr. Wilson), in December last,
made a motion in glorification of the policy of 1846, and
when he (Sir J. Pakington) endeavoured to show, he be-
lieved successfully, that there was very little ground for
boasting, in that debate the state of Jamaica was fully
elucidated, and the dispatches of Sir C. Grey in 1851 and
1852 gave ample warning to the Government of what was
about to happen. Sir C. Grey had also declared that he
looked forward with alarm to the period when, in July,
1854, the equalisation of the sugar duties would take place.
All these warnings and facts were before the Government,
and furnished reasons why they ought not to have lost so
much time in devising their measures. Therefore, while
agreeing to a great extent in the course which the Go-
vernment intended to pursue, he yet certainly thought
that they had much to answer for in not turning their at-
tention to the state of Jamaica at an earlier period, when
he must say that everything had been prepared for them
by their predecessors to enable them to act when they ac-
ceded to office. To one other subject he must advert,—
namely, the question of refining sugar in bond. He had
heard with great regret the announcement which the
Chancellor of the Exchequer had made upon this subject
in the course of his Budget speech. When he (Sir J.
Pakington) was a member of the Government, they an-
nounced their intention of conceding this important boon
to the West Indies, the value of which he would not over-
rate when he said it would be equivalent to a differential
duty of ls. 6d. or 2s. per hundredweight. Considering
the competition to which the produce of the West India
colonies was exposed from slave-grown sugar, this be-
came a very important question. When, in July, 1854,
they should arrive at a nominal equality in the sugar
duties, if Parliament did not grant some such privi-
lege as that of the power of refining sugar in bond, it
would positively give a differential duty of ls. 6d. or 2s.
per cwt. in favour of slave-grown sugar, as compared with
the free-grown produce of our West Indian colonies. He
understood that there was a strong feeling among the sugar
refiners of the metropolis against such a change, and hav-
ing established something tantamount to a monopoly for
themselves, they objected to the alteration, and raised the
bugbear of danger to the revenue. Now he said that the
matter was so essential to the welfare of the West Indies',
and so indispensable to the carrying out of the great expe-
riment resolved upon by Parliament, that they were bound
to concede this boon, or if they refused it, to have it proved
to a demonstration that the concession would be really
dangerous to the revenue. He went even further, and said
that if they could not consistently extend the boon in this
shape, he would ask Parliament to give them an equiva-
lent. He was much obliged to the house for the attention
with which it had listened to them. He could assure them
that he had spoken in no factious spirit, but with a sincere
desire to give to the proposals of the noble lord the fairest
consideration in his power, and, as he already said, he
thought the proposals themselves were well and wisely
adapted to the end which the Government had in view.
Mr. J. HUME said that Sir H Barkly left Guiana after
a most satisfactory administration of the affairs of the
colony, and he (Mr. Hume) was bound to say that the new
Governor of Jamaica was a bold man to undertake such a
responsible office under such difficult circumstances. He
thought the Government were doing perfectly right in
making the proposed experiment for a period of three years,
and he hoped that Sir H Barkly would receive the support
of the house and the Government at home, in the discharge
of his arduous duties. He (Mr. Hume) certainly gave him
his cordial support, and he trusted that the trial would be
eminently successful. With regard to the general question,
he (Mr. Hume) hoped that the Government would before
long bring the whole subject of our colonial establishments
under the consideration of Parliament.

Mr. JOHN M`GREGOR said that, representing as ho
did the largest interest in the island of Jamaica, he wished
to state that he approved of every word that had fallen
from the noble lord. Never, in his opinion, was a consti-
tution so much abused as that of Jamaica had been ; and
the misery of that island he thought was, in a great mea-
sure, attributable to the manner in which money had been
voted and spent by the colony. He thought the constitu-
tion of Jamaica should be assimilated, as far as possible,
to the constitution now established in Canada. He hoped
that the Chancellor of the Exchequer would take into his
serious consideration the question whether the sugars of
our West and East India colonies ought not to be allowed
to be refined in bond.

The subject then dropped.
OCEAN PENNY POSTAGE.

Mr. MILNER GIBSON said that many petitions had
been presented to that house from different parts of the
United Kingdom, and also from Australia, Canada, the
West Indies, and other colonies, praying for the establish-
ment of a cheap and uniform system of colonial and inter-
national postage. He had intended to move for a com-
mittee to inquire whether there ought not to be an ocean
rate of penny postage, so that the transmission of letters
from any part of the United Kingdom to parts beyond
seas where British mail packets touched should not cost
the public more than ld. for each letter; but he wished to
explain that, the Government having submitted a proposal
for reducing and making uniform, the rate of postage to
the consideration of the colonies, and the session being now
so near a close, he would not persevere with his motion at
present, but give notice that he would move for a select
committee to inquire into the subject early next session,
when he hoped to receive the support of her Majesty's
Government. Nothing could b. more anomalous than
the present state of the scale of oversea postage. In the
United States of America a letter might be carried 3,000
miles from one part of the Union to the other, for 16d., and
in this country the charge of conveyance from one end of
the United Kingdom to the other was id. ; but the cost of
transmission across the seas was 90. When a deputation
of the friends of the ocean penny postage scheme waited
upon the present Prime Minister, the noble earl said that
if the shipowners would undertake the carriage of letters
at the uniform rate of ld., he believed the objection to the
plan would cease. He was prepared to state that an offer
had been made by the Glasgow and New York Steam
Packet Company, to carry letters across the sea for the
British Government, at the rate of ld. each, the terms
which the noble earl at the head of the Government said
would induce them to accede to the wishes of the deputa-
tion. Bearing on this subject, there were a variety of
existing treaties and postal conventions with foreign coun-
tries, which would be required to be carefully considered,
and which would render the appointment of a committee
expedient. It should not be forgotten that the great emi-
gration which had lately taken place rendered the corre-
spondence between the working classes in this country and
their friends in foreign lands very extensive. (Hear.)
Their relations in the United States, Canada, and Austra-
lia, frequently sent letters containing money for their poor
relations left behind ; and it was stated on one occasion by
Mrs. Chisholm, that in one case a letter arrived from Aus-
tralia, addressed to a poor woman, who was then an in-
mate of a workhouse in this country. The postage came
to three shillings, and the person having no means of pay-
ing it, the letter was returned to the colony, though it
actually contained the sum of 251. for her support. He
hoped they would be permitted to have a committee on the
subject early next session to enter into the whole question,
and trusted ho had given a satisfactory explanation why
he had not made a motion to that effect during the present
session.
The Speaker then left the chair, and the house resolved
itself into a committee of supply—Mr. BOUVERIE in the
chair.