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

thought the subject of the promotion of colonial officers
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 bad 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
long
period affairs in Jamaica had been well known for a very
t
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, 1,a3,. and
stthaetenmoenet
duke, in another place, did not make his. similar
suntilen tGJorilvym.mmHeentt heonutegrhetdtuhapto,n aotaitc.hee,
ntoimr..earNtvhnefnntuirenpnil•oe:
Thealiaetrei
slsattention
lasted as
tnhhedn
rpiotli
ei cayl
sstoa t
eu
or
fg
tehn
et liys
aclnedmoafn
jelaemd
for a considerable period, and the collision between the two
cHheamdbiceirsnohtadwlieschl too tshpeeakcovirmiptlhettehsetosplipgahgteesotf.dailslrersepvneentuoef.
Sir C. Grey, to whom indeed he must pay a tribute for the
ability he had displayed
ti;
tthhee
tachln.mugmh.itsttrhant. administration of ogfovpeurbnlnirc
sayl into some indiscretion in the lan-
aogiffuaajigraaemhaebichuaatdhh:aCblrueeesstnsed 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-
organisationensued. 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, 1851,
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 est tblished 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
snaking 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
and ?r the consideration of Parliament.
Mr. JOHN M.`GREGOR said that, representing as he
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 ho thought was, in a great mea-
sure, attributable to the manner iu which money had been
voted and spent hy 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 Wert 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 impure into the subject early next session,
when he hoped to receive the support of her Majesty's
Government. Nothing could be more anomalous than
the present state of the scale of oversea postage. In the
United States of America a letter might be carried 3,009
miles, from one part of the Union to the other, for 1 Ad., and
in this country the charge of conveyance from one end of
the United Kingdom to other was Id. ; but the cost of
transmission across the seas was Wd. 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 Id. 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 rent 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 he 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.

BRITISH MUSEUM ESTIMATE.
Sir R. H. INGLIS moved a tote of 55,8401. for defray-
ng the salaries and expenses of the establishment of the
British Museum.
Mr. HUME thought the house had a right to hear from
a Minister of the Crown some explanation of the reasons
why none of the recommendations of the commission, ap-
pointed some years back to inquire into the state of the
Museum, had been adopted. He considered the vote enor-
mous in its amount, and thought the public were entitled
plaints
t,o_,. expect,_ a much more efficient administration of the
establishment. He wished to know how there came to be
als.nce as 11,000 allowed to stand over, to be ap-
pliedas the Commissioners might think best: Great com-
usimeist of
was made on the subject of the non completion of
the catalogue,Drenaratioe' -n
It consisted of 1,200 folio volumes ; its
h„anytertatteresoptio= cost 100,000/. ; it, would take, at the pre-
cii'res.s, forty years to have it completed, and
13,000 volumes. They ought to
which would give manager, or council of management,
of the Museum, instealla'
of attention to the affairs
f minerals and other matters,
It was now proposed to f the present board of trustees.
unable to find rooms for several
were
eecuttietielrei :PAY considerable sums for the
tphurouchgahsteheoyf
large collections alreadP
took away all securities fort/I'ljg red'
( which destroyed
and occasioned
The present system
jtehcetepcllaainlsoEtnogltihehe geihladrinacgteornetfiitehlatii3tumsnitaninagge,ment. He ob-
jected
of
Immediately
great waste of the public money.
Sir R. H. INGLIS said the hon. member
mis-
taken in supposing that none of the recoreamir was
the commission had been carried into effect.the,
after their report was made, a meeting of
held, which was attended by the late Sir Roberruiteesi was
the purpose of considering the various recommendations
made, made, and adopting such of them as fell within the
competency of the trustees, and met their approval.
He considered the present board of trustees inferior to
no fixed board of management which could be appointed.
Amongst those who attended regularly (luring the past
year he found the Dames of the Marquis of Lans-
downe, the Earl of Aberdeen, the Earl of Rosse, the
Bishop of London, Mr. Macaulay, and Sir David Dundas.
As to the floating balance alluded to by the hbut on. nrmth ber,
it was lodged, not in the hands of trustees,
of the Treasury, and was merely nominal in its character,
in ose
arising from one quarter of the year falling into one ac-
count, and another quarter into a different one. During
the three or four years that had passed since the report of
the commission was laid on the table accommodation had
been provided for a great portion of the collections for which