The Sun.
London, England, 1807-08-28 00:00:00

FROM I'll 2 COMNTITTF.E 01Q-7iIE,COMMERCIAL STATE

OF THE WEST INDIA COLONLES.

MINUTEVOF EVIDENCE.
Charles •Brisanquet, Evil; called in, and Eramined:

. .
, State to the conimittee your connexion with the
British West India -Colonies, and the Means you',
I have had of acquainting yourself with the COlenial
Trade ?—My connexion with the British. Colonies is
that of Agent or Factor to the Planters in the sale -of
'their produce;. and my means of acquaintance With.
the West India Trade.p derived from fourteen years
experience in that line 9f business.
- Are your concerns with the West Indies, and par-
ticularly the Windward and Leeward Islands, very
extensive ?--7Yes ; they have been very extensive as
long as I have :been in business, .and arc still of.;
great importance.
Have you had, either as a Proprietor,TrUstee. Exe-
cut or, or Fa&or, the accounts of various sugar planta-
tions annually, passing through your hinds, so. as.
accurately to judge of the total of the expences, and
the returnsof these.plantacions ?—1 have had cepa-
sionallyr.but not universally, the ,elantation ac-."
counts through my hands • but my acquaintance is
much More With thegeneral resat, than with the de-
tail of the Island expences, or what passes in the,
Island; the •total, oft the
,expenses am certaintr.
acquainted with. . •
. , .
Have you observed that; of late pars, the average
returns of sugar plantations to the proprietors have.
been inadequate to the capital embarked thereon,
and to the necessary expellees of.cultiyation and ma-
nagement ?—From ahem the year 1801, I consider.
the returns of :the West India estates to have been
regularly diminishing-in proportion as the expellees
,„ have increased ; and, as fa as I am acquainted with.
the .capital invested in the property, the returns have.
on an average been very inadequate. In the present,
year, I-conceive, on many-estates, the returns will
:do little morethan pay the expenses.
, What has been' the late ,average price, Duty in-
! eluded have not noticed any. price beyond
• in the Gazette, for sometitne.past,
HoW much ,of Ithe,:tnereantile charge of, (4s. to.
1 Gs. Gd. do you, suppose might he. sulisuaded in. case,
• of peace Will principally depend en:Op:rate
of freight; if ships can he navigated as cheap in,the
next peace as they were before the Iheneh war, I
suppose the difference wilLbe about four, shillings- to.
' four-and sixpence. .
What are the principal items which conStitnte.the
Island contingencies, which you have stated to
. amount to nineteen. shillings and sixpence;?:!—They
may be divided into, two classes, the expense in-
curred in Great Britain for supplies sent out, and
those incurred in. the .Colony beyond. the produe of
rum, fur which bills are drawn on Planters at home
,
for the estates in' the Leeward Islands with which
an' principally connected ; the.,ftrstand most expen-
sive.iteins are grain. and flour, which. being bulky
Commodities, enhance the expenCe.,by the freight to
a very considerable extent L thenext items of conse-
.qtretiee are clothing for the negroes, heops, iron
work of all descriptions, coppers, millwork, and all
the necessary utensils of mptafaCture. The pills from.
the
,Colony are drawn for the cost of provisions there
latirchased; mules, salaries to Overseers,at ot.herper-
grins' in trust, Weed taxes, staves purchased, from
'Americans. tor the:formation of hogsheads, timber
tor mill-work and .building{ whete• those are not~.
.fennri linen the spol;;..itgainst .these expenceA, the
produce of rum,.is in thefirst instance. dedu4ied,,
and, for the balatice,:...bills, as before-mentioned, are
drawn upon. the Planter.
What are the items that constitute the mercantile
,charge of ,fronv to 16s, 6d.,?--The freight,
time insurance, . the,
,dock7rate,. •or the expences
of takingthe sugar, out ef.the ship,,apd placing* in
the.wareheuse; Warehouse-rent, wherever the pro-
perty is,en hand above three months,, and the mer-
chant's and the broker's commission, and Custom-
. Ileese fees. . .

1 What is.the Present itate-of the stock on. hand of
sugars ; of the demand ; and the expedted imp9rta.
tion, and the probable means,of disposing thereof ?
great deal 9f sugar has recently been 5914 at
Very low prices, but it is not theretbre to he consi7
.dered as consumed ; and I apprehend. the. stock on
hand in the dock, and in the ,liands.of the i.etiner,
from the, old crop, very much to exceed all tOrmer
preCedent. A. dement% arose in the. spring,. u con-
sequence of the alteration 4( the bounty on retunedk
sugars, 'but as this-exportation took place at. an
.un7
usual, period of the year,,l,apprehend it will be found
to militate very much against, the usual demand tier
the new, crop.;. this crop I am inclined to suppose
will he ascry large one ; it. certainly will be so. in
the Wands with which I am more particularly con-
' net:led, and Ido therefore.anticipato still greater dif.
tipulties than those which have already becn.expe
rienced, in the disposal of that crop, when it shall
;.•arrive, ," •

Supposing that a .return of barely ten per cent.
upon his capital was an adequate compensation to
the sugar planter for his adventure, risk, and labour, .
in the cultivation and inanufaeture of sugar, what is
the beSt average calculation you can state of the net
sum, free from every expellee whatever,..which he
bught to receive for each. hundred weight of sugar,
in order to gird ,him such return ?--Withou't pre;
tending to gi‘e a precise answer to this question, I
should think, probably, somewhere from twenty-five
to thirty shillings. •
You mean to say then,, that in the present state of
• the charges sixty to sixty-five shillings per hundred
weight, . exchisive. of duty, should be the average
price. of sugay, in order to give the. planter a bare
ten per cent. upon his capital ?—I do not think less
than this will give him ten per cent.

Can you state, from your
:own experience and
knowledge, that the. present distress tit the trade is
experienced in variotts direElions by, annuitants, wi-
dows, mortgagees, and others, who have .been.usual-'
iy entirely dependent upon._ the colonies,: for their
annual income. ?--I am 'quite certain Of the fa&
po .you consider that ten per cent, is an*lequatee-
return for property embarked in the sugar colonieS,?
think few estates that have been sold have been
purchased:with a view. to a less return ; 'because I do
not recoile4 to have hoard of any e,tate being sold
fnr 'more than ten years.purchase, upon-. det'rettun
of an average of years;
.have knOWn to
.sold for .much less, at very protracted :periods of
ay men t.