The Sun.
London, England, 1847-11-20 00:00:00

EV EN ENG, NOVI_E-14-BER 20, 1817,

PROPERTY AND INCOME
TAXES.

(From the Progress of America, by John
Macgregor, Esq., M.P.)
These never have been, nor are they likely to be,
taxes agreeable to the people :—especially the tax
upon incomes not derived from realised property, that
is, the tax on trades and professions. But when we
have, from ordinary sources, a deficient revenue, we
are bound to resort to extraordinary means, and we
shall always do so, in order to maintain the national
honour, credit, and dignity.
If a house tax, alone, would meet the deficient ex-
penditure, after the abolition of the unsound, and
inquisitorial, taxes we have enumerated under the
heads of excise, customs, taxes, and stamps, we would
prefer, infinitely, to discountenance rather than to
have any recourse to, an income and property tax.
But it is clear that the demand upon the treasury, to
meet the expenditure, will not, for some years, per-
mit the abandonment of the property tax. The next
considerarion is, ca❑ we render it more equitable, and
less inquisitorial ? We are convinced that this can
be effected.
The Income-tax collected in the year ending the
sth of April, 1843 :—.

ENGLAND AND WALES.
Income.

Tax.

Schedule A, lands, tenements,
&c., in respect of the pro
perty thereof
.. £73,728,429 £2,150,412
Schedule B, lands, &c., in
respect of the occupancy
thereof
...
••• 20,486,606 298,763
Schedule C, annuities, divi-
dends, &c.
27,873,691 812,983
Schedule 1), profits or gains... 50,296,645 1,466.985
Schedule E, public ollicers,&c. 8,936,831 260,657

'otal

• 181,322,202 4,989,800
SCOTLAND•

Schedule A ...
Produce of tax in Scot-
land on all the schedules 394,324
9,284,383/. at 7d. in the pound, should produce
270,7941., leaving for the remaining four schedules
123,530/.=-_-394,324/., which sum, collected at the
same rate as those four schedules produced in
England, indicates an income of 4,680,9591., show-
ing the total income of Scotland to be 13,965,342/.,
and of Great Britain 195,287,544/., exclusive of
incomes under 150/.
In 1801, the assessments for England, in-
cluding incomes above 150/, amounted to 474,676,894
„ The income from assessments un-
der 1501 per annum, and not
under 60/. amounted to

9,284,383

... 18,105,240

Difference being incomes above 1504
per annum ••• ••• ... 56,571,654
Now, if 56,571,654/. : 18,105,240/. :: 195,287,544/ :
62,499,8311., and ifthe income is under 1501., and
above 601., from all the schedules be, in 184.5, in the
same proportion to those above 150/. as in 1801 (and
there is no reason that they should not), then the
total income of Great Britain, in 1845, should amount
to 257,787,3154
We consider that of this amount
200,000,0001. may be estimated as the rents and
profits of all realised property,: Viz., the rents and
profits of all lands, tenements, houses, constructions,
funds, stocks, and shares : including factories, ware-
houses, docks, shipyards, railways, canals, public
funds, Bank of England stock, East India and South
Sea stock, and the stock and shares of all companies
whose stocks and shares are bought and sold in the
market.

PRO FORMA FINANCIAL SCHEME.
Raving analysed the present system of taxation,
we would propose the following simplification of the
taxes upon the more sound principles which we con-
sider practicable.
Pro Forma View of equalising the Annual Revenue
and Expenditure, presuming that the Excise and
Assessed Taxes, and the Stamps on Marine and
Fire Assurances, and also the Duties of Customs
(except on eight articles) should be abolished, and
adding Distilled Spirits and Malt, now under the
Excise, to the Customs, and Excise License!, to the
Stamps : abolishing all other of the Assessed
Taxes, and the whole Excise Establishment.
First. Assuming the total annual expen-
diture not to exceed 050,000,000
Revenue, necessary to meet this expen-
diture, to be raised as follows:
I. From uniform duties on (1) Tea; (2)
Sugar and Molasses; (3) Coffee and
Cocoa; (4) Tobacco; (5) Distilled
Spirits ; (6) Wines ; (7) Dried
Fruits; (8) Spices £21,500,0001
11. Home Distilled
Spirits X5,000,0001
Malt, whether . 31,500,000
made at home
5 000 000 } 10,000,000 I
or imported "
from abroad.—
11. Stamps, leaving out Marine and Fire
Insurances, and including Licenses
now under the Excise . 7,500,000
.V. Unredeemed land-!ax
Deficit to be provided for during
the first year

9,800,000

,00,000
This deficit to be levied, not by doubling, x5O
or raother
more than doubling, the present income-tax, but by
the less inquisitorial and more direct and equitable
plan of an annual assessment, in the pound, upon the
annual value of all realised property. And surely
11,000,0001., including the unredeemed land-tax, out
of 50,000,0001. of total taxation, forms but a small
proportion of the total sum to be levied directly. But
if we may form an estimate, founded on the expe-
rience of the past, the ordinary sources of revenue
would annually increase ; and the amount of direct
taxation would be proportionably diminished, at least
so long as peace shall continue. Finally, the direct
taxation necessary would, we believe, not embrace
more than the unredeemed land-tax and a house-tax,
equal to the present window and other assessed taxes
proposed to be abolished.
We could also show that the customs, including
the security and collection of the duties on malt and
spirits, now under the excise, might be conducted at
less expense than at present ; and that, at all events,
an amount of expense equal to that of the whole pre-
sent excise establishment might be saved to the
country.
We could also equitably modify the stamp duties,
so as to produce a much greater revenue. The inte-
rest on Exchequer-bills might also be saved, as in
Prussia, by the Exchequer-bill Office isuing paper,
not bearing interest, but being at all times a legal
tender, as much so as Bank of England notes are
now.

In our pro forma view of fiscal reform we have
stated the deficit to be provided for during the first
year at 9,800,000/., or nearly five per cent. on the
annual rents and profits of all realised property. As
we object to the present assessed taxes, and especially
to the window-tax, which ought to have been re-
pealed simultaneously with the excise upon glass, we
do not see how we can diminish the amount of our
proposed property-tax ; except,
1. By substituting an additional tax on houses, in
lieu of the winclow•tax. But this substitution,
though very far less objectionable than the window-
tax, would, if we are to have a property-tax at all,
be, however, a tax on houses greater than on other
property.

2.
By continuing other, though objectionable,
duties. Timber is a raw material which, next to the
essential food of man, ought to he admitted free from
duty. But if the wisdom of Parliament will continue
the timber duties, why not adjust these duties upon
pure fiscal principles ? The duties on foreign and
colonial timber have yielded a revenue of 1,691,3291.
In 1844, by reducing the duties on colonial timber
to Is. per load, which scarcely pays the expense of
collection, the revenue from timber of all kinds, in-
cluding deals, amounted to less than 1,000,0001. If
we should persevere in continuing the timber duties,
we should modify them to about the following pro-
portions, viz a duty of ss. per load on white pine
timber from '
the colonies, and of 15s. upon the more
valuable fir timber of the north of Europe ; and upon
deals, &c., in proportion. We take these two duties
fiscally, but not on any other principle. By these
low scales, with a proportionate higher duty on deals
as a semi-manufactured article, we might levy one
million annually of revenue from timber. Exclusive
of revenue from corn, the duty on other articles
yielding any revenue, and that are not to be abo-
lished, are from copper ore, about 65,0001.,
tallow, about 175,000/. Neither of the uti from
es for
revenue from these should be continued.d The re-
venues from duties on corn, butter, and cheese should
all be abolished.
Therefore, we might save and realise, an additional
revenue, as follows, viz.:-
1. Save. Interest on Exchequer- bills
due .............................. 4
2. Realise. Prom timber
....... 500,000
.....
From equalisation
of ..
ar
1,000,000
duties, a furthers um 0f..g.... 1 000 , ,000

.£2 500 000
This modification of our fixed scheme would re-
duce the property-tax from 9,800,000/. to somewhat
under 7,000,000/., or to scarcely. three-anda hhat
per cent. on all realised property Without distinction.

Mdlle. Carlotta Grisi was yesterday cited before
the Civil Tribunal of the Seine by M. Reuel'', a theatri-
cal agent, echo demanded from her the sum of 1,230 f.
for his commission, furhaving negotiated an engagonaent
for her at a theatre at Rome, whereby she realised
25,000 f. by twenty-five nights' performances in the
month of January last. In support of his demand, his
advocate produced letters written by the director of the
theatre and Millie. Grisi ; but her advocate contended
that the plaintiff had nothing to do with her engage-
.t, and said that it was not the usage of the profes-
sion for premiers sujets like her to employ theatrical
agents. The Tribunal, taking this view, rejected M.
Rowdies demand, and condemned him to pay the costs.

WEST INDIA MAIL.
The Royal Mail Steam Packet Company's ship Dee
arrived yesterday at Southampton, bringing the West
India mails of the following dates : —St. Jago de
Cuba Oct 21st, Jamaica 24th, Hayti 26th, Demerara
20th, Tobago and Trinidad 22d, Barbadoes 24th,
Grenada, St. Vincent's, and St. Lucia, 26th, Mar-
tinique, Dominique, and Guadaloupe, 27th, Antigua,
Montserrat, and St. Kitt's, 28th, St. Thomas's 31st,
and Fayal Nov. 12th.
The Dee has on freight 4,000 dollars on account of
the Royal Mail Company, 216 ounces of gold dust,
2,900 dollars on account of British merchants, and a
general cargo ; 998 bags and 22 barrels of pimento;
86 bales of sarsaparilla ; 19 tierces, 37 barrels and 16
bags of coffee; 13 barrels of ginger, and sundries.
She brings accounts of a terrible hurricane which
took place on the 11th of October at 'Tobago, an
account of which will be found in another column.
A great portion of the houses was destroyed, and the
shipping suffered considerably.
The Pantaloon arrived with yellow fever; 12 deaths.
The Jamaica legislative session was opened on the
19th instant in a long speech by the Governor, which
is generally commented upon in terms of satisfaction
by the Jamaica journals. his Excellency cautiously
abstains from pledging the Government to any spe-
cific measures, but holds out hopes that something
effectual will be done to relieve the depressed state of
the colony.
SPEECH OF THE GOVERNOR.
After a few words on the reasons for meeting as
early as possible, his Excellency turned at once to the
absorbing question of the day :
" Gentlemen," he said, "in proportion to the
weight of circumstances which you feel to be press-
ing on you your deliberations ought to be grave ;
your resolutions such as will bear the criterion of
public opinion in other places than Jamaica; and
such as you may be sure will obtain for you every-
where the support of the wise and good. Preludes,
which indicate unreasonable purposes, raise obstruc-
tions in the path of those who indulge in them, and
no one is blamed for closing a conference with' him
who asks what is plainly impossible to grant. But I
have seen nothing which makes me fear the existence
of a disposition on the part of her Majesty's Govern-
' ment to turn a deaf ear to any who address them in
the language of reason, or to fix themselves before-
hand in a rigid posture of denial against temperate
claims. An attempt to re-establish the principle of
protection, or to renew generally the practice of
making the prices of commodities artificially high to
the British people by the exclusion of foreign
produce from the markets, I most sincerely be•
lieve would be an utterly hopeless effort ; and several
legislative measures have now passed into laws, all
Munded on the opposite principle, which are so con-
nected with each other, that it seems to be an equally
vain expectation that any of them could be repealed
without repealing the others. Prohibitory duties could
not be re-imposed upon foreign sugar without im-
posing them also on foreign corn. The battle of the
corn-laws must be fought over again in the United
Kingdom, and gained by the party who lost it, before
you could succeed in having your sugar protected by
a prohibition of foreign sugar. But if I have rightly
comprehended the policy on which the system of free
trade is founded, and which has led to the open aban-
donment of protective systems, the planters of Jamaica
have no reason to fear that they are permanently con-
demned to remain exactly in the same commercial rela-
tions in which they now stand to the mother country.
The grand and fundamental changes of commercial
policy which have recently taken place seem to involve
minor changes, and to make it impossible that some
further revisions of the import duties of the United
Kingdom should not be permitted for the purpose of
making adjustments that will give fair play to all par-
ties. Without such examination, duties might in
some instances remain so high as to be destructive not
only of the interests of the planters, but equally so of
the trade and revenue of the United Kingdom ; and
no effort, as it seems to me, can be more legitimate
than that Jamaica should use its best endeavours to
have justice done to itself in the progress of the in-
quiries that are sure to be made ; nor do I hesitate to
declare that, to the extent I am about to explain, you
have, in my opinion, a strong and sacred case to bring
forward. On the 20th August, 1844, the declared
average price of West India muscovado sugar, exclu-
sive of the import duty, was 325. 4d.; and in March,
1845, when the first distinct measures for the intro-
duction of foreign sugar were carried by the Minister
of that day, the duty on colonial muscovado was re-
duced from 245. to 14s. the cwt., and sugar from
foreign countries, in which slavery did not exist,
was admitted at a duty of 235. 4d., instead of the
former prohibitory duty. In August, 1846, the dis-
tinction between foreign sugar the produce of slave
labour, and foreign sugar the produce of free labour,
was done away with; and all foreign sugar was ad-
mitted at a duty for the ensuing ten months of 211.,
which moreover is gradually to decrease until, in
1851, foreign sugar and colonial sugar are to be ad-
mitted at the same rate of duty ; but when this fur-
ther encouragement was given to the importation of
foreign sugar, permission was given for the use of
sugar in the British distilleries which had previously
been excluded from them, and changes were made in
the duties on rum in favour of the colonial distiller,
and for the purpose of putting him on an equal foot-
ing of advantage with the British distiller. Nothing
can be more certain than that these reductions of
duty on colonial sugar in 1845 and on colonial rum in
1846 were intended to operate in the way of com-
pensation for the fall in the price of sugar expected to
be produced by the competition of foreigners, and that
the permission for the use of sugar in distilleries was
meant in some degree to moderate that fall. I can scarcely
imagine indeed that it entered into the plans of the
Government at either epoch to leave the situation of the
British BUgar planter permanently worse than it had
already become, and for that reason I incline strongly
to the supposition that it was hoped these compensa-
tions would be complete equivalents. But what has
been the result ? The average price of August, 1844,
exclusive of duty, namely, 325. 41d. with the addi-
tion of 345. duty, constituted a London market price
of 565. 4kd., but the average prices of similar sugar,
exclusive of duty on the 28th of last August, was
only 255. 50., which, with the reduced duty of 14,.,
gives a London market price of only 395. 53d. So
that whilst there has been a reduction of 10s. duty
in West India muscovado, it has sustained a fall of
price in the English market of 16s. 11d. the cwt, or,
setting aside the duty, of mere than Cl. sterling per
ton. Against the apparent and grievous loss, how-
ever, which would be consequent on so sudden a fall,
the Jamaica proprietor and planter ought to set off
the advantage he derives from the reduction in the
duties of rum; and a part of the apparent fall in
price ought, no doubt, to be rather called a rise in
the exchangeable value of cash, and to be attributed
to the extraordinary pressure of money in Lon-
don, which it may be hoped will not be of a permit-
ment duration. But to whatever extent the real fall
of price has exceeded the aggregate value of the
reduction of the duties on sugar and rum, I freely
declare my opinion that you have a strong claim to
relief by a further reduction of duty, if the finances
of England can sustain it ; as far as lam capable of
forming a judgment, such relief would indirectly be
advantageous even to the English revenue, derivable
from the import of sugar ; and on the other hand
would be effectual for the purpose of at least neu-
tralizing the effects of competition, and of placing
the sugar planter in as good a position as that in
which he stood three years ago. I wish, with all my
heart, you could be placed in a much better one ; but
we must look to what is practicable, and after a
careful and painstaking examination of the circum-
stances ih which you stand, and taking these in con-
nexion with the considerations of awful importance
which are implicated with the finances of the United
Kingdom, on which it is not too much to say that the
peace and salvation of the world depends, I cannot,
at present, extend any hopes for your obtaining
direct relief from the Imperial Parliament
beyond the limit I have pointed out. I
have, indeed, no instructions or authority
from her Majesty's Government on which I am en-
titled to hold out an expectation even of that relief;
nor can I pretend to be so well acquainted with the
finances of the United Kingdom as to be capable of
forming a confident judgment whether any further
reduction of duties on sugar may be conceded ; but
some indications of large and unexpected increases
in the British revenue encourage a not unreasonable
hope that such may possibly be the case, and I am at
all events convinced that here is the strong point of
your case, and that if you are to be relieved at all it
is in this way, and on the grounds which I have
stated, that there is the greatest likelihood of its being
done.". Reverting, then, to the question of labour,
his Excellency continued :--" Of obtaining any early
and effectual supply of additional labour by means
of immigration, and to such an extent as to work
any general improvement in the state of the island, I
cannot honestly say that I entertain much expecta-
tion. All persons here, I bel'eve, are convinced that
the importation of coolies from the East Indies is too
costly, and that the numbeis of these people whom
you could afford to bring from the other side of
the globe must be too few to be efficient instruments
in elevating Jamaica to a new prosperity. From
Africa I trust you may receive some reply, even
before the end ofbbeterhetmo3ar a year; but
ry
gradually I
limitedkin increase,
extent,
atanhtdopui
sent it
nrigel
cI
hope thane nonulmyconfidence of obtaining in the end somegreater and
and undiminished. I feel s
more effectual assistance from that
quarter is strong
cannot last. Condemned
and prohibited by ore that th trade
treaties of all the ',lost
powerful states in the world,

it is incredible that they should much longer abstain
from combining sincerely in methods calculated to put
an end to so great a reproach, scandal, and crime. It
is shameful that after such treaties it should have con-
tinued so long; but it would be still more shameful
for foreign states either to acknowledge that they do
not wish their treaties to take effect, or to pretend that
it is beyond the power of the whole civilised world to
give them effect. The introduction and establish-
ment by united Christendom of peace, order, law, a just
and free commerce, and a pure religion on the coast
of Africa, would abate this enormous atrocity, and
would gradually bring that teeming population into a
condition to estimate the advantages within their
reach ; and.it would then rest only with the planters
of each colony respectively on this side of the Atlan-
tic, by improving the condition of the labouring class,
and by making it a thoroughly happy one, to attract
in swarms to their shores a people of labourers, who
have always been regarded as the most effective
and best adapted for the agriculture of the An-
tilles.
When I plainly avow to you that the two
modes of relief which I have indicated, and, per-
haps, some relaxation of the navigation laws, are the
only ones in which I can at present perceive any rea-
sonable hope of your having the assistance of the
Imperial Parliament, it nevertheless seems to me that
you not only ought not to despair, but that you have
the strongest incentives to apply your own legislative
powers to the people, the soil, the products, the agri-
culture, the manufactures, and the trade and the
commerce of the island.

" Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen of the Assembly,
" The most obviously important of the subjects
which annually demand the consideration of the
Legislature, namely, the revenue, is one which more
peculiarly belongs to you, and upon this occasion I
believe that a considerable falling off in the product
of the import duties below the amount of the preced-
ing year, though not perhaps below the estimate for
the present year, calls for an early and careful exami-
nation as a means of obtaining accurate and valuable
details illustrative of the working of the present
tariff, and which may be available in the formation of
an improved one. It will not escape your observation,
that the assent of the Crown to the repeal of the dif-
ferential duties, which were collected under an Act of
the Imperial Parliament, has surrendered into your
hands a permanent annual revenue of more than five-
and-twenty thousand pounds, and merged it in the
import duties imposed by the island Legislatures,
which have hitherto been voted only from year to
year. I make no secret of my having called the at-
tention of her Majesty's Government to this circum-
stance."

The remainder of his Excellency's speech referred
to local matters.
Instead of referring to a Committee for an Address
in reply to the Governor's Speech, the following re-
solutions were adopted by the House :
" Resolved, That in the present fearful crisis in
the affairs of this colony, involving the speedy anni-
hilation of its great staples, it now only remains for
the House to make a last and earnest appeal to her
Majesty's Government and the Parliament of Great
Britain to adopt such measures for the relief of the
colony, by the remission of the duties on colonial
produce or otherwise, as may, by sustaining the value
of private property, enable the island to support its
public institutions and maintain faith with the public
creditor.

" Resolved, That this House is ready to provide
for the contingencies of the island to the 30th Decem-
ber, 1848, in the fervent hope that ere the termination
of that period the case of the island will have been
considered and ample relief granted by the Imperial
Parliament, with whom alone rests the power of res-
cuing from destruction this once valuable colony.
" Resolved, That viewing the present state of the
island, this House cannot with propriety proceed to
the consideration of any measure involving the further
expenditure of the public money."
At a meeting of the Jamaica Chamber of Com-
merce on the 19th inst., a series of resolutions were
adopted, of which the principal are as follows:
"That this Chamber does not desire to charge the
present or any former Ministry with a wilful desire
to neglect this colony, or to devise measures detrimen-
tal to its interests, but it unhesitatingly declares be-
fore the world that successive Governments have, by
a mistaken policy, emanating from the Colonial-office,
brought this colony to a state of utter ruin. That as
an integral member of the empire, Jamaica is entitled
to an equal participation in the advantages enjoyed
by the United Kingdom itself, as far as the inherent
difference between the circumstances of each may
admit.

" That as corn and sugar are admitted to be articles
of food.of the first necessity, and as corn is admitted
into the United Kingdom duty free, so could our
sugars be admitted duty free also.
" That if loans of money to landed proprietors
in the United Kingdom, for the purposes of draining,
and improving agriculture, are considered necessary,
so ought the same advantages to be granted to this
island."

AWFUL HURRICANE AT TOBAGO.
On the night of the 11th of October the island of
Tobago was visited by one of the severest and most
desolating hurricanes that has occurred within the
memory of the oldest inhabitant. During that day
heavy clouds were seen gathering to the west and
north, and towards the evening the wind blew fresh
from the latter quarter. These symptoms of an
approaching hurricane seemed to create little or no
apprehension in the minds of the inhabitants, because
Tobago had since 1780 suffered but to a trifling ex-
tent from such a cause, and therefore they may truly
be said to have been in many respects quite unpre-
pared for such a short but fearful display of Omnipo-
tent power.
The night of the 11th of October will be long
remembered in the annals of Tobago.
The day, which was unusually sultry, oppressive,
and lowering, was succeeded in the latter part of the
evening by indications of heavy rains from the west-
ward, and towards nine o'Clock by slight gusts of
wind, which, although evidencing the approach of a
stormy night, was viewed with little alarm. By ten
o'clock the heaviest sleeper was roused by the dread
ful truth, that a hurricane of the severest kind was
ravaging the district. A severe earthquake is said to
have preceded the first outbreak, nor can it be doubted,
after the proofs around us.
The wind at first appeared to blow from the west
by north, accompanied by heavy rain and lightning,
veered towards the south afterwards, and previous to
the termination of those dreadful hours of anxiety,
blew again with increased violence from the north
and east, till one A.M of the morning of the 12th.
Continuing to rage with such fury for three hours,
considerable damage was expected to be done, but
the desolation and devastating effects produced
by it
are ibeyond description. High and low, rich and
poor, have alike experienced its fearful influence, and
been made to acknowledge the power of that Being
" who maketh the clouds his chariot, and who walketh
upon the wings of the wind." The lightning was
vivid in the extreme, and incessant in its fearful bril-
liancy. No accidents appear to have taken place in
this quarter, although several lives are stated to- have
fallen a sacrifice to its prey—viz., one at Cove, two
at Milford, one at Golden Grove, and one at Mont-
gomery.
The morning of Tuesday presented a scene of de-
struction in every quarter to which the eye was
directed, accompanied by the too powerful proofs of
its severity being general, in the crowds of hapless
beings passing along the roads with their little all
saved from the wreck of their- buildings, and in search
of a covering for themselves and families.
The once smiling face of the country, dotted with
the cottages and gardens of the labourers, the fruits
of bygone earnings, were swept to the four winds of
heaven, and no protoction left them but the hill side
or the ravine, till the morning broke.
The dwelling-houses on estates generally have
sufThred terribly. Some are entirely swept away, and'
their inhabitants at the present moment obliged to
resort for shelter to any field which offers a present
protection against the elements, and, it is to be feared,
with little prospect of having such dwellings again
raised

Trees, the growth of many, many years, which
withstood the violence of all preceding hurricanes,
have been bent and twisted like willow wands, and
present theinselves denuded of foliage, stripped of their
branches, and in many instances torn up by the roots
and cast to a distance.
The canes which, during the eventful day, looked
healthy and luxuriant, have been in every case pros-
trated, as if a destroying torrent of water had
passed over theni, and torn their leaves into shreds.
Those most advanced have suffered most severely, we
fear, in several case's,- irremediably. The less ad-
vanced plants present a more encouraging appear-
ance, but afford no hopes that they will fully recover
from their effects.
Confident hopes are indulged in by some that the
oldest plants may yet recover, but the forebodings
of the many tend to destroy the supposition ; nor can
it be concealed, whilst' numbers are completely up.
rooted and many. prostrate, that others are more or
less injured.
The destruction of sugar works, &c., is so wide
spreadland general, and
general
eemers of restoring them
so doubtful, as to cast a gloom over the com-
munity. Wheresoever buildi:a have escaped from
the fury of the tempest, th ings
been obliged to
be used for the houseless sdufleerrehrsavonn the estates and
neighbourhood, whilst the wellin
ing have been similarl apropriated.
the provision
g-houses left stand-
I fear no very favouyra e account can be given of
grounds. The corn is laid flat; cassada
and yams much shaken, and in too many cases rooted
up- Plantains have been quite destroyed ; sweet po-
tatoes have suffered least of all.
We are unabled to state on undoubted authority,
that throughout the island, 30 great houses (or ma-
nagers' houses) are completely destroyed ; 31 ditto,
ditto, severely injured; 26 works completely de-

stroyed, 33 ditto, severely injured ; 456 settlers'
houses destroyed; 176 ditto, greatly injured. In.
Scarborough, Rocky Vale, Monkey Town, Lower
Town of Scarborough, and otherwise in the vicinity
of Scarborough alone--122 houses of all descriptions
(including outbuildings) were totally destroyed ; 84
ditto, greatly injured. The loss of life is estimated
at nineteen only.
The whole of the barracks were unroofed, and
some of the side walls blown down ; the officers'
quarters were entirely stripped of their verandas,
roofs, and shingles, windows and door blown in and
broken, part of the roof of the hospital blown down,
canteen, ordnance stores, and out-building in ruins ;
one soldier of the 19th regiment killed, and another
seriously injured ; several soldiers of the Ist West
India Regiment also seriously injured by the falling
of the ruins. All the officers escaped, excepting the
deputy ordnance storekeeper, who was much injured
by the falling of his house, and the fort adjutant
received a contusion whilst extricating others front
the ruins. By the unwearied exertions of the officers
of the garrison, particularly the officer commanding,
the troops were provided with shelter and comfort-
able accommodation, under the circumstances (the
rain falling in torrents during the following day),
the greater part in tents erected in the pasture, and
many in buildings temporarily cleared for their re
ception. The loss of stores, arras - &e., is immense ;
and from the total destruction tortfit barracks, it
has been deemed advisable to send the whole of the
white troops to Trinidad, for which purpose the brig
Judson has been chartered, and sails for that island
this evening.