The Sun.
London, England, 1851-05-16 00:00:00

SUGAR REFINING.

A memorial addressed to the Members of both
Houses of Parliament by Messrs. John Craven and
Co. has been widely circulated in the City on the sub-
ject of sugar, refining. It involves two matters of
complaint, one of which may be questioned, while the
other is so remarkable, yet at the same time so ludi-
crous in its character, as almost to defy belief in the
fact that it has been pressed upon the Chancellor of
the Exchequer, without being met by an instantane-
ous remedy, although the way in which the coffee
question has been dealt with has prepared the com-
mercial public against surprise at anything that may
transpire between them and the Government. The
case in question is described by Messrs. Craven as
follows : .

" As the law stands at, present we, as refiners in bond,
are only permitted to export our sugars to foreign coun-
tries; but as the Dutch and Belgian Governments allow
their refiners a bounty of several shillings per cwt. upon
the export of their refined sugars, they have so mono-
polized the foreign markets by being enabled to under-
sell us, that we are compelled to sell our sugars at a
great sacrifice.
"In this dilemma we have repeatedly applied to Go—
vernment to admit our goods for home consumption
upon payment of the same duties which are charged
upon Dutch and Belgian goods when entered for con-
sumption in this country; but,iincredible as it may ap-
pear, we have been denied even the privilege of being
pieced upon an equal footing with the Dutch and Bel-
gian refiners in our own markets.
" Being thus shut out of the foreign markets by the
Dutch underselling us by means of their high bounty,
and from the hem° market by tho Government re-
fusing to admit our goods for consumption, we are
driven, in order to prevent our works from being stopped
altogether, to adopt the following most singular and
most absurd course:—
"Under the Custom-laws British refined sugars after
being shipped to foreign ports and touching foreign soil
are, upon their re-importation into this country, held to
ho foreign goods, and upon payment of the duty charge-
able on foreign refined sugars, they become admissible
for home consumption. In order to meet these require-
ments, we adopt the following course:—The sugars are
pet on board a steamer and conveyed to Jersey or
Guernsey, and after being landed in either of these
islands, they are reshipped on board the same vessel,
and brought back to this country. The Government
then consents to receive the duties, the highest which are
levied upon any description of foreign sugar, and by
this roundabout process the home market is at length
opened to us.
" It is unnecessary for us to point out that the expense
we are thus put to, viz., double freight, double landing
charges, double dock dues, double insurance, &c., is a
mere wanton waste of money, in addition to the loss of
time, and damage done to the goods by being tossed
about and exposed to bad weather during the various
processes of transhipment. To lessen the expenses and
absurdity of all these proceedings, wo have proposed to
Lord John Russell, that in place of sending our goods to
a foreign soil, we should be permitted to bring the fo-
reign soil to our goods, by importing a cargo of foreign
earth with which, being placed in a bonded warehouse,
our goods could be brought in contact, under the surveil-
lance of the Customs authorities. This no doubt would
bo a very absurd proceeding, yet it would be wisdom
itself compared with the system which we are now com-
pelled to adopt."
The other point of complaint is founded on the
alleged circumstance that the Dutch Goverment by
granting a bounty to their sugar refiners enable them
to undersell the English houses, who could drive
them out of the field if the trade were left to its na-
tural course. But although this is undoubtedly in-
jurious to the firms in question, it is not a matter
calling for interference. If the Dutch Governmentd
think it desirable to cause foreigners to be supplied
with the article at a price below the actual cost
of
production, there is no reason why they should
not be permitted to do so. They will soon become
tired of taxing their people for such a purpose,
.and
then the trade can be resumed here with the cer may
of not being interfered with for the future by any
similar experiments.— Times.

HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE.---Amongst the noble
and distinguished individuals honouring her Maje4y's
Theatre with their presence yesterday (Thursday) evening,
we noticed his Grace the Duke of Wellington, the Duke and
Duchess of Cleveland, the Marquis of Sligo, Marquis of Clan-
ricarde, the Earl of Lonsdale, Earl and Countess of Stam-
ford, the Coun Earlsowager of Hopetoun, Earl Bruce, Earl of
Malmesbury, Talbot, Viscount Dupplin, Viscount
Cliftlen, kc.
ROYAL ITALIAN OPERA.— His Royal Highness
the Duke of Ciunbridge honoured the performances at the
Royal Italian Opera with his presence last evening. Her
Majesty's box was occupied by Mr. Cavendish, the lion.
Caroline Cavendish, Miss Emily Cavendish and party.
ROYAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE, OXFORD-STREET.
Her Majesty and his Royal Highness Prince Albert, accom-
panied by their Royal Higlinesm the Prince and Princess
of Prussia honoured the performances with their presence
last evening. The royal suite consisted of the Countess Backe,
the Countess Oriolla, the Hon. Eleanor Stanley, Count
Fackler, Colonel the Hon. C. Grey, Lieutenant-Colonel
F. 11, Seymour, Msjor Von Baien, and the Marquis of
Ormond.