The Sun.
London, England, 1844-06-15 00:00:00

before, and doing this they would find that there must be
an express warrant for each opening.—(Hear, hear.)
As he understood the Right Honourable Gentleman,
he said that he issued a warrant against one of
the individuals who was not now in existence,
and it could have only reference to one letter. If trea-
son was suspected the Government could only act on in-
formation—that information would be as to a par-
ticular day or hour such a letter would pass
through the Post-office. On that day it would
be found there, and that was the only power given
by the Act. This was a matter of deep consideration,
and it therefore should be well considered.
Mr. CHRISTIE said that the Right Hon. Gentleman
had on one occasion stated that he was three years in
the Home-office, and during those three years he had
expended but a trifling amount of secret serviee money.
He could now account for that in conse-
quence of the system of espionage which was
adopted. He wished to know from the Right Hon. Ba-
ronet, whether having:stated that he had issued a warrant
with respect to one individual, he had issued warrants
against others, not stating names, and in how many
cases ? _ _ _

Mr. WALLACE explained.
Mr. DUNCOMBE said, that as he had no other way
of obtaining the opinion of the House upon this very
dirty transaction, upon which all explanation was re-
fused, he should divide the House upon the motion.
The gallery was then cleared, but the motion for ad-
jourment was negatived without division, it being under-
stood that Mr. Duncombe would bring on the subject on
a future occasion, on going into Committee of Supply.
BANK CHARTER.
Mr. WODEHOUSE gave notice of an amendment on
the third clause of the Bank Charter Bill.
Mr. HLTME gave a notice respecting the same Bill.
Some mistake in the wording of the Hon. Gentleman's
notice caused much laughter.
SUGAR DUTIES.

Mr. LABOUCHERE said he wished to repeat a ques-
tion he had formerly put, and to have an answer before
the House went into Committee on the Sugar Duties
Bill. He wished to know whether, in their Custom-
house laws, there was any such thing as a certificate of
origin required as to produce imported from foreign
countries ?
Mr. GLADSTONE said that any inquiries of this
kind were conducted at the expense of the Custom-house
authorities.
Mr. LABOUCHERE—Then there is no such certifi-
cate required ?
Mr. GLADSTONE was understood to reply in the
negative.
The House then went into Committee on the Sugar
Duties Bill.
On the first clause being proposed,
Mr. PHILIP MILES rose to move—" That from and
after the 10th day of Nov., 1844, the duty upon sugar,
the produce of British possessions, be reduced to 20s. the
hundred weight ; and, that the duties on sugar, certified
to be the growth of China, Java, or Manilla, or of any
foreign country, the sugar of which her Majesty in
Council shall have declared to be admissible, as not
being the produce of slave labour, shall be as follows :
namely, brown, Muscovado, or clayed; the cwt. 30s. ;
white clayed, or sugar otherwise prepared, and
equivalent to white clayed sugar, the cwt. 345.,
with five per cent. thereon." He said that as
the Bill had been allowed to pass through
several stages without any discussion being taken on the
principle 'of it, he trusted that the Committee would
allow him to make some observations before he pro-
ceeded with his amendment.—(Hear, hear.) There were
several reasons which prevented him from concurring in
the proposition of his Right Hon. Friend the Chancellor
of the Exchequer. In the first place, he did not think
that that was the proper time to bring that question
forward, unless her Majesty's Government were pre-
pared to look the whole question in the face, and to set
it finally at rest.—(Cheers from the Ministerial benches.)
He did not hesitate to tell the Government that if they
were not prepared to uphold the West Indian colony by
granting to it sufficient protection, it was far better to
throw off the mask, and frankly say so, than to encou-
rage a partial outlay of capital under the idea of a con-
tinued prohibition, which, in the end, must be irre-
trievably lost.—(Hear.) His Right Hon. Friend at
the head of the Government, when he brought forward
the tariff, expressly stated that he thought the Govern-
ment ought not to look at one part of the question with-
out materially considering the whole. It would have
been a much more straightforward course for her Ma-
jesty's Government to have come down on that occasion
declaring that they wished to make some alteration in
the sugar duties, and to cheapen the article for the con-
sumer, than asking fur the continuance of the income-
tax. His Right Hon. Friend, in the speech which he
made in 1841 on this question, quoted several passages
.from a pamphlet which was notorious at the time, and
finished his quotation with one which he would take the
liberty of reading to the House, observing, that the
Right Hon. Baronet then expressed his entire° assent
in the view of the writer. "The prosperity of the West
Indians," said the writer, "can only be continued and
ensured by extensive and systematic emigration, and
by the temporary continuance of the present protective
discriminating duties upon sugar." They were now
about to extend a free system of emigration without
continuing the discriminating duties. The shortest
period which could be allowed for the satisfactory work-
ing of this experiment was two years; but it must be
attended with great expense to the colonies, while other
countries would have the benefit of an immense supply
of labour et a very trifling expense, and thus be able to
raise produce at a much cheaper rate to supply the
market which this country Ns ould open to than. They
had been told, in the discussion on this subject, that this
measure was a stop towards free tirade. When he
coupled this statement with ,the measures which her
Majesty's Government had brought forward, it did
occur to him that the thoughts of the Treasury
bench were running in that direction. If they
were in favour of these principles, he for one could not
blame them ; but he begged them not to ask him to go
with them. If they intended to shape their course in
that direction he would ask them to carry out their
principles a little further, and give their colonies the
benefit of the first steps in that direction. He thought
that when an alteration of the duty took place the
West Indian colonies were as much entitled to fair con-
sideration as the agricultural and other great interests
of this country. A tax of 73 per cent. was imposed
upon the staple article of production, and as the price
diminished the per centage increased. He had listened
with considerable attention to the speech of his Right
Hon. Friend in introducing this measure, but he had
told them nothing beyond the fact, that on the very day
when hegave notice of this measure the price of sugar in
this country was 2s. higher than in the corresponding period
last year, and that in November their treaty with Brazils
would cease, and on that account it was incumbent on
them to make some alteration. The President of the
Board of Trade said that he was disappointed in his cal-
culation as to the supply to be derived from India. He
believed that if they placed the sugar duties on a firm
footing, within ten years they would give such a stimulus
to its production in India as would secure to them a large
supply. In 1836 the supply from India had been only
25,000 tons, and it was now 50,000 tons.—(Hear, hear.)
By encouraging the growth of sugar in India they would
be increasing the demand for English manufactures,
which would not be the case if they encouraged
the growth of the sugar in Java, because in that island a
duty of 50 per cent., ad valorem, was levied upon all kri-
fish manufactures. He thought this measure was uncalled
for, because the supply of sugar for India would be greater
than the demand. He thought the continued prevalence of
the easterly winds was sufficient to account for the present
small excess of price. He found that the stock of sugar in
the United Kingdom, on the 12th June last, was 38,100 tons
against 31,000 tons, the amount of the stock at the same
period last year, and that in London alone, the excess of
stock in January, 1844 and January, 1843, ,was 3,000 tons.
The average price of sugar in 1841 was 385., in 1842 it was
37a, in 1843 it' was 365., and in 1844 it was 375., being a
trifle higher than it was in 1843, but lower than it was in
1841 and 1842. On the let of June the stock on hand was
40,000 tons, and the supply this year would amount to
125,000 tons from the West Indies, 60,000 tons from Bengal,
50,000 tons from Madras, 30,000 tons from Mauritius, making
altogether a supply of 260,000 tons. The consumption in
1843 was 202,000 tens. This, therefore, would leave an in-
crease over the amount of consumption of 58,000 tons on 3lst
December, 1844 ; the stock on hand at the same period last
year amounting enly to 40,000 tons. The Right Hon Gentleman
might deny that the supply would be such as he had stated, but
he had in his possession letters from the colonies confirming his
statements. The Noble Lord, the Secretary for the Colo-
nies, on introducing his measure relating to Canadian corn
last session, had stated that a great protection ought to be ex-
tended to the productions of the colonies, and that they ought
to be treated as integral portions of the empire. The Govern-
ment had now altered their policy, and seemed prepared to sa-
crifice the colonies for the benefit of the mother country. A
few weeks ago the duty had been taken eff wool. That was
for the benefit of the mother country'; but was it for the be-
nefit of the Australian colonies ?—( Hear, hear.) Was it not
exposing them to foreign competition ? The Government had
now commenced operations against the West Indies. The
House of Assembly of Jamaica had last session agreed to a
memorial to her Majesty on the subject of the duties of that
colony. He would read some extracts from that memorial,
notwithstanding the remarks of the Hon. Member for Wolver-
hampton, who stated that the remarks in it were exaggerated.
[The Hon. Member then proceeded to read extracts from the
memorial in question, in which the memorialistsistated that several
coffee and sugar plantations had been abandoned in consequence
of the want of a supply of labour, and that universal gloom
pervaded the island. The memorialists concluded by stating
that they always looked to their gracious Sovereign and to a
Conservative Government, to afford them protection. ( This
passage was received with loud ironical cheers and laughter
from the Opposition.) The memorialists went on to state that
a reduction in the duty on colonial sugar and coffee would
afford them relief, but that, if a reduction took place in the
duty on slave-grown sugar, it would ruin them, and render
nugatory the benefit of the slave emancipation.] The mea-
sure proposed by the Government would produce great dis-
satisfaction in the colonies. In order to show that the state-
ments of distress were not exaggerated, he would read to them
an
weaset Indian estates. T
sses i
he accounts had
es during the last
lw e
nfurnished
year o n t o
twelve
him by one mercantile house alone. On the first estate the
loss had been 2501. ; on the second, 2,4201. • on the third,
8321. ;on the fourth, 5,083/. , th fifth, '47o/ ;on the
sixth, 3,440/. ;on the seventh,*onnn Bti,olBl. the.
eighth,
10,2011. ; on the ninth, i),259t/iiie
tweleftitent7hiol.42/. ;nodn the
eleventh, 4781. ; and, -on
the Right Honourable Gentleman would en;deaavour yetdo
persuade the House that the measure he
would secure the prosperity of the West Indian FiorloP°i"
With respect to the certificate of origin, the general feonl'ensg.
was that of dissatisfaction and distrust. The colonists thoughtel
that the temptation of the amount of duty between 345. and
635. would be too great, and that all precautions against the
introduction of slave sugar would be useless, and that it would
inevitably find its way into this country. If the Government
could not prevent extensive frauds in their own Custom-house,
how would they be able to prevent frauds in Custom-houses
abroad]?—( Hear, hear.) He considered that there was a great
probability of sugar being imported from the States of Ame-
rica. They might expect to see many shipments of sugar from
that country. The Government might obtain a considerable
increase of revenue from this change, but he contended that
this increase would be at the expense of the colonists. He
wished to say a few words on the subject of coffee. The duty
on coffee was reduced from eightpence to sixpence. He was
assured that the people of this country would not buy Brazilian