The Sun.
London, England, 1842-06-15 00:00:00

IMPORTS OF SUGAR AND RATES OF DUTY.

West E. Indies • Rates of Duty.
Indies. and Mau. Foreign. Total.
Year. ritius. W. 1. E. I. For
Cwt. Cwt. Cwt. Cwt. Cwt. Cwt. Cwt.
-
1820 3,769.+59 2/7,226 0 2,990 4,209,676 Os. 373, Cos.
1830 3,913.269 779,479 223,257 4,916,003 245. 32s
I`4o 2,214,7641,027,837 777,344 4,03.4913 245. ps. 678.
325.

That your petitioner;beg, in the first place, to remark
the vast diminution which has taken place between the
years 1830 and 1840, in the production of the West
Indies, amounting to no Tess a quantity than 1,698,505 cwt.
in the latter compared with a year ten years antecedent,.
although, during the whole period the West Indies
enjoyed an undisturbed advantage of 395. per cwt. in
duty over foreign sugar.
That, in the opinion of your petitioners, the smallness
of the increase in the production of the East Indies and
.Mauritius, is butlittle less remarkable than the diminu-
tion of that of the West Indies, being only 248,354 ca t.
From the 25th July, 1825, the sugar of the Mauritius
has been placed upon the same rate of duty as the West
Indian. The import of Mauritius sugar was, in 1830,
485,710 cwt.; in 1840, 545,007 cwt. ; showing an increase
of only 59,297 cwt. in ten years, under all the advan •
tages of monopoly.
That as regards east India sugar, from the year 1820,
to the sth July, 1830, theduty upon it was 375. per cwt.,
being 10s. percwt. more than the duty on the sugar of the
West Indies. The import of East India sugar, in 1825,
was 143,993 cwt.; in 1830,213,494 ; but it fell off in Tian-
tity during the five succeeding years, the average from
1830 to 1835 being only 107,943 cwt. per year. On the
13th August, 1836, the duty was reduced to the same
rate as the West Indian ; and the following changes
have resulted. The imports were, in 1836, 171,758 cwt.;
in 1837, 302,945 cwt.; in 1838, 474,100 cwt.; in 1839,
587,142 cwt.; and in 1840, 498,730 cwt.; giving reason
to fear, as indicated by the figures of the three last years,
that India, like the West Indies and the Mauritius, is
resting upon her share of the monopoly, and that the
interests of consumers will not be considered so long as
the present system endures.
The table of imports shows, that the total import of
sugar in 1840 is less by upwards of 20 per cent. than it
,% as ten years previously, and by 5 per cent. than it had
been twenty years before, although the population had
maintained a large and steady increase.
The reproaches cast upon the present system of mo-
nopolies have not been adopted by your petitioners with-
out careful study, induced by the deep distress which
surrounds them ; and they again appeal to the official
documents before your Honourable House in confirma-
tion of their truth, as indicated by the article of sugar.
The following table exhibits the home consumption at
the stated periods :

Year Total Con- Population. G az. Aver.!Aver, of Braz.
sumption. Muscavado. Brn. and Yel.
---
s. d. s. cl.
1820 2,901,864 21,193,458 36 2 0 0
1830 3,722,044 24,304,799 24 11 18 11
1831 3,781,011 23 8 17 11
1832 3,655,534 27 8 21 5
1833 3,651,804 29 8 22 5
1834 3,741,579 29 5 23 3
1835 3,836,562 33 5 27 j
1836 3,488,399 40 10 27 11
1837 3,954,810 34 7 21 3
1838 3,909,665 33 8 21 3
1839 3,825,589 circa 39 2 22 1
1840 3,594.832 127,000,000 49 1 21 6