The Sun.
London, England, 1842-09-16 00:00:00

EFFECTS OF MONOPOLY.
ONDON, SEPT. 16, 1842.
The following average prices, exclusive of duty, of
brown or Muscovado British Sugars, will be pub-
lished in the Gazette of this evening :

s. d.
West India 36 55 per cwt.
East India 3B laa

Mauritius 33
The total average price of the three descriptions is
365. 31d. per cwt.
The actual weights of Sugar sold on account of the
importers, in the week ending the 13th inst., accord-
ing to the returns made upon oath by the Sugar bro-
kers, in conformity with the Act of Parliament, and
on which weights the above prices are computed, con-
sisted of 38,515 cwt. West India, of 1,109 cwt. East
India, and 4,672 cwt. Mauritius.
Foreign brown or Muscovado Sugars may be bought
at 14s. per cwt., and upwards ; that of a quality equal
to the average quality of West India 16s. 6d. ; Dutch
Refined Sugar at 225. 6d ; and Foreign Molasses at
7s. per cwt. This nation is therefore fleeced by the
monopolists to the tune of 20s. per cwt. When will
justice be done to our industrious consumers.
It has been objected to the remarks made in our
Sugar article of last week, that the mode of reducing
wages in the West India Colonies therein suggested,
would, if carried out, throw half the estates out of
cultivation, to the utter ruin of their proprietors.
That this inference can be drawn from what was
stated we totally deny; we guardedly said that the
exhausteel lands should be thrown out of Sugar cul-
tivation, and we also stated that such land might bey
advantageously tilled for provisions. Let any disin-
terested person take up the list of provisions annu-
ally imported into the different West India Colonies,
and he will find the quantities so purchased would
require nearly all the land on which the Sugar cane
had ceased to be grown barely adequate to the pro-
duction of them. Again, supposing there should be
some land to spare, after a sufficient number of acres
had been laid down for provisions would.
not such spare land be easily made to,
produce coffee, pimento, or cocoa ? each crop
of those articles not requiring more than one-half the
strength of labour which the cultivation of the cane,
and the after process of boiling the juice down to.
Sugar does. The objection raised by the West Indians
in this respect resembles the complaints of those land-
lords at home, who argue as though land thrown out;
of wheat cultivation by a free trade in corn would be,
condemned toremain untouched. They would main taila
that it is inconvertible to any other purpose. Sheer
nonsense. Again fault is found with the number ciC
negroes supposed to be employed on a hundred acres
of land ; this is unreasonable; for we never professed.
to be accurate in that matter ; on the contrary, wes
gave it as a hypothetical statement. All we sought to
do was to show the proportions of labour required for
good and for bad land. It cannot be denied that;
exhausted soils will require the work of three
negroes to the one employed on good land,
and that with that additional strength the.
Sugar raised on the bad ground will proves
less in quantity and superior in quality to that;
raised on good land ; furthermore it cannot be denied,
that, with the aid of ordinary farming implements,
the labour of one negro will suffice to till the lant
for provisions where the services of six are wanted.
for cultivating the same kind of land for the Sugar
cane, and afterwards make the Sugar. Whether,
therefore we had said 150 to 50—or 3 to I—or
whether we had said 150 to 25—or 6 to 1, is tr.
matter of indifference; the proportions remain the,
same. Having explained thus far, we commence, ac-
cording to promise, an examination into the charges
of ten shillings per cwt., which accrue after the Sugar
is made in the colonies. The usual charge for a hogs-
head which will contain 14 cwt of Sugar is about
14s. sterling, being a charge on the Sugar of Is_
per cwt. By packing the Sugar in mats, as the•
Mauritius planters do, five-sixths of the shilling might;
he saved ; three mats may be made from rushes by
the infirm and the women on the different plantations,
should these rushes not grow spontaneously; there*
will be found on most of the estates land only fit Us
grow them, which may be occupied in producing the'
quantity of rush necessary for bag-making ; moreover
the sugar brought in mats rarely, or ever, loses by
drainage during the long voyage from the Mauritius,
whereas a hogshead of Sugar will lose in weight
281bs. by drainage, on the shorter voyage from the,
West Indies. lenpence per cwt. may then be saved.
in the package, and this, too, without taking credit for
a fraction for the value of the Sugar sased 'by the'
drainage. With regard to the charge for freight, &c..
of ss. per cwt., we entertain a strong opinion that if'
two or more proprietors, whose lands are contiguous,
were to advertise for tonnage, they would readily ob-
tain a ship whose owner would undertake to have per-
formed all that is now done, and bring the Sugar
home for 50s. per ton ; the proprietors saving by suds
an arrangement 2s. Gd. per cwt. In this enterprise,
however, it cannot be concealed the proprietors would
have a difficulty to encounter from encroaching on a mo-
nopoly which works under the protection of their own,
namely, the West India shipping interest. Nothing
but firmness and determination on the part of a com-
bined body of proprietors could burst the bonds of
this evil ; once broken through it would soon perish.
The dockage and manapiement prior to the sale of the,
Sugar form the next item, sot at 4s. per cwt. Con
sidering the security aftbrded, and the services ren-.
tiered by the docks, so much of the charge as related
to them is by no means out of the way; but for thes
costs of management, which are here mixed up with
the dock charge, they are excessive, being equivalent
to 6 per cent. on the price of the Sugar before charges
accrue, or 3 per cent, upon the duty paid price of it.
Many brokers in and out of the Sugar market may be,
found who would gladly manage the whole affair for
one per cent. on the duty paid price, and who are cads,
restrained from applying to the owners of the Sugar
by the fear of giving offence to the West India mer.
chants, whose servants they are. Supposing the,
duty paid price to be sixty shillings per cwt..
the broker would transact the business for one per
cent., or 7d. per cwt., yielding a clear gain to thee
proprietors of Is. 2d. per cat Thus, taking these,
reduced charges together, a saving of 4s. 6d. out of
the 'los. is attained. If, then, the entire mode re-.
commended were tarried out, the cost of the Sugar,
that is, growing and making it, would be 6s. 4d. per
cwt., and the charges of bringing it to market ss. 6d.,
in all 11 s. 10d., and three eleven shillings and ten-
pence would yield the proprietors as much profit as
they now derive from 355. per cwt. • the consumers,
whose interests are rarely consulted by the Legis-
lature, or noticed indeed unless for the ulterior
object of advancing the benefit of the monopolists,
would experience the gratifying knowledge that they
were buying and using Sugar which had paid 255.
pea cwt. towards the maintenance of the revenue, for
375. per cwt., or after such Sugar had been refined, at
6d. per lb. for good lump, 3d. per lb. for Bastard Sugar
and lid. per lb. for treacle ; thus catering to the vari-
ous wants of the community at large, at a cheaper
rate than that at which slave-labour Sugar could be
supplied, thereby effectually driving the Cuban and
Brazilian growers out of the British markets, vs
event which protection to the West Indians has sig-
nally failed to achieve, The West Indians have ems
joyed abundant opportunities for effecting the gala•
tary changes suggested for their mode of general
management, and they have allowed them to pass un-
headed ; it is, therefore, quite clear they require
gentle coercion, to compel them to adopt measuri*
which would be beneficial to themselves in every sen e
of the word. Is it to be tolerated, that for the salzo
of keeping the black labourers in prime conditio,g,
by only working them on alternate days, or for tie
sake of maintaining the white pia prietors in luxur
ous idleness in this country, where they are neither
required nor desired, that the industrious class 3a
at home should pay an enormous excess of price f
Sugar ?—an article whichost hasrt
gbecomeht
as
abwsoellultbeleypnr,e.t.
cessary to their cornfrt
tended, that because the black labourers only choose
te
to work one day in the week, and the whi props e-
tors choose to drive six horses in lieu of a pair in their
carriages, besides wofully neglecting their affairs in
the Colonies, that the people of this country ought to
pay double what they are now pang
for Sugar— is
continue the present course, the gentle coercim a
W
necessary to drive the
'Vest Indians into industrio is
and economic habits—habits Which will compel t.
whites either to reside on their estates, or transfer
them to others who will—and the blacks
to
dab,.work
for daily bread, is tq' admit foreign Sugars toi
an a c.
tive competition in the British markets, with tho e
propped up by monopoly. The West Indians, if they
choose to follow the course pointed out for the.n.
have the power of tlriving their rivals out of the fie ki
by underselling thOm.

A non-commissioned officer in the recruiting sera
vice, named Durand, stationed at Mont de-Marsan,
the Landes, having last week received a blow in the
street, from a comrade with whom he had lived upon terms
of close friendship, gave him a challenge to fight a duet,
appointing the meeting for the following morning. Du-
rand went to the rendezvous, but his adversary did not
make his appearance. On returning to the barracks,
Durand found that the soldier had been put under arrest
for four days, and at once went to their captain, ttnd,
having stated to him the gross insult be had received.
asked permission for his adversary to come out. The
officer, however, refused to comply with his request. Da-
rand felt himself so disgraced by being obliged to re-
main with the stain upon his honour unavenged, that he
went to his room, and shot himself with the pistol he
had intended to level against his adversary. An ahilir
of love and jealousy is said to have been the cause of
quarrel. Durand was so much esteemed in his regiment
that his officers attended his funeral, and expressed over
his grave their regret at his loss.
A complete Roman dwelling, apparently belongi
to a family in the middle ranks of life, has just been e
cavated in the Loges Wood, near Chateau-Gaillard,
the Abbe Cocket. The flooring, pillars, ornament
ceilin 4
&c., are in a perfect state of preservation.