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

Mauritius..

No returns of sales

Total average price of the two descriptions
is 365. 3id. per cwt.
The actual quantities sold on account of the im-
porters, in the week ending the 6th of September,
according to the returns made upon oath, by the
Sugar brokers, in conformity with the Act of Parlia-
ment, and on which quantities the above ,prices are
computed, consisted of 35,038 cwt. of IN est India,
and 4,726 cwt. of East India Sugars.
350 cwt. of Kaur Sugar have been sold in the
same week at 255. per cwt., which, being classed as
East India, unfairly depresses the average price of
that kind of Sugar.
The annual Acts of Parliament determines that
the duties on Sugars from July, 1842, to July,
1843, shall not exceed certain rates ;—this knowledge,
coupled with recent information that the supply of
Sugar from the Colonies will be inadequate to the
usual demand for home use, leads the monopolists to
indulge the hope that the prices of their Sugar will
rise ; they have consequently been firm, and have ac-
tually obtained an advance of sixpence per cwt.
Their cupidity causes them, however, to forget, that
although duties cannot be raised without the sanction
of Parliament, yet they may be diminished whenever
the Government deems it proper to issue an Order in
Council for that object, and that, too, without giving
the parties concerned further notice than transmitting
the document to the Customs. There is good reason
to believe that if a serious advance in the prices of
Sugar for home consumption should occur, that the
power of reducing the rate of duties will be exer-
cised as far as relates to Foreign Sugars. It there-
fore behoves dealers to be especially cautious in their
transactions, and to hold only such stocks of British
Sugars as are absolutely necessary for their business.
The prevalence of an opinion that Foreign Sugars
must and will be admitted to the home market before
Christmas next, has probably induced the briskness,
though without alteration of prices, recently experi-
enced in the market. Parties may buy them to hold
under an apprehension that such a reduction
of duty as would bring them into home use
would raise their value two shillings per cwt.
Having last week assigned reasons why the West
India Proprietors are not likely to procure an acces-
sion of labour on their estates through the aid of im-
migration, and abundantly shown why in that respect
they have only themselves to thank for the difficulty
they are in for want of workmen, we advert to-day to
the second mode of reducing the cost of labour, a
mode, unlike the other, being completely under W est
Indian control ; accordingly we proceed to examine
what the result would be of throwing out of sugar
cultivation those grounds which from the impoverished
state of the soil will not yield a full crop. It is well-
known, be the land where it may, that when ex-
hausted by forcing produce—and this sin especially ap-
plies to the West Indies—that an immense strength of
labour is required to secure even a scanty return. In
order to render our meaning quite palpable, we give
the following hypothetical case :—We will suppose A.
and B. two West India Proprietors, who have each
100 acres of land in the Colonies ; the 100 acres be-
longing to A. have, from bearing a continued suc-
cession of Sugar crops become exhausted—therefore
to get any Sugar from them, say 60 hogsheads a-year,
the work of 150 negroes is required for their cultiva-
tion ; the estate of B. has been carefully managed, and
on that account yields 100 hogsheads of Sugar, raised
and made by the continuous work of 50 negroes.
A. and B. are competitors in the labour market—
their united wants are 200—but they find only 150
negroes to be hired. 8., holding the more profitable
land, engages 50 of them, though compelled by the
rivalry of A. to give such exorbitant wages, that
the blacks (the complaint of the West India proprie-
tors) are able to remain idle three days in the week,
leaving the 100 to be hired by A. at the like rate of
wages ; these also work only three days in the week ;
the consequosce is, that A. has but one-third of his
100 acres cultivated, which then produce only 20
hhds. of sugar a•year. B. has half his 100
acres planted which yield 50 hhds. a-year,
the deficiency on A.'s estate arising partly from
want of sufficient hands, and partly because
the hands engaged will only work on alternate
days. B.'s deficiency is occasioned entirely by the
latter cause. Together A. and B. ship for the mother
country 70 hhds. Now, if A. had his 100 acres
cultivated for provisions, he would require the assist-
ance of only 25 negroes, throwing back upon the
labour market the remaining 75, who would compete
for employment with the 100 blacks hired by B.
B. would then dictate a rate of wages that would
ensure their working continuously throughout the
year ; his estate would consequently ship 100 hhds. ;
in point of quantity, therefore, there would be an in-
crease of 30 hhds. in the annual production and ship-
ment, and the labour of 75 negroes to spare.
besides these advantages, the quality of the Sugar in
the 100 hhds shipped from the single estate would be
very superior to the Sugar which would have been
shipped in 70 hhds. from the two half-worked estates;
for this reason, B's estate by the mode suggested
would have a gang of negroes upon it, who would
work with regularity, and the juice, as soon as ex-
pressed from the canes, would be boiled down to
Sugar without delay. Expedition in making Sugar
is of the first importance ; if the cane juice from ex-
posure to the atmosphere becomes tainted by acidity,
the utmost skill of the manager to convert it into
good Sugar will be defeated. The mischief arising,
therefore, from negroes working only on alternate
days is irretrievable, and accounts, in a great mea-
sure, for the gummy condition of a large proportion
of the West India Sugar, and the quantity of lime in
it, introduced for the purpose of neutralising the
acidity which delay in the boiling had occasioned.
It therefore follows that if the exhausted soils were
thrown out of Sugar cultivation, one-fourth more
Sugar would be imported from the West Indies, and
the whole of it would be of a good and sound quality.
The 1V est India Proprietors state 355. per cwt. to be
the cost of Sugar, including all charges ; in order,
therefore, to arrive at what the actual costs of
labour are, the other charges incidental to bring-
ing it to market here, which are known—
must be deducted—for instance, the first item in those
charges is the cask, which may be set at Is. per cwt.;
the second, the freight, &c., at ss. ; the third, dock-
age and management prior
.to sale, 4s.—together 106.
per cwt., leaving 255. per cwt. for the culture of the
canes and manufacturing the Sugar. According to
the showing of the planters the labourers receive now
just double the amount of wages they ought to re-
ceive, because the sum paid for three days' labour
will keep them comfortably for the week ; it is fair,
then, to assume, that when competition for employ-
ment became active the owner of the fertile soil would'
readily engage hands at half the amount of wages
now given, in all probability at less than half the
charge for culture, &c., instead of being equivalent to
255. per cwt., would consequently then be 12s. 6d. ;
the cost of manager or planter may be set at 35., and
should likewise be deducted, because it is entirely
optional ; the proprietor may avoid it if he chooses
by residing on his own estate, which, in fact, he
ought to do. It is absurd to suppose the owner of an
estate in Jamaica can live in London and manage
his affairs, combining agriculture with manufacture, and
direct these processes with any degree approaching pro-
per economyor good order; the 3s. per cwt. should,there -
fore, be deducted, which further reduces the 125.6 d. to
9s. 6d, per cwt., being the cost, supposing as at pre-
sent 70 hhds. of bad sugar, in lieu of 100 good, were
imported; but when the increased quantity and im-
proved quality are taken into consideration, one-
third, or 33 per cent., shouldbe taken from the 9s. 6d.,
bringing the cost of growing the canes and making
the sugar down to 6s. 4d. per cwt. Admitting that
the Proprietors must now, as they declare they ought
to do, obtain on an average 355. per cwt. to remu-
nerate them, the mode suggested would enable them
to dispose of their Sugar with equal profit at 6s. 4d.,
addding the charges at 10s. before deducted, at 16s. 4d.
per cwt., the price which foreign Muscovado of like
quality commands. We intend next week looking
into the charges for hhds., freight, &c., dockage, and
management here. We think we can enlighten the
West India Proprietors in these matters, and show
them the way to undersell their foreign competitors
profitably to themselves, being a further demonstra-
tion, if such be necessary, that free is cheaper than
slave labour.

" The eighth plague," said Dr. Johnson, " is the
gout ; and that man who discovers a medicine to alle-
viate its torment deserves well of his country ; but he
who can effect a cure, should have a monument erected to
his memory as high as St. Paul's, as wide as the Thames,
and as lasting as time." This desideratum (happily) has
now been accomplished ; and it must afford unspeakable
satisfaction to those who are afflicted with Gout, Rheu-
matism, Rheumatic Gout, Rheumatic Fever, or Lum-
bago, to be informed that they will find an unfailing re-
medy in Simco's Gout and Rheumatic Pills, which are sold
by all medicine venders,in boxes at Is. I Id. and 2s. 9d. each.

We understand the eminent marine painter, Mr.
Huggins, is about to publish a drawing of the Royal
squadron at the entrance of the Frith of Forth, off St.
Abb's Head, at the time which in the letter inserted in
the different Journals on Thursday from an Officer of
the squadron, as particularly interesting when the
squadron was joined by the two splendid steamers of the
General Steam Navigation Company, Monarch and
Trident. Mr. Huggins was on board the Trident at the
time, and took a sketch of the position of the ships, and
of the prominent features of the Court.
The mortal remains of the late General Lord
Robert Edward Henry Somerset, G.C.8., were re-
moved from his late residence in Grafton-street yesterday,
for interment in the family mausoleum of the Beaufort
family.

H!GH VV ATHA AT LONDON BRIDGE THIS DAY.
V >ruing.... 30 minutes after 4 I Evening ... 51 minutes after 4.