The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-12-14 00:00:00

Mr. Eyre I

that with his favourite

of dock space, c_
warehouses surrounding our existing docks, such
extension, and the expense to be thereby imposed
upon the estate, will be rendered unnecessary.

But, with respect to one point, we are of opinion
not only that a strong opposition will be offered,
but that it ought to be offered by the Council, as
trustees of the interests of the burgesses at large.
We refer to the omission of any clause imposing
upon the Dock Committee's warehouses the same
contribution to the rates of the town, which is paid
by private owners of the same description of pro-
perty.
We are not aware of the object of the Dock

Committee in not, in the fi
in their bill, this concess

on to public opinion.
Idy been established by the

The p:

insertion of a clause in a former hill, rennermg the
Albert warehouses liable to be rated; and the
)le, if sound in one case, is equally so in

another

137' warehouses on

one part of the dock estate shou-ld be taxed to-
wards our local burthens, and in another be free.
We are about to permit our Dock Committee to
appropriate a large' plot of land, covered at

)resent

with valuable property, paying a large amount in
rates ; and when it is not asked that we should be
empowered to tax that portion of such property which
will be covered with docks, or converted into open
quay space, we have, at least, a right to stipulate
that for the buildings which they erect upon it they
should pay. in proportion to the burthens borne by
those who will be cilled upon to enter into com-
petition with them.
It may be that there is some point of form
involved, which prevents the committee, from
themselves, offering such a clause, It is so very
obvious, however, that the burgesses will insist
upon it, and that Parliament will grant a demand
so reasonable, that we cannot believe that either
the Dock Committee or the Council can think of
offering any hindrance to its being made a part of
their bill. The proper course, would, therefore, he
to concede the point at once; and not to throw
upon either the public estate, or the ratepayers the
intolerable expense of an opposition in committee.
We believe, in fact, that such a course will be
adopted.

THE effect of our free-trade policy, if carried out,
in determining the fate of our West Indian colonies,
is no longer a question for speculation. Furnish

•
whatever facilities for immigration we may; give to
the planter a supply of labour, procured and paid
for by the government of the mother country ; the
aid thus afforded is only prospective, and will not
tempt • the present race of proprietors to continue
the cultivation of the soil, with the certainty before
them, for some years to come, of a ruinous sacrifice
upon every crop which they raise and bring to
market. We have now before us a report of an
important meeting of planters, held on the 30th
October, in the parish of Metcalfe, Jamaica, by
the speakers at which this fact is fully established.

" From my experience in the management of estates in
this quarter, (remarked the first speaker at the meeting in
question, Mr. Westmoreland) I am satisfied it costs us
not less than 255. per cwt. on good estates to produce
sugar, all charges included, excepting interest of capital.
Now the Gazette price of sugar by the last packet was 255.
10d., exclusive of duty ; if, then, you deduct from this the
cost of freight, insurance, and other charges, which
amount to Bs. per cwt., it will give us a nett value of 17s.
10d. for what under favourable circumstances it costs us
255. to produce. It is therefore very plain that to go on
with the cultivation of sugar must involve a certain loss—
besides there is every probability of its value being more
depreciated, when the product of the additional properties,
which have been settled in the slave colonies since the
equalisation of the duties is brought into the market."

Howrnany yearsmust elapse before the planter can
be enabled to cheapen the cost of production 7s. 2d.
per cwt., or 30 per cent., besides meeting the further
deterioration in price which will take place when the
foreign producer has brought a largely-increased
quantity of land into cultivation, we need scarcely
inquire. Still less need we glance at the fact that
such reduction of the cost of production must, in a
great measure, be relieved by a reduction of the
wages of the free labourer, and the lowering of his

social position and comforts to something near the
level of the slave labourer, with whose products he
has to compete. To the professing friends of the
negro,' this consideration has always operated
powerfully as an argument against any interference
with the supply of labour to these colonies. The

planter has been accuse(
cheaper labour. I- I
wished to reduce
that of serfdom

fishness in se

id of him that he
e condition of the free negro to
r him from his plot of

sugar canes as an inevitable necessity of his lot.
The introduction of an increased quantity of African
labour"was utterly, to change the face of society in
that negro's paradise, which British humanity had
created ; to check the progress of cultivation in our

colonies, and to deprive the negro population of all
but the bare name of freemen. Yet our free-trade
which compels that population to embark in
struggle of Competition with the slave labour of
" countries, renders inevitable the course,
' " the supporters of emancipation have
„len protesting, unless, indeed, it is
t the attempt to raise tropical produce
be abandoned. And, more-
fully appreciated by the coloured
--- themselves. At the

ioncy,

against whien

all aloe

decided it

with free labour is to

population

)f our coloni
which we haw

'erred, a number of

meeting
the labourers are stated to hay.

to have taken a considerable interest in the pro-
ceedings ; and one of them, we find, spoke upon the
question in language, whose plain practical common
sense is sufficient to overturn all the ignorant
assumptions of our theorists and mock philan-
thropists. We make no apology for quoting his
remarks entire :

" Mr. Smart (a respectable black inhabitant) next
spoke.—l feel extremely sorry to see how we are getting
on. Some time ago we were much better off ; but since
the price of sugar has beep. reduced, we have suffered
reat loss ; everybody feels it—the labourers themselves.
If sugar and coffee do not bring a good price, we shall