, 1884-11-08
In the course of his speech the President

"The schedule of the Society's bye-laws
laws down what shall be the objects OF the
Society, namely, to endeavour to promote,
AS far as possible, the improvement Of the
agriculture of the colony, and of every
branch of industry, manufacture, or trade
whereby the resources of the colony are
likely to be developed and increased. [
cannot see that any one present can say
that they consider the trade of British
Guiana or the West Indian islands is in
such a fOurishing condition that they
could afford to quietly fold their hands
and say eve will do nothing" There is
not the slightest doubt i'll the minds of
everyone that the West Indies are passing
through a severe crisis-and we are just
at the commencement, and have not gone
very far down the road. / believe We shall
experience greater difficulties than we are
now experiencing before brighter times
come. And in order to prevent what
would be a great calamity to our neigh.
bOurS and q serious matter for ourselves,
we should endeavOur to do anything and
everything to prevent that crisis being so
severe, by a meeting of acknowledgements
who fully understand how to deal with the
agricultural and commercial interests of
the West India colonies. In asking the
Society to lend its aid to q matter of this
sort, | might say that the conference should
be composed of persons who are deeply
concerned in the sugar industry of the
colonies, so that they could thoroughly
discuss and ventilate the subject; such
subjects as those connected with the cen.
trail factories and usines, which, if properly
carried on would still attract British CAPT.
tai to the West indies. | think that the
existing commercial relations not only with
lA - "a ~-I
foreign nations require alteration, and if
altered, q better and more prosperous
stale of things than at the present moment
exists would be brought about. If dele
gales are sent from here to Barbados,
they would lie, as far as this Society is
concerned, restricted entirely to this ques-
ton of commerce and agriculture. | think
it is one of the duties of this Society to
promote the agricultural and commercial
welfare of those colonies, and as president
OF this Society, | do not think that l have
treSpassed or intringed upon the charter
granted to us, in bringing forward such o
motion as the present one"
Notwithstanding these excellent argu.
mentS for Il conference the motion was lost
because the charter granted the Society
does not permit of its entering on political
discussions, and most of The members
thought that such a conference wOnId
prove to be in a great measure a political
meeting. Possibly the suggestion may be
taken up By one OF the other leading CO.
lOnieS.
A curious smuggling story will be found
among our Demerara items. To under.
stand it clearly we must remember that
Georgetown and New Amsterdam are both
ports of British Guiana, the capitals of the
countries of Demerara md Berbice res
pPctively. Surinam is the neighbOuring
Dutch colony. A Portuguese firm pre-
tends to ship 500 cases Of duty paid gin to
New Amsterdam, and gets certificates &c.
from the Georgetown customs to that
effect. In reality, however, the schooner
goes out empty, and meets at sea another
schooner with 800 cases Of gin from Surf
nam, which of course has paid no duty.
These she takes on board, and lands at
New Amsterdam, under cover of the
Georgetown papers, as duty paid, tn us
escaping q duty of $3.50 per gallon, say in
all about $4,000. The Surinam schoonerin
the meanwhile manages to lose her papers,
which doubtless would have revealed the
awkward fact that she ought to have had
800 cases of gin on board, and then runs
into Georgetown. The Customs authori-
ties in the meanwhile get some informa-
ton, and both vessels are seized. The
fine against the offending firm we are told
has been laid at $4,000. From a later
number of the ArgOsy it appears that this
large sum includes fines for other offences
which have later come to light, and the
writer in the Argosy thinks that part of it
will have to be abandoned from want of
all Fl Einuf nvidoOco