, 1891-01-17

very cUncluSlVSfy CndU I'd enter 1utO Cne plO~,
posed treaty with the Dominion would be
to sh1nt ourselves off the maiu line Of com
meTcial traffic. Dealing Will the kernel of
Mr.Foster's hribe, the $3.50 'liferential in
favour of West Indian sugars, Sir John.
points out, what we did not lose sight of
when we commented on the proposals.
three weeks past, that the benefit would be
q small one ~ the beat, aud one hat Would
Or limited to the lower grades OF raw
sugars, suitable for the Canadian ~retnerS.
WHO under The present protective regime.
are fast growing rich. The duty on sugar
III the Dominion is 84 is Id, per ton. and
deducting the concessions If $3.50, the dulN
Wouid he 80 l8s. so thai any rryStaihzpo
sNgaJ8 from the West IndIes would have 10
= with the local |rrluerS undrra hanii- :
cap of 1892 per ton. This, as Sir john saws, Z
sis virtually q prOhihltory duty upon our
beautiful Demtrarl crystals, and COM
"Pels the people of Canada 10 buy the sugar
'Iedned In Canada ar TO eat MnscovndO;
- epIiVe3 them OF an excellent household
'Ffiicie whlch many would prefer to re-
"hUfd sugar (~refnerS sugar e and ~leSsena
'tAa trade both in the way of those oareoes
themselves and also in the cargOes of Ca.
"nadian produce which would go 10 pur-.
"chase these high class RugarS.' The.
longer the offer is contemplated the clearer .
NUNS 'lH AuNtSHluO@ uCc uCCoIIl0. n III uST0 :
again we shall quote the Trinidad ecouo,
MIST 81
For this trihing concession he wishes M !
to tie up our handS III entangliug arrange
ments with him and to Offend our best Gus
toners by laying heavier taxes upon tieh,
than We do upon Canadian producers. He !
wishes us for example, to put Il tax on cat
tie coming from VenezQcll, our next door
neighbour, aud to admit those of Canada
either free or e. snch a = 1allrr duty, as
would shut out Venezuelan cattle He
wishes uS to raise the price Of sugar'by put.
ting - tax npon the coal from SwanSea, III
order that we may put a less tax or admit
free the coal Of PictOu in Nova Scotia. Ar
such proposals ara simply III uk I0nsenSe.''
After thoroughly demoIishing the Cana,
dian arguments, Sir John turns his. atten-
ton to tue Mckinley bill and reminds his
readers that 1892 will soon be- here, anil
that it would be wise to have, the position
with the United States cleared OF all mis-
understandings before that time. otherwise
the President might fnd reason to. plaza
Trinidad amongst the countries whose
tariffs act disa dvaMtageonSly upon Ancri-
can interests. We in pemerara who arc
similarly situated had better lay this eau.
ton to heart and consider at once what IN
necessary to be done under the cirCum
stances. Sir JOhu advocates the totalyaho-
htiOn OF the duty on all brradStuffS, which
is becoming eDOugh in II Frre-tradtr, bpt
we notice that those who suggest this
Wholesale destruction of he revenue never
suggest any remedy TOR restoring the lost
financial balance. We TO not see that
there is amy need to interfere with our own
present import tariff, for II il neither prohl.
hitlve nor protective in auy Que particul.9
if we except perhaps the uuimportant item
Gf matches. 1t is a tariff formed. purely for
revenue purposes, and II it il TO be rem0y,
ed, some means III taxing those who at
present contribute 70 the revenue only
through this meaDs will have TO he pro-
vided. To suggest an Income tax for
the working classes would be absurd and
a head-tax would provoke - riot. The
import duty falls lightly on everybody
it benefits no one. person in the -eOmmuni-
ty 10 the disadvantage of another aud itx
removal wOnld not increase the ippVtts
of -four and other breadstutfs to the extent
Of a barrel. What has to he lone is tn
lay these facts befc-e the United States in
o formal manner, 2 ID get them recognised ;
and We believe this to bP possible. But il
must be done at Once if We are to escape
the risk of exclusion after the nine months
unqueStiOned traffic under the new tariff,
which the Mckinley Bill allows us. Already
in Trinidad the planters have taken
2-s~A