, 1891-12-09


Tariff Act, and levying a duty upon the sugars
of this Colony, this Court consents To- revi-
sion of the Colonial tariff to take efectsfrom
the close Of the financial year on the 31st day
of March next, or from such other date as
may be agreed upon, on the basis that no
duties levied on goods imported into this
Colony, with the exception of Spirits, Wines
Tobacco, Opium, Gambia, Bhang, Charas
and similar preparations, shall exceed an ad
valorem duty of Is per cent or a specific
duty calculated as the equivalent of such ad
valorem duty.
The Hon. B. b. Jones, supported by Mr..
j d. Smith, the city Financial Representa-
tive, urged that as d preliminary to entering
on the discussion of this subjecG the Govern
ment should first be in d position to state
definitely what tho dem lnls OF the United
States Government were.
His excellpncy explained that the Govern
ment here had not been at fault, and so anxious
were they at Washington to know the opinion
OF the Court that his Instructions were to tele.
graph the decision to England. The questions
he had submitted to the court had been sug-
gested by the United States Government in the
course of, and as a preliminary to. the negotia-
tions which had recently been undertaken by .
Her Majesty's Government, and whatever an
swer was returned by this colony would doubt
less not end the matter. The suggestion was
whether the Court was prepared to negotiate
on the basis of the 1884 proposal, or whether
other proposals should be made.
The elective members did not seem disposed
to agree to the Governors proposal that the
Court, after hearing the views of the Govern.
ment, should adiourn until next day, but
after some discussion the standing orders were
suspended, and
Ill., H. A. a. Oo~Lo-. 1880 AI.n -"
abled to move the resolution Of which he had
given notice, which he did by reading a set
speech occupying over half-an-hour in delivery.
Sir Charles presumed that the West Indian
colonies generally had had communicated to
them the subst ance of Lord Knutsford's des-
patch, that they would act upon it mainly from
the point of view of their own interests, on
which it would be for the Imperial Government
to determine a definite arrangement mutual
acceptable to these colonies and the United
States, and that before the embodiment of any
such definite arrangement in a convention or
treaty, it would be submitted to the colonial
legislatures interested. The first and second
propositions contained in the resolution, he
admitted to be devoid of controversial points,
and as to the first the hon. member said it was
considered worthy of being put in the forefront
ofthe formal negotiations because it had already
been Informally brought before the American
Government. In reference to the second pro-
position, the gist of Sir Charles Bruce's argu-
ment was that any scheme adopted now with a
view to the replacement of duties sacrificed to-
secure the free admission of our sugars into
the United States market would be liable to
be upset before 31st March next. SpeakingG
to the third proposition, he stated that as com.
pared with the old United States tariff the
Mckinley Act would give our sugars an ad-
vantage of about $40 per ton if entered on the
free list, and of about So per ton in the event
of the suspension clauses being enforced against
this Colony. The question for the Court
to consider was whether it would adopt the
proposals for 1884, which it was estimated
would represent a loss of revenue of about
$780, 600 per annrim or whether it would adopt
the alternative scheme contained il the third
proposition of the resolution, and which
would result in a decrease Of duties OH, prin-
cipally, keorosine and other oils, flour, hams;
bread and biscuits, matches, sperm, candles,
timed meats, milk, pickles, preserved vegeta-
bles, essences, soap, starch, tallow,a and vine-
gar An ad uaiorsm duty of Is per cent or
its equivalent in specific rates, together with
the retention of duties on wines and spirits &c
would give a gross Customs revenue of 8 l,546
900 as compared with ST., 10000 0 under the
existing tariff But assuming, as was intend
ed, that Is per cent should be a maximum
resulting in an all round average of II per