The record-union., 1896-12-20
A Commissioner Appointed to Inquire
Into the Matter.
Great Interest at London Attached to
the Coming Appointment OF an
American ambassador to the Court
of st. James-The Queens Great
Reign Jubilee May Include a Tour
by Her Majesty Through ireland
and Scotland.

LONDON, Dec. 19.-The Colonial Of
flee has appointed General Sir Henry
Wylie Norman, Sir David Barbour and
Sir Edward Grey, NJ. p, as a commits
sion to inquire into the critical condi-
ton Of the sugar industry in the Brit
ish West Indies.
General Norman was Governor of ia
maica from 1888 to 1888, and has a
wide knowledge of the conditions gov
erning the trade of the West Indies. Sir
David Barbour has served in different
capacities under the East Indian Gov
ernment. Sir Edward Grey, who is a
Liberal, was Parliamentary Secretary
of the Foreign Office from 1892 to 1895.
The British West Indian sugar plant
ers claim that the industry has been
nearly ruined by the bounty system Of
continental countries, which allows beet
root sugar to be put down in Great
Britain at price which defies the COM
petition of British growers They favor
the placing of countervailing duties on
continental sugar, or the calling of an
international conference to arrange for
aboliShing the bountieS on beet root
sugar.
THE TURKISH QUESTION.
There has been no lessening of inter-
est in political circles regarding the
Turkish question, and so far as known
there has been no change in the situa-
ton since the return to Constantinople
from St Petersburg of NJ. Nelidoff, the
Russian ambassador. The only au-
thentic news that has reached the For
eign Office here is that Immediately
after his arrival in Constantinople Nell
ambassador, and Sir Philip Currie the
British Embassador. He afterward was
given a formal reception by the Sultan
The subject of their conversation has
not transpired. but it is known that the
Anglo-Russian proposals were not men
toned to his majesty These will not
be laid before the Sultan until after a
conference between the ambassadors of
the six great Powers-Great Britain,
Russia, France, Germany, Austria and
Italy.
In the meantime all the ambassadors
are opposed to a policy of force. The
negotiations between the Powers as to
the method of enforcing their demands
upon the Sultan are still pending and it
is scarcely possible that any practical
solution will be arrived at until after
the Christmas holidays.
QUEENS JUBILEE.
The report that the Queen will go to
Dublin and Belfast in May prior to the
London celebrations is at least prema-
ture. The programme of the Great
Reign Jubilee is not to be settled till
early in the spring. 1t is said in court
circles that the Queen desires to repeat
her first tour in Ireland, going thence to
the Clyde and Glasgow. The question
is. would the emotions so aroused by re-
vival of memories, apart from possible
physical fatigue, not be too much for
her?
BAYARD'S SUCCESSOR.
Never has such intense interest at
tached to the coming appointment of
an American ambassador to the court
of S. James. Senator Lodge, Whitelaw
Reid, Joseph Choate, Colonel John Hay,
and Chauncey M. Depew are all men,
toned, and it ought to be said that any
one of them will be welcomed by the
American colony. If Senator Lodge be
rather an Anglophobist, he would be
esteemed as balancing the Bayard Pc
riod of effusive sentimentality over in
ternational relations. Regarding the
other possible nominees, American and
British opinion have no shade of diff