

INDIES. 



deficits in Antigua ami St. Kitt-. notwithstanding 



.indaiil s ami labor riotfl in the lal- 



\cnMiicnts of tin- Windward 



I-la:. --lit and tluit of llarbadocs in 



financial diilicultu--. notwithstanding --v-i 



:<d aii incrva- t 1 i.'ii. The 



bttudonmanl of sugar estates m >t. Vincent ha. I 



announced. and cultivation wa- U-ini: n-duced 



nnidad and uith scrioiiH rapidity in Briti-h 



(ttiiana. involving the lorn of capital in\-t-l in 



machinct seemed t. I- 



f an alternative md raking the 



place "f -ui;ar cultivation in Briti-h (tuiana r 



llarladoes. when- a large amount of capital \va- in- 



vested. and if tliis industry were aband ...... 1 the 



coolie- in tin- former colony ami tin- negroes in tin- 

 latter would N- thrown on tin- hands of an in-o|\ent 

 Administration. which would be unable to provide 

 !ii-ir rejMitriation in the one case, although 

 bound by conn ^., or for their support or 



immigration in the other case. The circum-i 



analogou- on 



a smaller scale. The banking establishments in 

 the v\est Indie- were involved in the sugar indus- 

 try to -ii -i. that a collapse of that indu>- 



try would bring about a d;-.i-: r-.u- financial cri-i-. 

 in the outlook lay in the fa<-t 

 that the sugar industry employ* far more lal>or per 



.an any jossible subst it'ute. and that ii" p -- 



abetitata was iminediately available: that 

 the n-velille i|e|>enilc(l direct |y oil t he iliilnsl v 

 that the administrations were liable to be fiiian- 

 rially cnpple<l. when they would le Mihjectcd to 

 the greatest strain: and t neral failure <>f 



etnpIoMiient could be confidently expected to pro- 

 dim*. if not immediate rioting; at least a \.iy 

 .nid unstable >iluat ion. in which more 

 effldfiu |M>li>.- arraiiu'etii'-nts than .-\i-t.-d in the 

 majority of the Mauds and |K>ssibly the pr. - 

 of tnMip or shi|s of war, mi^ht ! necessary to 

 maintain <nler. The iHisition of affairs had bd- 



-. -M-rious that >lr. ('liainlxTlain wa< unwill- 



to acqttieace longer in the policy (f noninter- 



ird to the siipir b. unities without 



Mudying the probable cost to the liritish exchei|iier. 



and without knowing a-, dearly as po>->il.l.- a t what 



miirht IK- tc, the welfare" and stability of the 

 Went Indian colonies and to industries in which 

 English capital was largely inv.-t.-l. The Kn-li-h 

 OoTeniment had not pressed a bill introduced in 

 1S80 to give effect t., the sugar-l)ounti<'> conv.-ntion 



reason that these bounties gave a snl>st a n- 

 tialal vantage to certain Rritish indu-trirs. It had 



.iieMioii Whether the continued eli- 



' tin* advantage did not involve the ruin 

 British pagMvprodiieiiiff ooloniec, The n.-w 

 ..in.-xport boaoties were from . 



a tor, h bounty was already equivalent to 



a gmnt ,,f f;j : M . a t..n. and by the new law thi* 

 DOaOtT wa- rai-vl to f.| KM. a fon. Tl, 

 these libeml bounties and of the pn,te-ti\e . u-t.-ms 

 lull.-* and the exci^. duty which is flO a ton in 

 T "1 ' wa-. to make 



jHigar 3d. or 3^. cheaper in Knland than it was 

 on the Continent 



Th. .rr-d in >lr. Chamberlain's 



pr-. fr.it j..|i f.. r I . which wa> ap- 



j^int.Hi in December. I-.*;. , ,. sir 



11-nry Norman, .-hi. f comn 3i r h... 



vid BarUnir and S,r Kdward (trey. Th.- < -o,n- 

 1 the colon ien and made an 

 elaborate rqiort. which wa fawned on > 

 DuiDg the tift. t, whieli I'M- manufacture 



of beet sugar in Kuro| M - hiul IH-. n rapidly .: 

 oped under the Uunty system. whi< h cost ih- 

 payersof Germany. France, and A . I _::J.<MMHMM 

 a year to maintain, the world's production of sugar 



had risen from 8,790 JMM torn in 18 : i. 



i"ii-. and prices had fallen from ',!!>. 1 Jv to 1 I. ?.'-. per 



hundredweight for ivfineilainl from 'ji.i.v to i 

 tor nnreflned iugar. In the >ame period the c.^i 



of priNliietioii had l.ceii reduced in I'.ritish (iuiana. 

 theprinci "ai^in^ colonx. frmn I' Hi ; 



a ton to I'll and in s,.nn> e\crpt i..nal ca^cs 



. a ton. The world'- product i. .n of -iiL'ar had 

 dmililed in fifteen \car-.luil that of the \\V-l In- 

 ilie- hail not increased in the >ame ju-oport ion. At 

 the -ame time the a l of production had 



reduced to half what it formerlv \sa>. but 

 only the most advanced ..f the \Ve-t I'mlian 



ede.l in hah in;: tin- 



Not all the colonies are de|iendelll oil 

 (lusively for their prosperity. Jamaica and Trini- 

 dad have ther economic reeOOrOeS, Up-nada ha- 



already given u|> Uie production -f m| 



j'ort. and the export from hominica ha- b.-i-n 

 .y reduced. The commi imicr- foiiml the 

 condition of things in the su.i:ar colonie- \n\ 

 serious and rapidly approaching a cri-i-. They did 

 Hot believe that the abolit imi of t he boiilil \ -\ 



on the Continent ( .f Kurope \\ouid restore the West 



India industry t<. its former pro-perity. They h. - 

 lieved. however, that it would render possible the 

 maintenance of a large proportion of the piv-ent 



>f cane cull i\al i"ii. and ad\i>ed the (iovern- 

 ment to aim at t he abolit ion. e\ en at -..me sacrifice. 

 In British (iuiana and Barbadoe-. where the -oil is 



n'oiially favorable for the production of rich 

 Cane, and where the latest pr<".--'- and the I.e-i 

 machinery are already employed, ..nly a few e-iates 

 can now manage to make both end- meet. In the 

 bulk of the colonies the ^o\ eminent - will -..on be 



Uliable to Ilieet the ab-ollltely llece ;,ry eXpellSi 



administration, to provide for the Interesl in their 



del. is, pensions, even the maintenance of thej r 



and the wages of the police, Thecommi i-n. 

 pre ed the decided opinion that the mother count ry 

 must submit to sacrifices in one shape or another 



in In-half of the colonie-. The I',riti-h (Jover -nt 



stands under a direct moral responsibility for the 

 black population, brought originally to the Mands 

 as slaves. The establishment of 'the negroes as 

 small landowners, the introduction <f n- \\ oropfl 

 by the aid of botanic station-, the improvement 

 of communications between the i-land-. and the 

 encouragement of the fruit trade with NI-W V..rk 

 were the pallia' ted. for which the Bril- 



i-h (invernment wa- advi-e.| to contribute 

 000 a year f<r ten years, with a further ^rant of 

 20,000 a year for five year- to enable the colonial 

 government! to meet th'eir ordinary expenditure, an 

 immediate -;rant of 60,000 to clear off the Moating 

 ilcbts of some of the -mailer islands and one of 

 00 for the Settlement of the laboring popula- 

 tion on the land. Sir Henry Norman pr.ipo-.eil to 

 meet the bounties with a countervailing duty, mak- 

 ing siiL'sir perhaps a halfj.enny a poiiml 

 the British consumer. The other connni 

 did not join in this recommendation. The po] 



f the State- of the American I'liioii t.. en- 

 ouraL'e the <-ulti\ation of the sugar b'et th 

 ened the -UL r ar coh.nies with a n.-w danger, for the 

 Tnited States are the principal market for \Ve-t 

 Indian sugar. At tlie sii^L'e-tion of \\'e-t Indian 

 planters and proprietors, the liriti-h (Jovernment 

 in-triicteil its ambassador at \Va-hi: 

 tain the views of the t'nited States (Jovernment in 



i to reciprocity trade relati.i n tli- 



I'.riti-h \\'e-t Indian colonie- and the l'ii 

 under the dau-e of the Din^ley tariff bill bv which 

 a reduHion of 20 per cent, on the import duties 

 in the I'nitcd States may be obtained in exchange 

 'luivalmt remissions f duties on American 



- lv 



