308 TlMEHRI, 
at the rate of 2,500 tons per month. This is probably 
the maximum of what the English market can take, at 
a price which the planter finds equal to that which he 
can obtain for refining crystals in the United States. 
But how about the balance of the crop, and especially the 
large quantity which is marketed from the middle of 
September to the end of December and estimated to 
reach 65,000 to 70,000 tons? If all of this were to go 
to England in the shape of yellow crystals, I should 
like to ask at what sacrifice of price could it be sold ? I 
would name 1/6 per cwt. as the lowest reduction when 
compared with the price at which the limited quantity 
can be sold. We value the average crop of this colony 
at about 120,000 tons. A rough estimate of the gain to 
the colony by reciprocity with the United States 
would therefore amount to at least $720,000 per annum. 
The misfortunes under which our sugar industry has 
laboured during the first six months of this year, are there- 
fore not attributable to the McKinley Tariff — which in 
itself is the cause of an enormously increased consump- 
tion in the United States— nor to the Reciprocity Treaty 
with that country, but to the exceptionally bad season 
and the consequent short crop. 
I would point out to the opponents of this treaty that 
most of our planters continue to avail themselves of it in- 
stead of seeking a better market elsewhere. Surely our 
planters are fully alive to their interest, and will get the last 
cent a cwt. out of their produce. They evidently find it 
comparatively more profitable ; and I have already stated 
the figure at which 1 estimate — I think very moderately — 
the annual profit to the whole sugar industry of this 
colony. 
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