PROBLEMS OF EMPIRE.
justification under the special circumstances for the grants recommended by the Royal Commission, I am strenuously opposed to dealing out doles of Imperial money, because such a policy is an inadequate remedy, and because it will tend to sap the energies and self-dependence of the people and the government of the Colonies concerned. The question before us is, Are British subjects to be ruined by artificial competition? Attempts have been made and failed to secure the abolition of bounties; the only remaining course is for the British Government to impose countervailing duties on bounty - fed sugar. The British people have made great sacrifices in order to abolish slavery; they would do the same again for a great object. The sacrifice involved in the present case is small.
British moral responsibility for the West Indian people.If by the imposition of a duty to checkmate the policy of France and Germany the price of sugar is raised to the extent of 2l. a ton, it would mean less than a farthing a pound to the consumer, but a great deal to the West Indian producer. If that sacrifice is too great, it might be met with a lessened duty on tea. Already the Canadian people have realised the injustice done to the West Indies by bounty-fed Continental sugar, and have taken action to counteract it. Allow me to quote from a letter just received from a well-known Canadian. 'We have,' he writes, 'succeeded in getting our Government to give the West Indies a preference in our market. We had free sugar before; now we are paying hard cash to help the Empire.' The British people must remember that they have great responsibilities in regard to the West Indies. The negro population was brought to those
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