§ LORD G. BENTINCKasked the Under Secretary for the Colonies, whether he had any objection to lay on the table the official letter of the Mauritius Association addressed to him on Saturday last, giving a very different picture of the state of the colony from that with which the hon. Gentleman had favoured the House?
§ MR. HAWEShad not the least objection to lay a copy of that memorial on the table of the House; but he would now repeat, without the least qualification or alteration, the very answer he gave to the noble Lord on a former occasion. He wished to state that, considering the deep commercial pressure which was prevailing in that colony, the accounts last received, up to the 14th of February, were more favourable than could have been reasonably anticipated. He adhered to his former answer; and he was glad that the noble Lord gave him an opportunity of referring to the memorial in question, which, while attempting to contradict what he had stated to the House, only furnished additional reasons for crediting the correctness of his statement. The memorial stated that in February last the price of sugar was higher in the Mauritius than in the home market; and, admitting that to be an advantage to the planter, as no one could deny, it attempted to show that it only proved the 1065 distress of the colony; but of the mode in which that was done he would leave the House to judge when the document was produced. It also alluded to the financial state of the colony; but even after the great commercial pressure which had prevailed there, the financial state for the ensuing year was as favourable as it had been for the last.