THE WEST INDIES, ETC. BERMUDA. Keport of Consul Charles M. Allen. COMMERCE OF BERMUDA. The total imports into this colony for the year 1885 were $1,151,638.92, or $238,803.32 less than in 1884, a decline of over 20 per cent. The decline in imports from the United States was $124,845.64; from Great Britain $41,644.19; from British North America $44,161.46. The difference is partly the result of lower prices, but the excess in 1884 is largely due to the expenditure of $130,000 in enlarging hotels in that year, the material coming mostly from the United States. The statistics of commerce and navigation which follow exhibit the results from both ports of the islands. Most of the trade is carried on at Hamilton, which alone has commercial communication with the United States. The agent, at St. Georges, of the Cunard Line of Royal Mail Steamers plying between Halifax, St. Georges, and Jamaica, maintaining regular monthly communication between the first-named ports since 1850, has been notified by Messrs. S. Cunard & Co. that the steamer leaving Halifax on June 28, 1886, will be the last. The cause of the discontinuance of the service is the refusal of the British Government to renew the contract under which the line has received an annual subsidy of about £20,000. The Quebec Steamship Company, owning the vessels which ply between New York and Hamilton, has terminated its contract with the colony and given up the annual subsidy of about $10,000, preferring to continue the service without restriction from the colonial government. They lave notified the said government that they will not carry the mails from Bermuda after the 23d of June instant, except upon guarantee of £1,000 per annum for the service. The colonial legislature has refused to appropriate more than £500 per annum for the purpose. CHAS. M. ALLEN, UNITED STATES CONSULATE, Consul. Bermuda, June 22, 1-86. Statement showing the imports and exports between Bermuda and the United States during the year ending December 31, 1885. Statement showing the imports and exports between Bermuda and the United States during the year ending December 31, 1885-Continued. |