In  view  of  these  facts,  I  do  not  conceive  how  the  new  line  of  steam-
ers can  be  made  profitable  to  its  owners  so  long  as  Nassau  is  made  its
southern  terminus.  It  may  be  compelled  eventually  to  extend  its  route
to  Cuba  and  Jamaica,  where  perhaps  it  would  pay;  or,  failing  in  that,
the  owners  may  fall  back  upon  that  dernier  ressort  of  British  steamship
lines  generally, a  fat  subsidy  from  the  Imperial  Government.  In  neither
event,  however,  cau  I  see  how  the  mother  country  is  to  regain  its  lost
trade  with  the  Bahamas.
THOMAS  J.  McLAIN,  Jr.,  Consul

United  States  Consulate,

Nassau,  N.  P.,  May  27, 1880.
THE  DEVELOPMENT   OF   JAMAICA.
133


THE  EXPORTS  OF  JAMAICA  DURING  1879.
REPORT  BY  CONSUL  HOSKINSON,  OF  KINGSTON.
The  publication,  in  a  recent  number  of  the  Jamaica  Gazette,  the
official  organ  of  this  colony,  of  the  returns  of  exports  for  the  September
quarter  of  the  year  1878-79,  enables  me  to  compare  them  with  the  re-
turns for  the  preceding  year,  1877-78.  In  every  quarter,  except  the
first,  there  is  a  perceptible  gain;  the  figures  being,  respectively,  for —


December

March

June

September »..
Total


1878-'79.
$763,846  65
1, 839, 658  66
2,075,445  45
1, 374, 669  45


6,073,620  21


1877-'7&


$1, 124, 750  34

1,713,450  85

2,010,662  60

861,900  94


5, 710, 764  73


There  has  thus  been  an  increase  of  $362,855.48  in  the  latter  year.
