The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-07-21 00:00:00

BRITISH GUIANA

Extract from the Minutes of the Proceedings of the Direc-
tors of the Voluntary Subscription Emigration Society,
held at the Public Buildings, in Georgetown, Demarara.
Monday, March 2, Ig4o.
•

The Board resolved that the following answers to the
questions contained in the letter of Messrs.-Peck and Price,
be communicated to those gentlemen.
L Will the emigrants from the United States have the pri-
vilege to choose their employers, without restraint or draw-
back for passage-money, &c.?
Answer.—Emigrants arriving here from the United States
or elsewhere, ars free to select their employers. They will
be superintended by the government emigration agent, whose
duty it will be to aid them, when they desire it, in the selec-
tion ; to give them every information as to the localities of
the colony, the rate of wages, the nature of the employment,
and all other matters in which they are interested.

The passage money and expenses of maintenance during
the voyage, will be paid for by this society, for all labouring
emigrants, whether agricultural or mechanical, and no draw-
back for them, in any way whatever, will be made.
2. What do the society think of the plan of cultivating
canefields on shares, viz., to give over the fields after being
cut—the undertakers to keep up the cultivation, and deliver
the canes at the works ?

Answer.—The plan here suggested his the society's entire
approbation.
3. What portion of the produce should the undertakers
receive as reward ?

Answer.—The society have to observe that the proportion
of the produce to be given to the cultivators, would, in the
first place, depend on the arrangement to be entered into
between them and the proprietor of the land ; which arrange-
ment, in the second place, will materially depend on the na-
ture of the soil, the state of the cultivation, the condition of
the drainage, and other local circumstances of the estate. The
society, therefore, cannot declare the proportion definitely,
but they give their opinion, that not less than one-third of
the gross produce of the land would be the remuneration to
the cultivators. The proprietor, however, should have the
option of paying the value thereof, in money, at cash market
price or according to arrangement.
4. If undertaking new fields, what quota should be re-
ceived ?

Answer.—Not less than half of the gross produce for the
first crop, and one-third for the succeeding crops. These
remunerations to be free of deductions.

5. Should the undertaker wantadvances in money, on what
terms could he procure it ?
Answer.—The Board observes that, in their opinion, no
difficulty would arise in procuring advances of money from
time to time from the proprietor, having reference to the
progress in quality and quantity of the work undertaken ;
but this would also form a part of the arrangement between
the cultivator and proprietor.
6. Should emigrants bring out with them their house fur-
niture, and provisions for their own use, will the same be
subject to duty ? If so, please present us with a tariff, &c.
Answer.—Beds and bedding and cooking utensils, would
be considered passengers' baggage, and not liable to duty.
With regard to household furniture and provisions, the board
directs the following tariff of Queen's duty on articles from
the United States, and a list of those free of duty, to be fur-
nished to the delegates.
Household furniture, 15 per cent. ad val. Flour, ss. per
brl. Beef, pork, hams and bacon, 12s. per cwt. Sausages
7i per cent. ad val. Cheese and butter 15 per cent. ad val.
Corn, meal, biscuit, pease, beans, potatoes, corn, oats, hay,
rice, fresh vegetables, fresh fruit, horses, cattle, sheep,
feathered stock, free of duty. Salt fish prohibited altogether.
(A true extract.) THOMAS BAGOT, Secretary.
It may not be amiss to give you what information we ga-
thered as to the amount of sugar that an acre will produce on
land that has been in cultivation for thirty or forty years,
without manuring. The estimated amount is from 2550 lbs.
to 3400 lbs. and at the prices it brought to the planter at the
time we were there, was from 6to 7 dollars per hundred. At
the lowest quantity and price, it would yield 153 dollars per
acre. At the largest amount, 3400 lbs. at 7 cents., it would
yield 238 dollars ; besides the rum and molasses ; which, at
the prices it was then. bringing, say from 30 to 40 cents. per
gallon, (taking the average quantity and price to the acre,)
would be about 60 dollars more •, and thirty hands can keep
up the cultivation of 100 acres. Now we think the agricul-
turist has everything to gain and nothing to lose.
Labourers about the wharfs and shipping, can earn 1 dollar
per day throughout the year.
Brick and potters' clay are to be found everywhere in the
greatest abundance. The bricks now in use (which are
imported) are worth 20 dollars per thousand. There are no
potteries in the'colony, nor did we see any stone-ware while
there. _

1.•.• B
-oat builders and wood-cutters are in much demand, as
••...
well as those who understand sawing ship-timber, &c.
Washwomen, nurses, and sernpstresses are in demand, and
1 dollar per dozen is paid for washing clothing.
It may not be unacceptable to the reader tolearniiihnelf.
the prices
of some articles, that he may know how to govern
House rent, about 100 per cent higher than in Baltimore.
Furniture, about the same. Flour from.ll to 13 dollars per
barrel. Hams, from 16 to 20 cents per pound. Veal and
mutton very scarce ; 25 to 30 cents per pound. Fresh pork,
20 to 25 cents per pound, scarce. Beef, 16 cents, and plenty.
Butter, from 50 to 60 cents per pound. Coffee 25 to 30 cents
per pound. Tea, Ito 2 dollars per pound. Brown sugar,
16 cents per pound. Rice, 50 cents per gallon. Sperm
candles, 67 cents per pound. Dipped, 16 to 20 cents per
pound. Chickens, Ito 1 dollar 50 cents per pair. Geese,
2t2 dollars 50 cents each. Turkeys, from 3to 5 dollars
each.
Vegetables, such as grow in this country, very high.
The prices of all the above articles are by retail ; but in-
stead of the high prices being a disadvantage, we look upon
them as a decided advantage to the enterprising producer;
for it is the scarcity of those articles, such as fowls, &c., that
cause those hightipornices. Let there be a sufficient number to
and our word for it
turn their attention
money,clot
h ianngdobf reivnegriiyns gd:teod.stohc.feuynedasnhninogt
fa fail Nose
to articles
succeed
nmarket,iaking
Tinnpttiohene
Fuel, in town,as low as is cheaper than in this country.
8 cents
of the poorest ; is sold
it
easnworth, and is only used for
at many places,
cooking. On plantations,
thee had for the trouble of
cutting it. Therefore, althoughhigh prices of various
articles of food, may, at the first glanc,toappear discouraging
to the emigrant, yet we do not hesitate to that they
eon the
fsne7. are reduced even below the level of in this Country,
when we consider that in Guiana, the labourers
plan-
tation, have neither house-rent, doctors'chaor
school-
ing for his children to pay ; while the expense saved,
and the cost of clothing diminished more than one-half.
But in order to give a clear and distinct view of the colony
and its resources, let us imagine a large and extensive coun-
try, with the most luxuriant soil, capable of producing every-
thing that grows in a tropical region, and that all the cultiva-
tion is confined to the borders of the sea-coast, or along the
margin of three mighty rivers.
The first in order, and the largest and most, important, is