New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1844-11-09


In Antigua; from twenty to twenty-five cents
per task two could be completed BY one or two
o'c'ock IN the afternoon, which was generally
done.
In Barbados, the propr;etois allow thirty
cents per day, de9ucting ten cents for rent of
houses, grounds &c.. This rent IL taken from
every working member of the family who may
inhsbit the cottage; the husband, wife, and
children who labor, paying equal rent This
onerous exaction caused many difficulties and
heart hurniDgs. The cottage with four working
inmates paying four times more rent than one of
equal condition where the husband of the family
inaabiting is tie only Iaburer.
| In Trinidad, fifty cents per task was given
| This task could be completed By the industrious
! lahorers by nocn. Two tasks, and even three
sometimes, were performed during toe day, by
the more industrious. Houses and grounds
furnished rent free, with the privilege of keeping
COWS, swine, poult'y, &c. Emigrants from inc
United States, in addition to these money
wages, were furnished with re,ions of flour,
pork, fish, sugar, moiasses, and often, with rum
and with medical attendance. These rations
varied upon different estates.
During crop time the workmen at the mills
and boiling houses generally receive from SEVEN
ty cents 10 one dollar per day, with allowance
OF sugar and moIasses.
Americans contracting to do road work are
we'll paid,-s high as eleven dollars per one
hundred feet having been allowed. This, in
some instances, has been let out 10 sub contract
ors, who can generally finish one hundred feet
der day. for which they receive three dollars.
About thirty Americans are now employed at
these high wages, on the road near San Fer
nando.
On Orange Grove, estate of VIM. H. Burnley,
sixty cents per task is paid generally one
performed within the day and during crop,
from seventy cents to one. dollar per day at
the mills and boiling house.
Wages, it will be perceived by the above
statements. were high, and these rates were
paid throughout the colony. Rations were not
furnished the native leborers, unless it was an
allowance of rum, which has been serious evil.
The Americans, to their credit, very frequently
refused the rum,-receiving provisions in its
stead.
These wages are now considered enormously
high, and yet the task has been regulated BY
what slave was formerly considered able to do;
thus furnishing striking example of the advant.
ages of free and paid labor over the unreeuted
labor of slaves. Under the present system they
must necessarily diminish; competition will soon
reduce the rate of wages in Trinidad to the gen.
eral standard on the other Islands.
In Jamaica, our stay being short, we had op-
portunity of making but few enquiries. Wages
vary some on this Island. When task work is
performed, from twenty to twenty five cents is
allowed two of these can be accomplished dur
ing the day. For cottages and grounds rents
are generally charged rating about fifty cents per
week.
The levying of rents for cottages, &c. with
electments for non- conformity to employers
erms, have been the principal causes of dssatis-
these difficulties have, in most instances, been
adjusted, and prospect OF increasing satisfaction
| is exhibited among ell parties concerned.
Eighth-Have crimes increased or dinlin.
ished?
From examinations made of the prison records
| in nearly all the Islands, and from testimony
| given by judges, magistrates, and others con-
cerDed we have the pleasing Information TO give,
| that crimes have greatly diminished since eman-
cipation. Most of The commitments were for
petty thefs, and assaults and batteries among the
laborers.
Ninth.-Is standing army found as necessary
now as it was before emancipation
No regular standing army can be said to be
kept up on any of the Islands, having reference
to security from the laborers, since emancipation
AT Barbados and Jamaica troops are quartered,
but on these Islands there are military and naval
depots for operations connected with the General
Government, and not particularly for internal
colonial security. The trained, town and rural
police, which were established on several Islands,
and continucd after emancipation, IN anticipa-
ton of difficulties, were found Unnecessary
They have since been curtaied TO small force,
or discontinued.
Isnth.-Is it supposed that the intellectual
and moral condition of The colored population be
fore emancipation was superior 10 that oil the
slaves In Maryland and Virginia?
From observations made III travelling through
parts of Mary land and Virginia, we should sup
pose, in general, that me moral and intellectual
character of the slaves YVES in advance OF the
West India laborers. In Antigua opportunities
for moral and intellectual culture had been afford
cd freely for several years before emancipation by
several religious sects. In Trinidad they are ev-
identity far behind. Emlgrants who have gone
from Maryland and Virginia, are considered IN
Trinidad far in advance, in these respects, OF the
native laborers. II
Elepenth-Has there been any decided I'M
provement in the social, moral, and religious COLI
dition of the population !,
1t was the universal testimony of the school
and religious teachers, the planters end Hagls-
trales, and those having opportunities Tor ooser-
walton, that great improvement has taken place !;
and rom the active cxer,ioDs that are now max
ing, this improvement viii unqueslionabiy con-
| tnue 10 manifest itself.
| Schools are being established throughout all
the islands worship houses are being erected to
accommodate the numbers that have attached
themselves to religious congregations; beneficial
societies are formed (; marriages are now general
" solemnized; the duties of husband and wife,
OF parents and children, ere being better under
stood and, in general, the social condition IS
improving, and has, up 10 the present PERIOD
vastly improved, from its low state found undsr
slavery.
West Indies wish to expatriate the emancipated
slaves, in order to supply their places with white
| laborers }
| No.
TAirteenth-Are there any other circumstan-