New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-03-02

n I
| food. which under the Slavery system were
largely imported, are coming INTO competii'" Win
| the business Of sugar planting
II i, true that great improvements have,
in the mean time, been made in the business Of
sursr.erovipg. Under the old regime, neither
plantations nor slaves could BE- seized for deos
and the planter, thus protected, was enabled 70
linger along though he lacked the capltA necessary
| to vigorous cultivation. With emancipation taa'
| system has been ch,nged, and the plantations are
| no longer in the hands mainly Of insolvents. Inc
reces,ity of paying wages weekly in money has
taught the planters promptitude, calculation snd
| foresight unknown before. aud the necessity OF
economizing labor has led to the introduction OF
| improved tool, aud processes. From this cause
the marke. value Of plantations, especially under
| the impulse Of the recent prices of sugar nas
greatly risen. Still, with the competition between
the small cultivation and the sugar cultivation, the
sugar crop does not 60 back to the amount pro-
duced when the whole labor of the islands was de-
voted to that product alone. The falling OIL ["
| generslly estimated at about third. It's to en-
able them to meet this state of the case that the
| French West India planters call 30 loudly Tor
| supply Of immigrant lsbor-of the advantages TO
| be derived from which the Island of Reunion e1-
hibts remarkable proof
That island, during the first two years Of emanc'
patton, suffered the same inconvenience with Mar.
| Unique and Guadaoupe though not to the same
degree. But in the third year having initiated the
example of the neshboriDg English island Of
| Mauritius in importing cody emiersnts from India,
the crop went back to the old level In the course
Of 1851, this colony received 81 900 of these emf
grants. and by 1855 the number in the island had
risen to So, 900. To speak Of these coolies as no
better than slaves as is sometimes done, is absurd
Whatever may be the case in Cuba, where they are
| thrown into the midst of a slave population IN
Reunion where the free-labor system exists, no
such thing is possible. The cody is brought IN
| under ndentures TO serve for FIVE years, with
right, at the end of that time, to free passage
home. Previous to his embarkationi in India, which
takes place at the French ports Of Presidency and
Karikoul, after bis arrival at Reunion during the
period of his service and after the close of it, he 10
under the special supervision Of Government officers
appointed for bis protection. The cody Is lodged
fed. clothed-the last but small matter in that eli
mste-by his employer, and receives payment in
money of twelve francs and half month, or hall
franc (about nine cents) for each days labor-a
| small amount to u.s. but large one in his eyes, and
which he carefully buries in the ground, to be dug
up when, at the end of five years, he goes home
with what seems to him little fortune Some,
however, choose TO remain and to enter on second
term. In consequence of this free supply Of Indian
labor, the planters of Reunion have had no interest
in putting obstacles in the way of the acquisition OF
land by their late slaves, much larger pro.
portion of whom than in the West Indies
have become cultvatOrs on their own &C.
count. Indeed, this large increase Of pop
ustiOn has opened many new sources OF occu-
patton other than plantation lahore. Manwhile,
however the crop Of sugar has risen to double the
amount it ever was in the time Of Slavery, and Re-
union already boosted of as having replaced for
France under the auspices of free labor the lost
st. Domingo. The ndenture of cody for five
years is at present worth more than the average
amount allowed by way of compensation for the
late slaves, having risen from 800 francs, the sum
originally paid, to 800 or 1000
These results of plentiful supply of labor have
naturally excited the envy of the West India
plonters especially those of Guiana, which having
very small population Of only some 1900, and
vast extent of unoccupied SOIL has naturally suf-
fered more than any of the other French colonies
from the withdrawal of the negroes from plan
tation labor to lands of their own. limited
number of coolies has been brought to the
French West Indies, but the English author.
ties in India have put obstacles in the way
of this distinct transportation not experienced
in obtaining labor for Reunion. In fact the article
from which we have drawn the above statements
represents the recent contracts for the importation
to the French colonies of ten thousand negroes, to
be purchased, if not otherwise attainable, on the
coast of Africa, as sort Of pacific reprisal on Great
Britain, for the obstacles put in the way of Cody
emigration. The planters, it is stated, and the
Colonial Administration, would much prefer Coolies,
were they to be had. To put stop to this African
enterprise, the English have only to withdraw the
obstacles now placed in the way of Cody smisra-
ton.