, 1873-03-05

OF INTERPRETATIONS FOR THE
SUGAR ESTATES OF ST CROIX.
ITV5M Vouchers attached Mereto.)
(Contiuued.)

IH2h Vouchers attached mefeto.)
(Continued.)
Gd Ii.
With reference to this s, which is in keeping
with IS of The Regulations of IS49, we would
merely observe that we have only omitted
tradesmen because lh2ir position on the Estate
has not been defined in this Draft, as done in
IL Of The Regulations, the provisions of which
are unpracticable and have for a long time
been in disu-e;-and in accordance with WhGt
is the prevailing custom and habit (see
the Governments Resolution of 9TH February
1S49l we have proposed the pay to be given
for a night watch in such cases where it was
not the individuals turn, fixed at 7 cents.
There are almost always fixed Watchmen on
the Estates.
Sarauw would have the clause confined to
labourers located or the property.
ad 5 Is and I6.
These s are almost verbatim Of the same
contents as Is of the Regulations of lS49, and
will require no further comment.
For assault on any person in authority on the
Estates we have not considered it necessary to
have special penal enactments the reference
made in the Regulations to the dictates OF the
general laws is I deemed superfuous.
In the following 5 5 1921 the rules hitherto
in force in regard to the care and maintenance
of labourers unfit for any work, of the infrm,
the sick and children on estates have been
revised. As already stated, that revision was
preparatoriIy made by SarauW, Du Bots and
Elliott; and during the discussions in the Com
MISSIONS general meetings it was only in very
few points Of minor Importance that alterations
were made in their proposals, which will be
found to bear evidence of much care and con
Germ for the well-being OF the individuals con-
cerned.
ad s II,
The provisional enactments in the Regula-
tons of lS49 concerning medical attendance
to the labourers and the treatment of the sick
and infirm, we're, in regard to medical attend
ance to sick labourers, more precisely defined
by the Ordinance Of 22nd February 1865 but
in regard to the treatment Of the infrm (inva-
lids there is no other provision than that in
the Regulations, viz: g" that infrm persons, an
fit for any work. mot " their" work as it is in
the Danish text) shall as hitherto be maintained
on the estates where they are d0miciled, and
be attended to by their next relations /" that
provision has at different periods, and by the
several different parties interested therein, been
interpreted and applied in three different ways.
It has been construed as having reference only
to those persons who at the, time OF the emanci-
patton, or more properly speaking at the time
the Regulations emanated, were entered on the
Estates Books as invalids; another opinion
would have it so understood, that the Estates
are only obliged to maintained such of their la
bourers that were located on the property at
the time of the emancipation Tor at the time the
Regulations emanated} and had remained there
uninterrupted5y until they became inValids =
the third Interpretation Is, that the Estates
have the obligation to provide for and to main
tain all those individuals who after having
worked on the property during their stay there
became invalids.
With either one of those interpretations the
state of things in that respect was unsatisfac-
tory, nearly more unsatisfactory than if it had
been left to itself. By degrees as years rolled
on, the invalids from 1848 have died out, and
those labourers that remained where they were
located in l848 are, at all events in many parts
of the Island, now in the minority hence, if
either of the two aforementioned interpretations
were adopted, the Public would have had to