, 1873-02-01
D Z A T T
OF LABOR REGULATIONS FOR THE
SUGAR ESTATES OF ST. OROIX.
With Vouchers attached Heret0.)
(C0ntinued.(

The Governments Letter to this Commission,
after stating that the proposed amelioration
aims beyond the material welfare, contains 10
connection Herewith a remark, that could east
ly be understood as implying, that the argu-
ment there advanced, viz, that the e8tate-Ia-
bOurers are, at all events, content with q posi-
ton which secures them against distress, while
1t affords no prospect Of improving their own
condition or that of their family hence, it is
argued, these relations should be left alone is
an argument generally advanced here,-the
more so as Immediately afterwards it is added
"Tbe Danish Government cannot admit this
principle" None of the Members of this Com
mission do admit, and in fact we know Of no
person at all, who will admit that principle, aud
the actual state of things here is very far from
verifying it. Any person having a moderate
knowledge of our different relations will have
noticed that there is no tendency towards de-
priviUg agricultural laboucers the encourage
ment to strive to reach beyond the daily nec9S-
%saries and any one who has been about in the
nogtU-VillaIes 90 the Estates will have noticed
the same difference there between the cirCum-
stances and condition of the Industrious and
sober labourer and that of the INDECENT and
careless labourer, the same as in every other
lab0urirg community, only with this eXcep-
tiOn, resulting to a certain extent from the eli
mate, that real want or poverty, European pow
erty, if we may preferably use this term, will
scarcely be found here. After the Emancipa-
ton in the Dutch Islands in 1864 Or IS a num-
Der of IabourerS immigrated thence to this Is
land small number from St. Eustatius have
remained together on the Estate whore they
we're originally employed, and they have to
such an extent been able to accommodate them
selves to our relations and to benefit from them,
that now they always appear decently clad,
whereas at their first arrival they had barely
the one suit on their backs-and have settled
themselves in all respects becomingly and well,
several of them owning even horse and cart.
1t is scarcely necessary to add that they are
some of the best labourcrs on the Estate.
The uniform rate Of wages does, then, lay no
obstacles whatever in the way of the Individual
developing his resources, while his stable posi-
ton and his fixed lucrative home on the Estate
certainly afford better conditions for a la0ourer's
progress towards becoming a better man, than
would be the case under a system, where the
rates of wages are regulated simply by the de-
mand and supply of labour, and where the la
bourer is halfway homeless. A lab0uring p0-
p~ulatiOn free of cares for their existence is Sd
great a boon to the Community, that it is not
to be wondered at, if we here have been eau
ti0us with regard to changes or notifications
in relations that have secured that population
against such cares.
In so far as the Planters are concerned, they
certainly appear 80 have been unfairly c%ensured
when they are reproachingly told that their per-
sistent attachment to the existing Labour-Re-
gulations is ruinous from an economical point Of
view and there can be but little doubt that the
Importance of having a uniform treatment Or
as it is in reality only in reference to the daily
wages in money that the objections have been
advanced so forcibly-a uniform rate of wages
for all labourers having a uniform sort of Occu-
patton, has to too great an extent been overlook
ed, although it is a circumstance of peculiar
moment where, as in our case, the labour force
is scanty and, consequently, the temptation for
employers Outbidding one another, even at the
risk of coming to pay too dear for labour, daily
intrudes itself. The nuisance which already
now at the annual removals manitests itself on
many Estates, by distributing douceurs or
bounties in order to retain the services of pre-
sent labourers or to obtain new hands, is a suff-
cient Indication of what could be looked for in
the aforesaid respect. 1t has already been sta
ted above, but still it may without harm be re-
peated here, just because of the reluctance to
admit it THAT the adjustment by Usage of
the price of labour is not any thing peculiar to
st. Croix alone in the other Westindia Islands
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