, 1873-02-05

Commission to enter upon any further explana-
ton Of the reason for placing it foremost.
But here a question arises which is of some
practical Importance and has also been the
cause of some excitement. 1t is this question.
whether Day Labourers may be employed for
the discharge of Estate-Work. Even if it be
admitted-so it is argued-that yearly contracts
as a rule should form the basis OF estate-labour,
it is not the intention thereby to exclude the
discharge of work on Estates by means of day.
labourers, by which is chiefly or almost exclu-
sively meant labourers engaged on day-wages
from town (POrters) aud that hence the neces-
sity Of yearly contracts should be confined alone
to labourers permanently domiciled on the Es-
states. II is certainly doubtful if it were in
tended by the Regulations of 1859 to exclude
that sort of labour on Estates,-if that question
had been at all thought of at the time, as it
could scarcely have been of any Importance in
the period Immediately succeeding the enamel
patton. In the lapse of time the question has
however, arisen and has assumed o impor-
lance in Frederiksted's District, as some of the
many individuals who removed to the town of
Frederiksted without having there any fixed
employment to gain a livelihood, engaged them
selves for days wages on some neighbouring
Estate, while they kept their place of abode
in tOwn. In consequence of complaints from
proprietOrS of other Estates, who felt them
selves annoyed or injured by that system of
labour, the Government at the time laid down
as its view, that the Porter System was incom-
patible with the LabOur- R regulations, and this
view was Observation-Disclosures the question
came before the Courts of Justice-sustained
by a judgement of the Royal Westindia Upper
Court. During the period of time elapsed since
then Q86O(. the employment Of Porters on Su-
.ro~ Lutot9S hoS Inv No ,,n.,,, anor,1 - 4IoL
part of the country nearest Frederiksted it has
on the contrary rather incra ased in its applica-
tion,-in Christiansted's District the System
has never been known to have gained ad-
mittance ;-as on many Estates in the vi
cinity the system has been carried on to
a very great extent with the full know
ledge of the Authorities and the Government
at times, when it assumed such dimensions
that it became serious, especially from a view
to the permanently employed rural-labour-
ers or to the discipline on Estates, a stop was
put to it, and in 1869, on receipt of a Memorial
against that system from the greater number of
Estate roPrietOrs and Managers in the Island,
the Government issued a general prohibition
against it. A few law suits for transgressions
of that prohibition were decided by the Upper
Court in the same spirit as the former case.
The system has, however, its advocates;
and moreover the opinion has been advanced,
even if only exceptionally, that it is not in
compatible with Law; for instances, Member
Sarauw, who in 1860 was P|olicemaSter in FIRE.
derihsted and gave sentences of acquittal in two
suits instituted by Government, still maintains
that opinion.
The question must, therefore, find a solution
in the new Regulations; the Commission can
not eVade it. y This question is one that has
caused the Commission greatest difficulty it
has been the matter of constantly renewed con-
siderations; at every stage of the discussions
it has been introduced anew endeavors made,
proposals advanced so as to unite opinions, so
sharply discOrdant from each other, into one
cOmm result. U~nanimity in the matter has
not been arrived at but a Majority, consisting
of Coulter, Du Bots, Elliott, Forsberg, Rosen-
stand and Skeoch has-aS far as Du Bots
R0senstand and Skeoch are concerned, after
overcoming a great deal of scruples-arrived
at the conviction that the sort of labour by
means of day labourers should unhesitatingly
be excluded or disallowed. 1t may certainly
appear on the one hand to be something harsh
and Hliberal to prevent persons who either from
want of inclination, or because their former
mode Of living does not allow them to take
fixed employment On an Estate, from earning
their livelihood in an honest manner by davis
labour on Estates, and on the other hand it
might seem unWise or impolitic to refuse the
labour-fOrce to be derived from such persons.
and it is urged, and experience too would seem
to testify its being so, that in the town of FIRE.
doriEctod +horo ora NOT fa1 ur1o 49, -.