, 1874-12-16
No. LOO.

ANA ANNA " CAN NFoPOIuClO1 OA-%AS lUASN
than the megass, or crushed cane can
usually furnish. So that which should
have contributed to the supply of the eIe-
ment of water, the tree, is cut down to
supply the element of fire. Not content
with the destruction of wood on the pre-
text of the necessity of feeding the fires
under their furnace coppers, many plant
ers wage a war of determination against
trees as such. They screen the sun from
the canes, and therefore the trees that
were planted by wiser men are doomed to
fall one by one beneath the blows of the
axe. The planters are an educated class,
they are usually unremitting in their at
tentlon to their estates, and are not ignO-
rant of the Importance of the problem;
moreover they are the makers of the
laws, or the chief constituents of the legis-
lat0rs, and must be held morally respon-
sible for the injury they inflict and permit.
The Administrative and Legislative Bodies.
That which is the duty Of the Govern
ments of India and of France is no less
the duty of the Government of Antigua.
If it be true that the prosperity and even
the very existence of Antigua as a sugar
colony depends upon its power to cult.
vate the cane if the power to cultivate
the cane depends upon the Quantity and
character Of the water supply, if this
supply is dependant in great measure on
the existence of trees, the preservation
of the trees IS o duty of the very first
Importance. 1t is admitted that the
owners of land are in fact only occupiers
with q life interest in it, that its possession
entails certain duties, one of which is to
leave it to succeeding generations ia as
good a condition as it has been received.
But the land would be valueless and
would degenerate to wilderness and desert
without the humid climate which would
make its cultivation alone practicable :
a desert island could support no considera-
bic population. The owners of land have
manifestIy no right to ruin the climate,
and it is the clear duty of the Government
to prevent their doing so. The Govern
ment seems to have ignored this duty,
and the legislature may be seen employing
itself with d~evising means for the punish
ment of the negro who steals O single cane,
while the whole inhabitants have prac-
tically made q huge conspiracy to rob the
island of fifty per cent. of its entire crop.
But sins of commission must be laid to
the charge of tho legislature as we'll as
sins of omission. Fuel must be found for
concentrating the sugar crop. That which
the megass fails to afford must be supplied
by indigenous wood or imported coal.
Every encouragement to the consurnp-
ton of coal is pro tanto an obstacle to the
cutting down of native wood. 1t might
therefore reasonably be expected that coal
would be exempted from every. impost,
and all possible facilities for its import
would be afforded. So far from this
being the case the Legislature has actually
selected coal as an article for taxation,
and has thus in effect offered q premium
for the destruction Of the timber!
The prosperity of every class Of the
island is bound up with that of its staple
production. Moisture means food and
employment for the negro, prosperity for
the planter, peace of mind and liberal
remuneration for the attorney, prosperity
for the merchant, the storekeeper, the
ship owner, and the banker, and a we'll
filled treasury chest from which the officials
draw their salaries, Even the clergy
are not unaffected by the, general nrOsner-