, 1874-12-23
No. LOO.

case in which may be practicable of the people,
that they might work if they would. Although
one gentleman stated that on the estates under
his management he has been able to give employ
ment to his labourers-geneIally work has been
suspended on the estates, on. account Of the fear
fully prevailing drought. : We think the Govern
ment have adopted q wise arrangement, when
they propose to employ the money they ask for
on repairing the roads. and thus giving employ
ment to the people. The money thus expended
will not be thrown away. The roads, sooner or
later. CouId need to be repaired. and do, harm
can arise out of its being done now. Besides,
it will deliver the people from having to subsist
on the bread of oharity-a kind Of thing that al
right minded persons decidedly shrink from being
exposed to. One of the reasons urged by the Co.
lonial Secretary in moving far the grant Of money,
was that by giving the people employment on the
roads, it would prevent them from emigrating.
The knowledge of the straitened circumstances Of
the people had caused efforts to be put forth by
some of the sister islands where population is
sparse, to induce them to 60 and settle amongst
them. This, the Colonial Secretary said the Gov
eminent would like to prevent, as some of the
people had already commenced to move off. That,
we think, is very ~praiseworthy conduct on the
part of the Government. One cannot help CON-
t%rasting it with the kind of thing that has obtained
here in reference to recent frequent exoduses of
our labouring people, on account of the alleged
ullnCuNy oI obtaining reuluneraLlng IaO0ur h0r0s
1t is noteworthy that while we have been CRYING
out for the want of labour to till our fields, and
have been bringing here hordes of Coolies for that
purpose, our own people have been moving OF
elsewhere looking for work. To the stranger, this
must appear a very singular sort of thing but, to
US, it is quite accountable. The majority of our
labouring people are land holders, producers ON
their own account and will not work on the estates
steadily when ever they do consent to work on
them aC ell and at such times, as they must go
to till their own lands, their presence is then ur.
gently needed on the estates. The planters are
therefore obliged to look abroad for help to en-.
able them to I'LL their fields continuously, and
take advantage of the seasons at the proper
times. It may be said here that those of our
people who go abroad, are those who are looking
for something 'big"-in haste to be rich. We
cannot conceive of any thing more painful than
the sight of an agriculturist thus "shut up" for
want of hands to till We soil, with the gift of ge-
NAL, and abundant seasons staring him in the
face. We are no enemies of immigration, so
long as the expence oft is borne as at present
by the parties employing such labour; but what
we would suggest is that something should be done
whereby we might avail ourselves of the overflow
ing and immigrant populations of our sister Colo
MES. 1t would not be q bad thing if we could get
for instance some of the people of Antigua who
are willing to try their luck elsewhere. They
would be better than coolies. It is true that they
would be likely after a while to be drawn into the
bosom of our general population, and become,
like them, landowners but they would be better
than coolies, for they would become ~colonists Ol
worth, swelling the population, and the revenue
at the same time. They might at any rate be
engaged as labourers on the estates for a given
time, just as the coolies are. We think the fdea
is a good one, and worthy of attentions. ~