, 1876-07-15

Was SOlohSS Wd0u WIS llu6 Was approaching
for his departure, thus addressed the Legisla-
ture Of this island 80 years ago - Yours is
likely to be an advantageous and commanding,
but at the same time a critical position. Its
very advantages might be turned into misfor-
tunes by mismanagement or neglect 900.
The numbers, and the qualities of your popula-
ton are as a mine of riches to you. They
might be made your heaviest curse. Even
now the changes introduced by machinery
might make their numbers redundant. Take
care, while there is yet time. to impress upon
them the character and disposition which, under
all changes, may retain them as willing and
trusty auxiliaries in the career of prosperity
which Is open to yourselves and to your descen-
dants. Preserve the magisterial authority of
the upper classes but do not Cypress, nor in
anyWIse be unjust to the people. Let labour
find its reward in the free-market price of
labour. Do not defeat or evade by contrivanoes
this great and primary law of the distribu-
ton of wealth. Do not, by the use of harsh
and jnconsiderate punishments, call into exis-
tence, even in the breasts of criminals, those
bitter feelings which are the matrix of ~atrooious
crime, now h2pp " almost unknown in this
island. Do not treat the people with contempt
or disregard, Do not permit any one, uu-
answered, to calumniate nor unfairly Witty
their general conduct or disposition. Above
ell, educate the people,
The labouriug population of the colony is
the maiR-spring Of its wealth and prosperity.
for without labour to cultivate it the land
would be comparatively valueIess and every
thing, therefore, that can reasonably be ao-
c0mpLisEed towards the end should be done to
foster and maintain the agricultural population
in health, strength, and numbers The diff
Guilty in the way of the planters in improving
the condition Of their labourers lies, to use the
language Of Governor Walker, lin the specioua
price of property here The competition to
obtain an estate when ii Is for sale is so great
THAI the most ex0rbitant bids are made for it,
and the purchaser enters upon a property for q
price the very interest money Of which eats up
half his CROP Nothing can be more complete
than the cultivation of the soil, and it has been
carried, | fancy, to lis utmost extent, But
the persons who are doing this are not as a
class securing for themselves more than o bare
subsistence. Whether as the representatives
Of absentee prOprietors or as owners of estates
which they have purchased at ruinous prices
and subject to an amount of debt, the interest
Of which generally absorbs the entire profit of
the crops, these Industrious and skilful men
plod on from year to year, and end just where
they commenced, with a load of debt, which
necessitates the transfer of the property to
some other, of whom there are scores ready
to pass through the some ordeal
again Governor Walker remarks, In one Of
his reports in the annual Blue Book - The
finest properties in the island belong to absen-
tees. The best blood of the place is squeezed
out of it and is sent to England never to return
in any shape. How this dense mass of people
continues to get on not comfortably, but con.
tentedly against this continual and enormous
drain on the resources of the island, is to me
sometimes a puzzle. It is no doubt a mere
daily struggle from hand to mouth, and Is not
considered until drought or some other vista
ton arrests the ordinary march of affairs ..-..e
AND awakens US to the grievous absence of
those real owners Of the soil who alone are
able to give US a helping hand, whose duty it
Is most to give it, but whose absence from the
spot and other circumstances keep them in
ignorance Of the condition of their peasantry,
and devoid Of sympathy with their wants.
OatwarJIy everything looks WE'LL
Governor Rawson also stated to the Legis-
iature in 1874 - The check that has been
given to emigration from this island to Demera-
"a, which is cOntemDoraneous with a similar
check to the emigration to Trinidad, from other
of the Windward Islands, together with the
return of number of labourers to their homes,
will accelerate the necessity for considering
those vital questions affecting the sanitary and
social condition of the population, to which
your attention has been frequently invited.
To soma of these | have already referred [
would add to them the supply of water in GER
q. tain parts of the island, and of prompt medical