, 1885-09-23

on all and every estate, 1Or sale nY the
manager, OverseeT, driver or members OF
their respective households, and, should it
even be, as has. been asserted elsewhere
(but which the Minority is not prepared to
admit nor to diSputel that that procedure
lacks the sanction of the law still, the
practice is one that has had undisturbed
prevalence in this island ever since the
emancipation, coeval with the distribution
Of provisions at certain reduced rates, as
part payment of labourers' wages. But,
apart from that, it is we'll known that
agricultural labourerS in this is and derive
their chief means of subsistence ,-besideS
from corn-meai,-frOm ground vegetables
(potatoes, yams &c. and while at present
there is scarcely one single estate where
meal cannot be had from the estate pro
prietor at all times and at moderate prices,
to satisfy all demands; at the sam time,
all requirements of the vegetables are
supplied by the labourers themselves
from their provision grounds, and also
from the trees IN their employers
estates.
Furthermore, the wages Of labourers are,
as we are aware, paid out on certain days
of the week; with the sum of several days
wages, they generally resort to the towns,
there to buy themselves the necesSaries
W ulCu lIICy OUltl W ISC ICQullt3 diI(l HlSuS
perhaps. are not always to be obtained on
the estate; the days used by them, are,
generally free days, when labourerS most
ly resort to town to dispose of the pro
duce for which they have no use, or
which they desire to turn into so much
ready cash. And again, if there should
in any isolated eases be other such wants
which laCOurerS cannot get satisfied III one
or other of the aforementioned ways, they
would he met from the supplies which
sellers from town. at lines on foot, at times
III small vehicles, carry about, with the
COgniZance and warrant of the law, to the
door OF labuurtrs and comprising alS0
articles Of luxury and Of dress. 1t is not
lntrequrnt. too, that bread. biscuits, sugar,
etc, are shared to labourerS ON estates as
compensation for work in extra hours.
These several modes Of satisfying the
wants experienced in the given direction,
have ormed themselves under Il natural
and unrtStraintd development Of the re-
latiOnS themselves they cause no incou-
NenienCe, and if complaints are made now,
they originate from the part of the en-
plOyerS, not on that of the consumers or
the labOurerS, and then only on the score
Of the time lOSt-Or rather supposed to be
lost-to estates work by labourerS leaving
for a short time in search Of food but it is
obvious, that no more ample means of pro-
viding for the obtaining of food could be
procured, or if procured, could in any one
way serve to reprpSS the desire of la.
hOurerS to Shirk work. and to come to town
from the very many causes which lead
them thither nor is it conceivable how
the absence Of a labOurer could be better
prevented by there being shops near him
un the contrary, we all know, that labour-
ers will hang on around such establish
ments OH some p%retence or other.
There is then no want in the direction
alluded t" that is not fully met and if
there be no want, it appears inadviSable to
make a change which just by its being new
and not desired by the labOurers, would be
unpleasant to them, therefore i'll advised
also from this point of view.
These views and considerations apply
equally, if not more torcibly, to the pro-
posal, from the Majority, to which therefore
the Minority cannot agree. The detriment
10 traders III town would be equally as
great under an organisation of the nature
proposed by the Majority. And as regards
the relation between the employers and The
employed, it would almost to a certainty
become Of a much more Objectionable
nature than that at present existing. 1t
cannot be denied that everything depends
upon the mode III which it is administered.
The proprietor having the command Of a
capital, may, in general. lay in his goods