, 1885-09-23

SUedu Oh LnaG prOpOSeU W Inc GOVERN
ment =
Draft Of Ordinance to provide better
facilities to Estate Labourers to procure
the daily necessaries of life.
81.
In order to facilitate Estate Labourers
in procuring the daily necessaries Of life, it
shall be allowable for every proprietor or.
administrator of an estate, without having
any special license thereto and without
paying any fees, to have on the estate q
stock Of all ordinary provisions, exclusive.
of strong liquors: petroleum, candles,
matches, starch, tobacco and pipes, for
supplying the estates own labourers these
goods, however, only to be purchased from
authorized traders in st. Croix.
The distribution to labourers of the
aforesaid articles must take place only on
weekdays and outside the ordinary work
ing hours.
Th Superior Authority may grant per
mission, that for two or, according to cir
cumstances, several adjacent, small estates,
belonging to the same proprietor, there
may be kept one stock of articles in
common, for supplying labourers Oh those
estates.
SO.
The proprietor or administrator Of the
estate is responsible for the due Obser-
vance of the above prescribed rules for
and limits in the right of supplying the
daily neceSsaries of life to labourers on the
estate.
The authority given, by s s Of the Ordi.
nance of 9th Sep ember 1853 to the Police.
masters, to issue passes to carry about
l-1 al -1k AAnI- AI1 .-~lIA- g.. -
in the country districts, is hereby annulled,
but in such wise that passes issued pre-
vi0uS TO this Ordinance coming into force,
shall be valid until the expiration Of the
quarterly term, for which they are is
sued.
TransgrcSsions Of this Ordinance are to
be punished by fines from TOTO 100 dollars,
In respect to complaints of, and the maui
her Of dealing with tranSgreSSionS, the
enactments contained in s II Of the OrdI-
nance 9th September 1853, are to be OBJ
served.
6.
This Ordinance comes into force /
months after it has obtained Royal Sane
ton.
The Minority BROWN, agrees with the
Majority in not recommending the Govern
mcntS Draft Oh Ordinance containing
additions TO the Ordinance If 9th Septem-
Der 1858. concerning trades and profess
Sions in the Danish Wtstindia Possessions,
applicable only to st. Croix. The Minori-
ty does not only, with the Majority, coli
slider that the organisation proposed in that
Draft would constitute an encrOachment on
the well established and indisputable
rights of traders in town, who have
acquired a grant or brief to carry on trade
in the island, without amy restriction;
but the Minority is furthermore of the
opinion that the measures proposed would
lead to very great, and, III their cOnse-
quenceS to the general public welfare,
dangerous abuses. Moreover, the Minority
is Of the opinion, that the measures prOpos-
ed are not needed all legitimate wants of
the labouring population in the respect
alluded to, are being fully satisfied now
without such extraordinary measures.
The Minority holds on the whole, that 1t IS
improper for the Legislature to interfere
at all, or further, i'll a matter of this sort;
the system hitherto followed requires no
amendment, and those who claim the
interpoSitiOn of Legislature now, ut this
very advanced stage of the demand and
supply question i'll the country districts
of the island are bound to show clearly
that it is called for to Obviate some gross
abuse, or that a change, aud a change just
in Tho direction contaminated. Mil SO very