, 1885-09-23

the proposal now under consideration. 1t
is certainly so, that according to the Draft
it is not only persons i'll the country, (See
s 4 of the Draftl, bnt also traders III the
towns, who eau obtain licenses. to establish
such shops; but it will at all events be
only a limited number of those traders,
who would get such licenses, while the
others will suffer an encroachment in their
right Of trade moreover, the now existing
organisation is, presumably, not based
exclusively on considerations to the inter
eSts Of the towns. 1t will be well nigh an
impoSsibility for the Police to exercise con-
troll with such shops kept everywhere
about the country, in the hands OF parties
whose interest it is to obtain the best pos
sible returns from their business, and who
very naturally will endeavour to extend it
as much as possible; the result will, there
fore, be, that all sorts of articles, without
any exception or limit, will be sold from
such shops, to the prejudice of traders in
the towns. Similar abuses would no doubt
also result from the enactment contained
in 1, providing that it shall be allowed
to sell strong liquors in shops in the cOun-
try, subject to the same restrictions as i'll
the OWNS; it will be unfeasibIe to con
troll the observance of these restrictions,
and it appears to the Committee to be so
much the less advisable to permit liquors
to be sold in that way in the country, as
just now there is Il proposal to impose a
considerable restriction OF the right of eS-
tate proprietOrs to dispose of Rum, manu-
featured by them.
AS, besides, under this Draft, only Il
limited number of shops may be expected
to be established, it might even be feared
that they could produce prejudicial effects
in reference to a humber of estates, III as
much as it may be expected that labOurerS
will employ themselves on estates situated
in the neighb0ulhoOd of shops, in pre-
ference to estates more diStantly situated.
In view Of the foregoing, the Committee
cannot recommend for adoption the 0rgani.
Sati0n proposed in the Draft. But a Ma
iority (Lemming, Wassard, Willard would
recommend an organisation III keeping in
most essential points with that proposed
by the Commission shat has had this matter
under consideration Ihe Majority pro-
poses that it be allowed every eState-prO-
prietor to have on the estate Il stock of the
articles mentioned in 5 l of the Draft, with
exception Of strong liquors, for supplying
the estates own labourerS those articles
must be purchased only from authorized
traders in town. The Superior Authority
may grant permission that for two or
several adjacent small estates, belonging
to the same proprietor, there may be kept
one stock OF such goods in common, for the
supplying of labOurprS on those estates.
According to this proposal there would be
question of nothing more than a mere dis
tribution or dispensing of the AIMEE artl-
cleS Of daily necessity to the estates own
lab0urers, and not OF any real trading
business with those articles. The planter
keeping such a stock of articles for supply
ing his estates own labOurerS, would not
he actuated by the desire to make a lucra-
tive business of it, but he would un-
dertake the trouble and the responsibility
connected Herewith simply because it is
in the interest of the labourerS, hence i'll
that of the estates too, that there be af.
fOrded greater ease to obtain the daily
necesSarieS of life. For the maintaining
of good order on estates it will be in the
interest of the eState-OWner himself to see
that this disprnSing'of such articles to the
labourers be kept within legal bounds,
aud there could never be any question of
this sort of business assuming greater ex
tent than those petty sales at present
taking place on most estates, without legal
warrant. Hence, in the opinion Of the
Majority, the adoption Of this proposal
would not to the traders in town be pro
ductive of any, or at all events only very
trifing, decrease of business.
The Majority thinks. that it should not