, 1888-10-17

depressing surroundings, appointed a Com
mission Of merchants and planters to
examine into and report upon the condition
and prospects of the colony. After the
first heavy stroke which fell upon the
agricultural interests, consequent upon
the emancipation of the labourers i'll 1888,
the planters, Gy the aid OF immigration
from Africa, Madeira and India, were
succeeding in pulling themselves together
to a certain extent, and in aTreStlng the
decrease of their cultivated acreage; and
as sugar was fetching a very good price 1t
was fOndly thought that the heaviest
troubles of the planters had been overcome.
It was in the. midst Of these pleasant
forebodings that the news of the sugar
bill of 1916 fell, like a bOmbShell, Shatter-
ing every hope of better days and bringing
the veterans of the sugar fields face to face
with financial ruin. To emanclpate the
slaves on British soil, and then tn throw
open the British markets to Slaye-groWn
sugar and invite-employerS to send their
produce to compete with that OF the
British planter, was regarded not only III
the colonies but by the honest section OF
the inhabitants Of the old country as
legislation unparalleled for its ubiquitous
S~eIiShneSS. Had the planters been IN
the position to wage war upon the men
who were responsible for the sugar bill,
the heartleSS enactment would have been
revoked, or lives would have been lost.
AS it was, the planters were helpless to
avert their doom. The law was passed
the hurrahing abOlitiOniStS OF Britain who
had, with great flourish Of trumpetS and
loud theatrical effect obtained often at the
expense Oftrpth) manumitted the lab0urerS
in British lands, had decided that 1t was
no sin against God to help TO perpetuate
the condition of slavery in foreign lands
by becoming their customers for slave
grown produce. Ii Cuba could supply
sugar at a penny per pound cheaper than
could the British West Indies, the anti
slavery philanthropiSts whose principles
had constrained them to terminate slavery
in certain countries, thought they would
be acting like honest men in pocketing
this penny and their principles. In
Guiana The outlook OF the planters was
of the deepest pitch OF darkness. Some
men accepted their ruin ~reSignedly others
OlOt many less brave, Shrunk from the
contemplation of the tardShlpS, prlvatlonS
and ]indignitieS that beSet their path, and
gave way TO Selt-deStructlVe courses one
or two killed themselves deliberately but
the colony was not without Its heroes, ana
at the Time Wnel the snip Scciltu 10 o6
going down beneath the waters, with no
probability of averting the danger, there
were brave men who stuck by the pumps
and 10y laborious, incesSant eXertionS,
which defed despair, kept the vessel
af0at. 1t was while the storm was at the
heaviest that the Commission we have
referred to was appointed. lhe names of
the members, or some Of them, are still
familiar in the land they were Rose,
Stuart, Haynes, Bean, Booker, Brand,
Craig, Won NetScher, NimmO, Verbeke,
Simpson, and Dawson, with Lucie Smith
as secretary. They divided the land into
districts, and themselves into inspecting
comm itteeS, som going to Berbice, others
to ESSequebo, to East Coast, West Coast,
Islands. and River banks. When they
re. assembled to prepare their report, their
notes were all of a like murky, depressing
nature. From every quarter there was
the melancholy StOry-"the colony con-
tinues to retrograde, estate upon estate is
being abandoned, the labouring population
are daily becoming more diSorganiSed."
Taking 1929, or twenty years previously,
as d standard of comparison, they found
that as against $50 sugar estates and ia
coffee and cotton estates in the former
period, there were now only $50 sugar and
Is coffee estates, and a great proportion OF
these on the verge of abandonment. The
crop of sugarin 1929 had been &c, 700 hhds.,
besides 1000. O00lbs. of coffee and a large