MONEY MARKET AND CITY INTELLIGENCE.
WEDNESDAY EVENING.
In alluding the other day to the published accounts received from the West India colonies by the last two or three mails respecting the conduct of the labourers, we stated that we had seen letters from highly-respectable sources which gave a much less favourable view of the actual state of affairs. The letters in question were not intended to meet the public eye, but were written exclusively for the information of parties locally interested, and, consequently, they cannot for a moment be considered got up for the purpose of making out a case. It is not to be doubted that a very considerable stimulus has been given to agricultural improvement during the last two seasons in several of the colonies, but it is not improbable that, carried away by the impulse, parties who have more immediately derived the benefits, and those who describe them to the public, have been led to draw too general conclusions from partial data, and by that means convey a false colouring to persons at a distance.
We subjoin the following extracts from the letters alluded to, in order to show that not only great difficulties still exist as respects a deficiency in the number of labourers, but, what is probably of still more importance, in the habits and disposition of the labourers themselves. The first is an extract from the letters of the overseer and half-attorney of the estate of Petersfield, pariah of Westmoreland, Island of Jamaica : —
"4th Jan., 1845.
"We are all at a stand-still. The labourers have been doing no work for the last two weeks. The canes are now ripe. Should this hold out it will be a serious loss"
From the same :
"20th Jan., 1845,
"The seasons since Christmas have been as good as could be wished for planting, but cannot get labourers to do it. Our labourers are still sitting down in idleness. All the work I have got done in the field this month was by a few Africans. The week before last I had them cutting canes. I have a great deal of difficulty in getting cartmen to carry them home. The week's work amounted to two-thirds of a hogshead. To-day, all that I have got is ten Africans and two creoles. They will not come forward to make any agreement. They appear afraid to do so. My opinion is, there is a deep game playing. They are told not to go to work; that they have now got the planters in their power, and that they will be obliged to give them what they ask. So we are situated at the labourers' mercy. August and September last there was little or no work done. Here is another month past in idleness."
"4th April, 1845
"I have had a deal of annoyance with the cartmen this week. They insist on keeping up the system of having a boy and a loader to each cart; the loader will do nothing more than load the one cart as it comes to the field; for which they demand 1s. 6d. per day. The whole time they actually work is two hours."
The next is from a gentleman who had been making a tour round the coast of the Island of Trinidad, for a fortnight previous to the date of his letter; and the general conclusion he comes to is certainty very far from being satisfactory. After some general observations, he proceeds thus : —
"Trinidad, May 6, 1845.
"It appears (and perhaps but reasonable that we should expect it to be so) that the higher the pay the less work is actually done by the people upon them. We are now in every place paying quite as high rates of wages as ever was given in the island; yet though, in most instances, the people are in sufficient numbers upon the estates, they are unable to get on; for frivolous pretexts, frequently, for days together, unable to grind; nor do we see the slightest prospect of immediate relief from this state of things, by the importation of labourers from other quarters. Our present labourers are mostly old island people, who usually make up their kit at the first setting in of the wet season, so that we have nothing better to expect when the weeding season arrives.
"Had our full complement of coolies arrived, it might have had a good effect, but we see that few or none of them may be looked for before next year; and, as the governor has been induced to apply to have our number increased to 5,000 in the next season, we do hope that you will lend your best assistance in procuring them, as it is only by such means that we can possibly hope to overcome the difficulties by which we continue to be surrounded in this island."