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Show LOU .JAMAICA. der the apprenticeship, it had fallen into almost entire decay from mismanagement, and was a very losing concern; but it is now leased, togeth er with a coffee estate of greater value, to J oseph Gordon, a respect. able resident planter, for £2,000 per annum- I believe sterling.! This gentleman is bringing the property round by fi·cc labor, and will doubtless make it an· swer j1is. pnrposr. H e has about one hundred and fifty laborers upon it, well at work, under an able over· seer. We had much pleasure in visiting them in the fields. A large company of men were holing, at job or task work, and were earning at least two shillings sterling per day. Many of th em indeed fini sh their two shillings' worth by noon ; and can double it, if they please, before sundown. On the other hand, they pay their landlord a fair rent for their cottage and provision grounds-generally half a dollar per week. The fairness and propriety of this arrangement can· not be questioned; and all that is required to render it complete, is to give to the tenant, by deed or other· wise, an independent lien for a reasonable period, npon his little tenancy. He will then have the oppor· tnnity of taking his own stock in trade, namely his labor, to the best market-free from all compulsion, except that of voluntary contract, to work on any particular estate, or for any particnlar rate of wages. Wherever the peasantry of Jamaica have been thns trusted and honorably treated, they have seldom failed to work on the properties of their old maste~, 1 £1 currency is equal to 12 shillings sterling; or £10 currency~ therefore, to £6 sterling. .JAM AICA . 101 which are the most familiar to them, and the nearest to their homes-provided always that fitir wages be given, and th ese paid weekly in cash. But it has been the unhappy lot of this colony, to be much perplexed with this subject of rent, which was prematurely forced on the attention of the people, immediately after the date of full freedom. Had it been permitted to find its own way by degrees, on the common principles which regulate the affairs of men, there can be no doubt that the laborers of Jamaica would have been just as little di sturbed and unsettled, as those in Antigua and Dominica. As it is, the question of tenancy has been mixed up with that of labor, on a great proportion of the estates on this island. In case of any misunderstanding betiVeen the overseer and the laborers, on the subject of the work, either as to its duration or price, threats of ejectment have followed. These threats in many cases have been put in forcible execution. Cottages have been unroofed and even demolished. Cocoanut and bread fruit trees have been cut down ; prol'ision grounds have been despoiled by the hand of violence, or trodden underfoot of oxen; and thus the laborers have been driven to seek for themselves a DCIV home, either by moving away to other properties, or by purchasing little freeholds on the neighboring mountains. W c often heard of these instances of violence, and saw something of them ; yet I would charitably believe that they have been comparatively rare. Not so, the plan of doubling or trebling the rent, or even multiplying it fonrfold, upon the arbitrary decision of the employer, or of charging it per ' |