GRENADA. instruct the Officer administering the Government to cause an inspection of the immigrants to be made, in order that the number of able-bodied may be ascer-tained, and to report whether these do or do not receive the same wages as the able-bodied unindentured labourers on the same estate. Encl, in No. 12. Enclosure in No. 12. I have, &c. (signed) E. B. Lytton. Statement annexed. (No. 12.) Sir, Emigration Office, 26 August 1858. I HAVE to acknowledge Lord Carnarvon's letter of the 19th instant, enclosing the copy of a Despatch from the Governor of the Windward Islands, respecting coolie emigration into Grenada. 2. It appears, in the first place, that in case it should be impracticable to obtain coolies from Grenada on the terms at present offered, the Council would rather give the coolie a bonus in hand than reduce the period of his residence in the Colony. Of this I will inform the Emigration Agent at Calcutta. 3. But I take the opportunity of pointing out that no instructions have reached this Board to despatch coolies to Grenada this season, nor is the balance of the guaranteed loan now available for emigration sufficient to pay for a ship. It amounts to about 2,500 l., which, on the usual estimate of 14 l. a head, would not be sufficient to pay for more than 140 coolies. 4. Mr. Hincks draws attention to the circumstance that the coolies who arrived by the "Maidstone" are receiving not 10 d. a day (as promised by a memorandum signed by Mr. Walker, then administering the Government of the Island, and dated the 6th of October 1856), but certain rates, varying from 6 d. to 10 d., according to the class to which the labourer belongs; "very few" are said to earn 10 d. 5. It is said that the coolies are satisfied; but Mr. Hincks says, with undoubted truth, that the question is not whether they are satisfied, but whether they are getting their due. 6. On examination I find that the form of indenture provided by the Grenada Act passed in September 1855, and approved by Her Majesty's Government, declares that the immigrant shall receive the rate of wages paid to unindentured labourers working on the same estate. Specific information being required as to the rate of wages, Mr. Walker furnished the memorandum abovementioned, which was communicated to the Agent at Calcutta, in a letter from this Board, dated the 19th of December 1856. It is plain that this letter could scarcely have reached India before the 29th of January, and consequently that no promise founded on Mr. Walker's memorandum could have been made to the emigrants by the "Maidstone," which left Calcutta on the 27th of that month. The Colonial authorities, therefore, cannot be charged with a breach of faith in indenting the immigrants in terms of their existing Immigration Act. They will, however, be so chargeable if it should turn out that the immigrants by the "Fulwood," (which left Calcutta last February) have been indentured on the same terms as thote by the "Maidstone;" and I cannot but add that the Colonists do not appear to me to have acted with that liberality which Her Majesty's Government might fairly have expected of them when they indentured the coolies by the "Maidstone," at a rate of wages less than that which they hadstated to the Secretary of State as the current wages of the colony, and far less than that which the same immigrants might have obtained in British Guiana or Trinidad, and very possibly on that account expected to gain in Grenada. 7. Under these circumstances it appears to me a fortunate accident that emigration to Grenada is not going on at the present moment; and I would suggest that immediate inquiry should be made as to the terms on which the immigrants by the "Fulwood" have been indented, with such an expression of opinion respecting those imported by the "Maidstone" as Sir E. Bulwer Lytton may consider warranted by the above cir cumstances. I have, &c. (signed) Frederic Rogers. No. 13. Copy of a DESPATCH from the Right Honourable Sir E. B. Lytton, Bart., M. P. Right Hon. to Governor Hincks. Sir, Downing-street, 17 September 1858. I HAVE to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch of the 14th June, Grenada, No. 30,* reporting the arrival of the ship "Fulwood" with coolie emigrants. from Calcutta. Sir E. B. Lytton, I transmit to you, for your information and for communication to the Officer administering the Government of Grenada, a copy of a letter from the Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners, on the subject of the mortality which has occurred on board the "Fulwood," as well as on board other ships from Calcutta, together with a copy of a letter which I have caused to be addressed to the Secretary of State for India, calling attention to the mortality and to the doubts which it must throw on the future prospects of emigration from Calcutta, unless the number of deaths can be largely reduced in the next season. I have, &c. (signed) 11 August 1858. Vide page 176 of Part I. 7 September 1858. Vide page 179 of Part I. No. 14. Copy of a DESPATCH from the Right Honourable Sir E. B. Lytton, Bart., M. P. Right Hon. to Governor Hincks. Downing-street, 23 October 1858. Sir, In reply to your Despatch, No. 46† of the 2d ultimo, I have to inform you that 1 have caused the necessary instructions to be conveyed to the Emigration Com Sir E. B. Lytton, 23 October 1858. + Page 94. GRENADA. missioners for the shipment of a cargo of coolies to Grenada during the ensuing season. At the same time I must request that you will direct the attention of the Officer administering the Government of Grenada to the irregularity of calling upon the Government to incur an expenditure, without at the same time sending home not only an estimate of monies to be raised, but also an Act of Appropriation. I have, &c. (signed) E. B. Lytton. No. 15. Right Hon. Sir E. B. Lytton, Bart., M. P., to Governor Hincks. 29 Dec. 1858. 23 November 1858. Vide page 414 of Part I. (No. 30). COPY of a DESPATCH from the Right Honourable Sir E. B. Lytton, Bart., M. P. to Governor Hincks. Sir, Downing-street, 29 December 1858. I TRANSMIT to you for your information a copy of a letter from the Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners, with reference to the remuneration of surgeons employed on board the Australian and West Indian immigration vessels. I have authorised the Commissioners to adopt the scale of remuneration which they have recommended. I have, &c. (signed) E. B. Lytton. No. 16. Right Hon. (No. 36). Sir E. B. Lytton, COPY of a DESPATCH from the Right Honourable Sir E. B. Lytton, Bart., M.P. Bart., M. P., to Governor Hincks. 28 January 1859. Sir, to Governor Hincks. Downing-street, 28 January 1859. I HAVE to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch, No. 54* of the 19th November last, forwarding certain returns on the subject of the mortality amongst the immigrants into Grenada. I am glad to find that these returns are now so satisfactory. COPY of a DESPATCH from Governor Hincks to the Right Honourable the My Lord, Lord Stanley, M.P. Windward Islands, Barbados, 26 May 1858. I TRANSMITTED without loss of time to the Lieutenant Governor of Tobago a of Mr. Secretary Labouchere's Despatch of the 25th* February last, in which I was instructed to forward such a statement of the wages and other advantages copy No 1. Governor Hincks to the Right Hon. Lord Stanley, M. P. 26 May 1858. * Vide page 115. Lieut. Governor Drysdale to (four enclosures). enjoyed by labourers in that Colony as could be communicated to the Governor Governor Hincks. of Sierra Leone, and I have now the honour to transmit to your Lordship a copy No. 25, 23 April 1858. of the correspondence which has taken place on the subject between Lieutenant Governor Hincks to 2. Although I agree with Mr. Drysdale in thinking that the class of immi- No. 128, 30 April 1858, Governor Drysdale and nyself. grants referred to in Mr. Secretary Labouchere's Despatch can hardly be deemed Lieut. Governor Drysdale. Lieut. Governor Drysdale to capable of judging as to the best place for settlement, and that, consequently, it Governor Hincks. may be necessary for others to decide for them on this point, I am nevertheless No. 31, 8 May 1859. of opinion that a grave responsibility must devolve upon those by whom the selection will have to be made; and it seems to me that Her Majesty's Government may fairly require that adequate wages shall be paid by those who obtain labour on such favourable terms in other respects. 3. I presume that the object of the inquiry as to the current rate of wages in the several Colonies is to enable the officer responsible for directing the emigration of the captured Africans to determine as to the most eligible place for settling them; and I have therefore been anxious to supply the most correct information in my power on this point. 4. In the table appended to Lieutenant Governor Drysdale's Despatch of the 23d April last, the highest wages in that Colony are stated to be 1 s. 4 d. and the lowest 8 d. In a subsequent Despatch, the ordinary wages are stateri to be 8 d. to 10 d. per day, while it is to be inferred that 1 s. 8 d. can only be obtained by a labourer who performs two tasks a day. 5. When I last visited Tobago I was informed, on authority that seemed to me beyond question, that while the ordinary wages paid by the planters were 8 d. a day, 1 s. 4 d., or double that rate, was freely given by those who were conducting estates on the métayer system, under which the profits are divided between the proprietors and the labourers. 6. These labourers have frequently to employ additional hands, and they are ready to pay 1s. 4 d. per diem, or double the rate allowed by the planters. There are, I think, sufficient data to enable Her Majesty's Government to decide as to a minimum rate of wages to be paid to those whose destination is decided on by others. TOBAGO. 7. The planters in the Colony of St. Lucia, belonging to a class of Colonies in which low wages prevail, and who certainly cannot afford to give higher rates than their neighbours in the sister Colonies, have voluntarily proposed to give 1s. per day to male adult immigrants. 8. In Barbados, where labour is most abundant, wages have never fallen below 10 d., and 1 s. is now frequently given. I think then that, considering the rates prevailing in British Guiana and Trinidad, it could not be considered unreasonable if the planters in every Colony requiring imported labour were given distinctly to understand that no contracts could be sanctioned at rates less than 1 s. per diem for the ordinary number of working hours, viz., nine, or the usual task. 9. I think this a favourable opportunity to call the attention of your Lordship to a paragraph in the report of the Immigration Agent of Grenada, which was transmitted with Lieutenant Governor Kortright's report on the Grenada Blue Book for the year 1857. Mr. Cockburn observes, with regard to the coolie immigrants per ship "Maidstone:" "Very few have been able to turn out with the first class in holeing;' those who do, obtain full wages (10 d. per day), the others are paid 8 d. to 6 d., according to the class to which they belong." 10. It is a matter of fact recorded by Lieutenant Governor Kortright in paragraph 20 of his report on the Blue Book, that there is a considerable secession from the ranks of the labourers in that Colony, from actual emigration to Trinidad. Mr. Kortright considers it difficult to assign a sufficient reason for this emigration. To my mind, the fact presents no difficulty. Emigrants, as a general rule, desire to better their condition, and it is not surprising that young men, without any ties of family, should seek the highest market for their labour, especially when that market is so near as to be reached by a journey of a few hours' duration. 11. It does not surprise me that many return to their native Island disappointed; but it is not an uninstructive fact, that they do so "demoralized by their contact and companionship with a labouring people collected from all quarters of the world, and probably possessing all the vices which the amalgamation of a variety of races is apt to produce.' 12. Your Lordship will perceive that in Grenada the native labourers are abandoning the Colony, to seek a higher market for their labour; while the Colony is importing from India, at the expense of the entire population, including of course the labouring classes, coolies who are paid with 6 d. to 8 d. a day, although the Immigration Agent at Calcutta complained of the insufficiency of the rate of 10 d. 13. I trust that, in submitting the foregoing facts to your Lordship, I shall not be deemed to have exceeded my duty. I can affirm, with the utmost sincerity, that I am as anxious for the prosperity of the planting interest as the most zealous advocates of unrestricted immigration, and it is because I am so, that I deplore the maintenance of a system, the result of which is the emigration of native labourers from a Colony where their services are required, and into which other labourers are being introduced at great expense, but at rates of wages insufficient for the support of a civilised population. 14. I ought not to conclude this Despatch without urging upon your Lordship the claims of the smaller Colonies in this Government to a proportionate share of the captured Africans who may be sent to the West Indies. I have not the slightest doubt that some thousands could be settled most comfortably in these Colonies, and that the wages which I have indicated, 1 s. per day, would be cheerfully paid by the planters, if they were informed that Her Majesty's Government could not sanction the emigration of the captured Africans to the Colonies, where they would receive less than 1 s. a day. I have, &c. (signed) F. Hincks. |