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discretion of the Governor of British Guiana to substitute any other, not more expensive BRITISH GUIANA. victualling scale or scale of medicines, and medical comforts in lieu of those contained in Schedule (A.), or to substitute for any particular articles therein respectively, which may not be readily procurable in British Guiana, any other articles, not more expensive, which he may deem best calculated to promote the health and comfort of the Coolies.

Art. 6. That such provisions, water, medicines, medical comforts and stores, shall be of a quality to be approved of by the said emigration agent; and that if the length of voyage from British Guiana to India shall not have been determined by any law or ordinance in force in the colony, then the Governor thereof shall determine for how many days' voyage such provisions, water and stores shall be laid in: Provided, that the approval of the said emigration agent of the said provisions, water and stores shall not lessen the responsibility of the said Messrs. Hyde, Hodge & Co.

Art. 7. That there shall be provided at the charge of the said party of the second part a duly qualified surgeon to proceed with the vessel for the purpose of taking medical charge of the passengers during the voyage.

Art. 8. That the said passengers shall be treated with kindness by the master and all officers, and the crew of the said ship, and that the master shall on all occasions, when practicable, attend to any suggestions of the surgeon calculated to promote the health, comfort or well-being of the passengers; and further, that the passengers shall on no occasion be called on to do any manner of work on board the vessel other than cleaning their own berths between decks, or receiving at the hatchways in the between decks fresh water, and provisions and fuel, and that on the occasions of cleaning their berths they shall on no account be placed to draw water from the sea on the gunwhale, in the chains, or in any situation which shall endanger their falling overboard.

Art. 9. That the master shall strictly prohibit, on part of the crew or officers, the sale of spirituous or fermented liquors to the passengers during the voyage.

Art. 10. That after the embarkation of the passengers, and upon receiving sailing orders from the said emigration agent, the ship shall proceed to Madras and Calcutta, or either of them as the said Governor shall direct, and shall not touch at any intermediate port, except from urgent necessity.

Art. 11. That seven clear working days shall be allowed for the disembarkation of the passengers at each port in India, at which she may be directed to land passengers.

Art. 12. That in case all the passengers shall be landed at one port in India, the passagemoney shall be at the rate of 10 l. 18 s. 6 d. per adult (counting each person of the age of 14 years and upwards at the time of embarkation, and two children between the ages of one and 14 as an adult) for as many of such adults as the ship can legally carry; but in case some of the passengers shall in pursuance of written directions to that effect from the said Governor be landed at Madras, and the rest at Calcutta, then the passage-money shall be at the rate of 11 l. 18 s. 6 d. per adult, subject, however, in both cases, to the deduction mentioned in Article 3, for such persons as may die or leave the ship during the voyage: Provided always, that if the Government Emigration Agent at Calcutta shall agree to give to the vessel, within 30 days from the landing of the passengers at that port, a full complement of Coolies, according to the law in force in India, to be conveyed back to the West Indies, then and in such case the passage-money to be paid for the Coolies brought from the West Indies shall be reduced at the rate of 1 l. per statute adult; and the passagemoney of those carried from India to the West Indies shall be at the rate of 9 l. 18 s. 6 d. per adult according to the Indian law: Provided also, that if any such vessel shall be employed by the said Emigration Agent at Calcutta, for the purpose aforesaid, the said Messrs. Hyde, Hodge & Co. shall execute a charter-party for the same, which shall contain the same stipulations and conditions as are comprised in the lately printed form of charterparty used by the said Commissioners for vessels taken up by them for the conveyance of Coolies from India to the West Indies.

Art. 13. That in the event of the said Messrs. Hyde, Hodge & Co. being required to convey to India in the same vessel, passengers to be embarked at Trinidad as well as at Demerara, then and in such case the amount of the passage money on the full complement shall be increased at the rate of 1 l. per statute adult.

Art. 14. That the passage-money shall be paid by the said Commissioners within 30 days after an account, setting forth the full particulars of the claim, together with the following documents, shall have been deposited with the said Commissioners in London.

1st. A list signed by the Emigration Agent at the port of embarkation, of the passengers embarked by him; distinguishing between adults and children, and specifying which of such children are infants less than one year old, for whom no charge is to be made.

2d. A certificate signed by the Emigration Agent at the port of disembarkation, or other officer appointed by the local government for the purpose, stating the number of such adults, children and infants respectively, landed alive, and that he is satisfied that the terms of this agreement have been fully and fairly complied with.

3d. A certificate signed by the surgeon, declaring that the passengers were treated according to agreement during the voyage, and specifying the names and ages of all who have died or left the ship during the voyage, and if none have so died, or left the ship, containing a declaration to that effect.

Art. 15. That the said Commissioners, or their secretary, or the Government Emigration Agent at the port of embarkation shall not be personally liable, nor shall their private

BRITISH GUIANA.

estate and effects be responsible for the payment of any money or damages that shall or may become due or recoverable by virtue of these presents.

Art. 16. That this agreement, if not dissented from by the Governor of British Guiana, shall continue in force till the 1st of April 1852.

In witness whereof the said parties hereto of the first and second parts respectively, have hereunto set their hands respectively the day and year above written.

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The following is to be the daily scale for one adult; women to receive the same as men; children to receive one-half; no rations for infants under one year.

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Dry provisions for bad weather when the usual provisions cannot be cooked :Choorah (Avil), 1 seer, or 2 lbs.; bhootgram (Cuddalay), seer, or lb.; sugar, 1 cuttack, or 2 oz. Eighteen days' stock of dry provisions to be laid in for the voyage.

LIST of MEDICINES and MEDICAL COMFORTS.

Supply for any number of Emigrants from 50 to 100. The quantities to be increased for additional number beyond 100 at the rate of half these quantities per 100.

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(No. 264.)

COPY of a DESPATCH from Earl Grey to Governor Barkly.

Sir, Downing-street, 1 November 1850. I HEREWITH transmit to you for your information, the copy of a letter dated the 4th instant, which has been addressed to me by Mr. Scoble at the instance of the committee of the Anti-Slavery Society, stating the views of that society on the subject of immigration into the West India Colonies and Mauritius, and in reference to certain Ordinances for the promotion of such immigration which have been passed by the legislatures of British Guiana and Trinidad.

No. 42. Earl Grey to Governor Barkly.

1 November 1850.

I have, &c.
(signed)
Grey.

Enclosure in No. 42.

To the Right honourable Earl Grey, Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies,

My Lord,

&c. &c.

THE Committee of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society had reason to hope that, Encl. in No. 42. after the prolonged and minute discussions, extending now over many years, into which the Government have entered relative to the immigration of foreign labourers into the British emancipated colonies, and the extensive experience which they have had of its results, some great scheme, founded on the broad principles of justice and humanity, might have been prepared, which should secure the rights and promote the welfare of all parties interested in it. Such, however, has not been the case; and the committee deeply regret to find, from official correspondence laid before Parliament, and from certain Ordinances which have recently been enacted in British Guiana and Trinidad, that, substantially, the old plans of immigration are still to be persisted in, with certain modifications abridging the rights and affecting the interests of the immigrants.

From the facts which have come to light in connexion with this subject, the following results are clearly apparent:

First. That whilst the several schemes of immigration hitherto acted upon have proved extremely costly, they have produced no corresponding benefits to the colonies. In Mauritius, immigration has been carried to a greater extent and at a less cost than in any other colony, and yet the committee find, from petitions laid before both Houses of Parliament during the last session, signed by 699 planters, merchants, proprietors and other inhabitants of the island, that, notwithstanding they have imported "145,000 labourers, at the enormous cost of 1,250,000l., they have been doomed to utter failure;" and that the experience of the last 16 years "enables them conscientiously to declare, that as far as their colony is concerned, free labour yields considerably less, and is much more expensive than the labour of the slave." They therefore ask for protection against their rivals in the British markets to render immigration fruitful, and for immigration to be carried on to a greater extent than ever, at the public expense, to keep up and extend the cultivation of their estates.

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It may be said, in the case of Mauritius, that the sugar crops of the colony have been increased by the importation of immigrants, and that particular individuals have been benefited by so large an accession of labour. It could not well have been otherwise; but the colony at large has suffered immensely, from the partiality shown by the Government to particular interests, and from the heavy pressure of taxation levied on the community to sustain them. Yet, in spite of all the efforts made and the sacrifices endured, the Mauritians deliberately say, the result of immigration has been "utter failure," so far even as their special interests are concerned. Nothing more condemnatory of the scheme than this can be conceived.

During the seven years ending with 1849, the number of immigrants imported into Mauritius was 81,170; of whom 4,833 were children, leaving 75,377 adults available for labour; yet the latest accounts from the colony report that, so great was the want of labour in the colony, that it was feared a portion of the crop on the ground would be lost, notwithstanding the high rate of wages paid for labour at that time.

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But if Mauritius has received no substantial benefits from immigration, Guiana and Trinidad, with their more costly schemes, are worse off still. Not content with the supplies of labour derived from Sierra Leone, St. Helena, Madeira, &c., the planters of Guiana have insisted upon the introduction cf Coolies; with what results, the following extracts from the "Royal Gazette," the official paper of the colony, will show :-"The Coolies," it says, "have already proved a very dear bargain to the country, which is as badly off now as before the experiment of importing them was commenced, in 1845. It is true, that in the four years ending in 1849, individual proprietors may have derived some temporary advantage from the services of these people; still, it is questionable whether the condition of the colony, as an exporting community, has been much improved by the large and costly experiment of 1845. That experiment told, at the earliest, on the sugar crop of 1846. Therefore, though the first batch of Coolies were imported here in 1845, the crop of that year was in nowise produced by Coolie labour." Now, to judge," it continues to observe, "of the general value of our Coolie importations, let us take the exports of sugar and coffee during the four years preceding 1846, and compare them with those of the last four, for this appears to us the only true way of testing the question, what the community at large, as an exporting country, has gained by Coolie labour. The sugar and coffee crops, it will be seen, of the four years affected by Coolie labour were, 18461849, sugar, 157,438 hogsheads; 1846-1849, coffee, 566,440 lbs.; whereas during the preceding four years, the exports of these crops were, 1842-1845, sugar, 150,595 hogsheads; 1842-1845, coffee, 5,597,893 lbs., making a difference in favour of the last four years, ending 1849, as regards sugar, of 6,843 hogsheads; but, upon the other hand, in favour of the first four years, ending 1845, as regards coffee, of 5,031,453 lbs. Thus it will be seen we are, under the Coolie system, after spending vast sums of money upon it, at the best very much where we were, in an agricultural point of view, after the experiment as before it. We have gained in point of exports 6,843 hogsheads of sugar, and lost 5,031,453 lbs. of coffee." "For our own parts," it remarks, in conclusion, "we are inclined to suspect that the coffee lost was worth more than the sugar gained, and that, somehow or other, in spite of all our efforts, all our experience and all our Coolies, we have gone backwards in the world instead of forwards. The number of Coolies imported into Guiana from 1845 to 1848, both inclusive, was 12,263, and the cost of importing them, exclusive of all the expenses incurred in the colony on their account, and without making any provision for their back passage of the survivors to India, at the expiration of their periods of service, was about 200,000l.

But the Gazette" does not state the whole of the case; it refers exclusively in its argument to the Coolies, whereas, during the same period, from 1845 to 1849, in addition to these people, there were 15,660 other immigrants introduced into the colony at the public expense; that is to say, the total number of immigrants imported into the colony, in these five years, was 27,923, and yet the crop exported in 1849 was less than in 1845: viz. 1849, sugar, 37,419 hogsheads, and coffee, 92,000 lbs.; 1845, sugar, 39,647 hogsheads, and coffee, 501,900 lbs. The additional expense connected with the importation of the 15,660 immigrants, just referred to, the committee estimate at from 100,000l. to 110,000l. It therefore appears, that the introduction of 27,923 immigrants into Guiana from 1845 to 1849, at a cost of upwards of 300,000l., and involving large additional liabilities, has been worse than a dead loss to the colony, for, without increasing its exports, it has impoverished its people, and burthened them with an amount of taxation which they are positively unable to bear. And now, notwithstanding the colony has imported since the year 1835 no less than 46,625 immigrants, principally males in the prime of life, Governor Barkly, in a despatch to your Lordship, dated the 18th of June 1849, says, "Immigration must again proceed on an extensive scale, to prevent the ruin of this colony." Following up this idea, the Court of Policy have made provision for the introduction of 10,000 Coolies, besides Africans and Madeirans, by mortgaging the revenues of the colony for the next 25 years. In other words, the permanent population are to be harassed and borne down by oppressive taxation, to give a factitious value to estates, belonging for the most part to absentee proprietors, and who as merchants or shipowners will derive the chief advantage from the operation.

Trinidad has derived no greater benefit from its immigrants than has Guiana. In 1848 Lord Harris showed that up to the end of the year 1847, 22,015 immigrants had been imported into the island, at a cost of 150,8447.; but on referring to their value as an addition to the Creole population, he says, "The immigrants have not, up to the present time,

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answered the purposes for which they were imported, or that, at all events, a most extensive BRITISH GUIANA. diminution has taken place; for though the immigration may be said to have commenced in 1839, yet by far the larger portion has occurred within the last five years." Again his Excellency says, "I would here call your Lordship's attention to the result of the policy which has been carried on, and how by it the finances of the colony have been reduced; how its means have been consumed in a most extravagant and but very partially successful system of immigration. To this everything has been sacrificed." And later still, in 1849, Lord Harris again refers to the subject in the following terms: "I think it has been clearly shown, that up to the present time, and with higher prices" (for sugar in the home market), "no great gain has accrued in consequence of immigration." In looking over the immigrant returns, the committee find that from 1839 to 1849, both included, the number imported into Trinidad was 23,634, and yet his Lordship complains, "that great difficulties have fallen upon the planters this year (1849) in consequence of the increasing scarcity of labour." But, further, in his last published despatch, he says: "Since 1846, 28 estates have been thrown out of cultivation, and as many more are nearly abandoned. Nineteen planters have gone through the Insolvent Court; their liabilities amounted to 370,000l.; the average dividend paid, to 31 d. in the pound." And, yet in the face of these facts, his Lordship recommends further immigration, and the Legislative Council have made provision for the introduction of 1,000 Coolies per annum, as well as for such other immigrants as they can. procure at the public expense. Such infatuation and recklessness are greatly to be deplored. In the mean time, those who have borne the burthen are crying out under their heavy grievances, but having no voice in controlling public affairs, and pertinaciously denied the right of representation, they are unheard and unheeded; and should this unwise policy be much longer continued, it may be feared that discontent will ripen into disaffection.

Secondly, Another effect of immigration, as hitherto conducted, has been the rapid displacement of the emancipated classes, or native labourers, by foreigners. The registered slave population of Mauritius, British Guiana and Trinidad in 1834, was 175,887, including men, women and children; the compensation awarded to these three colonies, amounted to the enormous sum of 7,448,8601. Since the period of emancipation, Mauritius has been allowed to import 145,000 labourers; British Guiana, 46,625; and Trinidad, 23,634, exclusive of those imported on private account, in all 215,259, or about 40,000 more than the entire slave population of these colonies amounted to in 1834. These immigrants were composed, with the exception of a few thousand children, of adults in the prime of life. The cost of this vast immigration to the colonies, cannot have been much less, all things included, than 2,000,000l. sterling. But this host of foreign labourers, imported at so great an expense, has not added materially, if at all, to their agricultural strength. The immigrants have displaced the Creoles,-the inferior both in point of strength and skill, have driven the superior from the plantations; or, rather the superior labourers have left the estates rather than submit to the servile terms offered them, and the tyranny that would take from them the liberty they so highly prize. They are not to be blamed, but rather recommended for this; but those who have made immigration the antagonist, and not the auxiliary to emancipation, are, in the judgment of the committee, deserving of severe condemnation for their unjust and arbitrary proceedings.

By returns laid before Parliament, the committee learn, that on the 30th of September 1848, the entire number of immigrants employed on sugar and other estates in Mauritius, amounted to 18,442, and of the Creole population only 1,532, although there were emancipated in 1834, no less than 68,613 slaves. At the end of 1848, it was found that the total number of immigrants employed on the plantations in British Guiana, was 14,274, and of the Creole population only 14,297, although the number of slaves emancipated in 1834, was returned at 84,915. In November 1847, the number of immigrants remaining on estates in Trinidad, was 7,172, and of Creoles only 3,166. So deplorable a result of immigration, as these figures exhibit, should awaken the serious attention of all parties interested in the welfare of the colonies, to its impolicy; and to the necessity of winning back a fair proportion at least, of the Creoles, now rapidly increasing in number, to their original employments, by fair and honourable treatment. The committee are persuaded, that a better or more tractable peasantry cannot be found, when properly treated, than the emancipated classes.

Thirdly. A further result of past immigration, has been to render that which should have been used as a mere temporary expedient, a matter of urgent and continual necessity. Two circumstances have contributed to this; first, the great bulk of the immigrants have been males; and, secondly, they have been introduced into the colonies for a period of five years only. The consequence is, that every year, a number of immigrants equal to those who have died or returned home, must be imported to replace them, or the cultivation in which they were engaged cannot be maintained. For instance, Mauritius imported in 1845, 10,290 Coolies; their contracts expire this year; Guiana imported in 1846, 4,019; and Trinidad, 2,450 Coolies; their contracts expire next year; and, under the present system, the means of replacing them must be found. They may die, but they will not settle in the colonies. Their wives, their children, their friends and their homes are in India, and to that country they will return, except under very special circumstances. To show the injudicious character of the immigration scheme in this point of view, more plainly still, the committee remark, that, up to 1839, 25,468 immigrants were introduced into Mauritius, all of whom, with the

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