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West India Emancipation

West India Emancipation image
Parent Issue
Day
26
Month
June
Year
1843
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

The Librnitor has compressed in'o the followlnj aiticle, mncli interesting in'ormation touching the West India Kmnncipntion ecbeióe dnring1 tlio past year. It is gafhced from the statements of the Brilih and Foreign AntiSlavery Societiy's Committee, who iiave been making diligent inquines tin the subject, and 'Ins received volutninous replies from the vurions colonies - all of a very satisfactory character.""It appars that, in Jamaica, the wages given to field laborera average aboiit Is. Gd., per diem; reitts of hovises and grounds being cliarged separately. In Antigua and St. Kitts the average wages are Is.; rent included. - This is a compcnsation which wiil make American laborers stare, and which tliy would juslly regard, in iheir owncase as being wholy inadequat?. Yet, for this small stipend, the efpancipated slaves in the West India colon es labor clieeifully, and out of it, in many instunces, contrive not only to support their fami lies, hut also to give sub.stantial aid in the cause of religión and eIucatkn. Labor is principallv performed by ihe job, this plan beinf praferred by both tlie employer nnd the employed, whenever practicable - St„ Kitts being an exceplion. In Clarenden,(Jam:iica,) the average rrnt of house and ground is 2s. per week: general size of ground, one acre. In Vere, the rental is ís. per week: size of ground halfan acre; and so in otlier pluces. It has airead; been satisfnctorily demonstrated, that the relative cost of production under freedom is not so great as it was under slave - ry a poiüt of no small concern to the planters in the Soiithi In Spanish Town, accordn' to the te&timony of a large number oí both mannwers and preprietors oi estates, sugar is now manufuctured ot a chenper rale thun under the previous .ystem of slavery and apprenticcsliip. This is also proved to be the rases in Antigua, St. Kitt?, nnd other colo nies. We are sory to hear that wonien are yet in the field, and have not, as is generally suposed, being withdrawn in any great num bers from agricultura! pursuits.The enemies of emancipation predicted, before the act took place, that the effect of ït would be to throw a large number of etates ut of cuitivation, both on accounl of the inolence of the emancipated. and the insecuity n which property of every kind wouW be eld. But facts prove the fallncy of this, as well as tiie thousand and one oihor eqiially Iarming predicticns thnt were made to peretuale slavery on the West India eoil. ín Clarendon. no estatC3 hnve pone out of cultiaton,excopt from causes wholly unconnected ri:h the supply of labor. In Vere, all are in horough cuitivation. In St. Ann's Bay, Cornwall, Trelowncy, ditto. In Antiguo, some on those which had gone out of cultrvationin the dnys of slavery, had been re-establiáhed, and workshave been erected on lands, previous thereto considered waste. In St. Kitt?, the cuitivation is in many instances considerably extended over lands long lying wasteIt is grntifying to find th&t the laborera, trifling as is the recompense they rece:"e, are by their industry and economy gradna'ly becoming owners of the soil. The numbers in Spnnish Town who have become proprietors of freeholds since cmancipation, is from 1,000 to 2.000; and the number of acres possessedjy them is very Jittle short of 4,000, In St. Ann, Brown's Town; about two-thirds of Uie hbörers have pvirchased small frceholds. In Clarendon, the number of acres purchased y them is almuet bevond beiief. In Vére nu Trelowncy, mnny laborers have also purchased land. InSt. Ann's Bay those cbnnected wjlh the cong-reatioos undei the care of Rcv. T. F. Abbott, have paid bet ween LS,000 and L4,000, f.r land, since 18S6, on wliich cattnpes are erected fur between 280 and 500 families More than L4,000 sterling have bpen puid for land, by 396 ppr?ons connecied wilh the conpregntion of Jiev. B. B. Dextcr. Ofthisnumber, 169 have expended L39,391, in building houses Por tliemstlves and familieá. In Antigua, the laborers have become purchasers of land, whenever and wherever oppertunity prcsents itself. At pre sent, the rxtent of their purchase is limited, for few persons will sell more than one acre toa kborer. And these are they, uf wlrotn it wns slanderously predicted thnt, if set fret, they would be vagubonds and idler?, incendia lies and cut throats! Where are their defamers?But the successful working of emancipnliun is, perhaps rr.ost conchisively proved by a comparison of the relative value of land nnder freeflom una iJUvery. ' In Brown's Town, most of the landul propert y lias riaen in value sim e the abol:lin cf slavery. In Vere, the price of savnnnah land, in former time, was L2 2s.; since freedom, L9 12s.; cne land L9 4s. per nerc. In Clarendon, land has risen in value 400 per cent. Dunnï slavery, savannuh land couldbe bought tbr Ll or LL, o!d cunency: mbtintnin land wlr.ch could tbrmeily be bonght for L2, novv cos's from L8 to L10; and in theneihborhood ofthri'ving vilIiages, land Will fetch from L20 to L30, old cürrency. In St Ann's Bnj-, in niany case?, the value oflnd has doubledor treblorl; L15 slerlinjr has been given per acre, for land fer a rounship, vvJucli lour years since, would not have been valued at L6. In Spáuisji Tywn, manyofthe properties are worth one-third more than tltey would have been valucd at two or three years ao, Ssime are duubled in value; and lands which, rluring1 siavery, might have been purchased at LL to L4, now obtain a ready sale, at from LS to L20, per acre. From L20 to L6ü, per acre have been atked for lanas in the viciuky of town3..

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Subjects
Signal of Liberty
Old News