August i, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



85 



cooly immigration, similar to that in force in Demerara, 

 Trinidad, Jamaica, aud more recently in Grenada, Coolies 

 might be obtained from India at the i ate of £15 per head, of 

 which the repayment would be spread over the five years 

 dm-ing which the engagements lasts. Dm-iug this time, the 

 wages would be fixed at the rate of Is per diem, all things 

 included. For hght field work in the tropics the cooly is 

 an invaluable worker. Demerara and Trinidad, without 

 coolies, woiUd never have attained to their present pros- 

 perous condition ; and what has l)eeu done in these Colonies 

 with coolies may likewise be done in British Hondiu-as, 

 which, from the richness of its natural resources, would 

 eventually become one of the most prosperous British pos- 

 sessions in the West Indies. For reaching the fine rich 

 virgin lands on the upper portions of the yibun and Belize 

 rivers, as well as those previously described in the South, 

 a system of cheap and hght railways might be constructed 

 at a cost not exceeding £100,000. 



Sir A. MrsGRAVE. — I have been requested to open the dis- 

 cussion which usually follows on these occasions, and I very 

 willingly do so by expressing my belief that this meeting will 

 be much indebted to ilr. Morris for his able and instructive 

 paper which he has read ; it is another of those debts we 

 owe to him for the great interest he takes iu the welfare of 

 the West Indies, especially Jamaica. I am, myself, i^ecu- 

 Jiarly interested in this question, and it is a subject which 

 many have not looked at in the right way, and these West 

 Indian Islands, I fear, have fallen somewhat into disrepute 

 aud not met with the respect which they deserve, aud I think 

 there has been some want of lucidity. Kespecting the most 

 important there has been misapprehensioi:, which I tliink 

 Mr. Morris's paper will do a good deal to clear up by calling 

 people's attention to the real facts. I know it is very com- 

 monly supposed that Jamaica has been in a great state of 

 decadence ; everything has been going to the bad, and 

 altogether it is going downhill as fast as ever it can. 

 In the last years 18M-82 the colony of Jamaica has sent 

 away the largest crop of sngar and rum. making allowances 

 for what is known to be the difference in the size of the pack- 

 ages now. and this iasty'ear, fruit has been exported to the 

 value of £138,000, and "the trale »<-is in its infancy a few 

 years ago. Coffee is also holding its grounfl, aud some of the 

 Jamaica coffee is considered the finest in the world. Cocoa 

 has been largely increasing. Cinchona cultivation is being 

 largely undertaken by some of the residents, and will prove 

 to be very lucrative. I think I am within bounds in saying 

 it has reached to 2,000 lb per acre in .Java, and some 

 plants and trees in .Jamaica a few years ago were almost 

 overlooked, and when the ti-ees matured twelve years after, 

 they gave a splendid yield. I say that any colony that presents 

 these facts cannot be regarded as in a state of decadence. 

 Touching the labour question there are these facte : — 

 The railway contractors are hard at work. I was on the 

 lines three days before I left Jamaica six week ago, and the 

 contractors assiared me they had .'j.OOO persons at work and 

 they were giving the ordinary wa^es ; within the last eighteen 

 months or two years nearly 900 of the labourers have gone 

 away to the Panama canal. The largest crop, as I just now 

 said, was reaped and exported, and during that time there 

 were no complaints of want of lalxjur. If time is only given, 

 that large proportion which cannot be used for sugar laboiu: 

 will be used for other industries. The total population of 

 Jamaica ia 580,000. and fully .51 0,000 are labourers a ud the 

 sugar estates cannot employ more than five per cent. The 

 population is increasing at the rate of 7,000 a year. The 

 question is, not to find labour for the coffee or cinchona 

 and other industries, of which I am a cultivator myself, 

 but I really think the true dithculty in the future is that 

 .the labourer will refuse to work on the same conditions 

 as before. The emigration at present is 6,000, and these, 

 I believe, will return with improved notions of the labour 

 question. 



Sir F. Ba^iee: — I can quite endorse what .Sir A. Musgrave 

 has totd UK I think. I can only say I am one of the very 

 Tew people wno can speak with good authority on that small 

 slice of Central America which has been alluded to this even- 

 ing, British Honduras, having administered the Government 

 of that Colony for the past 6 years, it may naturally be ex- 

 pected that I know something about it- Before I was aware 

 Mr. Morris was going to read a paper on the West Indie.s, 

 I had placed in my hands a few rough notes on his visit to 



British Honduras. He alluded to the cu-cumstances of a 

 lethargy hanging over that colony ; I may .say that I found 

 it out to my cost. The timber trade, which was the main 

 trade of the colony, was in a state of stagnation. Xo new 

 means or no active means were a<iopted to get the timber 

 out, only by bullocks and large gangs of men, and the heat 

 was so intense the timber had to be brought out at night 

 time to the ships. I am glad attention has been called to 

 what goo<l really CAn be done in the colony, and surveys are 

 being made at the present time for railways to run up to the 

 timber forests. When iu the colony I did persuade some 

 people to open up new industries, and I hope I shall induce 

 other.s to do the ^ame. I wish I had been iu the colony at 

 the time Mr. Jlorris visited it; 1 should have had great 

 pleasure m travelling with him through it. His opmion 

 comes with great weight, and I am sure he has not exag- 

 gerated the .state of the industries and the successes that 

 have tieen acliievcd there. Auother question rai.sed by 

 Mr. Morris was that of labour. Here I cannot quite agree 

 with him. I dou't th nk any difficulty will be experienced 

 in getting labour in British Honduras ; there is a large 

 amount of labour that cau come from .St. Thomas where 

 there are a large number of people ready to migrate to 

 British Hon<luras aud get good wages, and I am sure those 

 who will take trouble to invest judiciuuslv in the colony 

 will find it yield them a handsome return, I can only add 

 that I believe Mr. Morris's remarks will be read with great 

 interest, not only iu England, but in the L'uited States of 

 America and other countries 



Jlr. J. Ohlsox. Secretary of the West India Committee 

 then made some excellent practical remarks upon points 

 raised m the paper, and we regret that pressure on our space 

 compels us to hold these over till our next issue. He dealt 

 chiefly witli the labour question, advocating a regular .system 

 of coolie immigration from Jamaica, and remarking that in 

 spite of what had been said to the contrary hehad'heard of 

 difficulty in procuring labour for cinchona planting in that 

 colony, though wages were paid at the rate of 4s. per day 

 He also suggested that Mr. Morris should, upon his return" 

 to the West Indies, prepare a memorandum of unoccupied 

 lands and the various products for which he considered them 

 suitable, together with particulars of the terms on which the 

 Government would sell them. He added that if this docu- 

 ment were deposited in some central place in London where 

 it would be easily accessible capitalists would have an 

 opportunity of studying it and might be induced thereby 

 to inve t. 



S r Hv. Barklv— As a former Governor of two of the prin- 

 cipal coionies mentioned by Mr. Morris I have listened with 

 the greatest pleasure to the admirable sketch which he has 

 given iu his paper of the comercial po.sititiou and agricultiu-al 

 condition of our West Indian colonies, and I was particularly 

 struck with the remarks on what was termed in my day the 

 " minor product-." but what are of very considerable im- 

 portance, and likely to tread at no distant date on the heels 

 of the rum and sugar trade. I was much interested in 

 the remarks on cinchona, it is a question of the greatest 

 importance. Acconling to the old adage, gfatitude is due 

 to every one who causes two blades of grass to grow 

 where only one has grown before, and therefore great 

 praise is due to those who are opening up ne>i! industries 

 like cinchona planting in the West Indies. 



Mr. Dykk : With regard to the question of small pro- 

 ducts. I think that they ought not to be thought so 

 slightly of as they sometimes are. I will make a few re- 

 marks as to these. 



Dr. KiKK, of Zanzibar, discovered several important 

 things in the West Indies, and developed the India-rub- 

 ber trade to a great extent. Turn to the Ceylon statis- 

 t's as compared with those. of Jamaica. Iu Ceylon 

 you h;.ve au island entirely de|,eudeiit upon what you 

 call sniall products. Cinchona planting has greatly ex- 

 tended, and all kinds of industries are resorted to 

 such :s cardamoms, jalap, and other things a Ceylon 

 planter is only too anxious to grow. The Ceylon 

 planters having been obliged to grow Liberian coffee, 

 which does not suit the taste of the market as well 

 as the o-d Arabian coffee does, they arc trying it in the 

 United States, and why not ! It is their bciinden duty to 

 make the best returns they can upo i what they produce and 

 so contribute to the welfare ot tin- empn-o. 



Mr. Lew :— As a native of Jamaica, and practically in- 



