A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 





IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. '■'""' 



"**o, 



'«"», 



Vol. XV. No. 3/ 



BARBADOS, JULY 29, 1916. 



Peice Id. 



CONTENTS. 



The Spread of Economic Effort within 

 the West Indies. 



Sir'T is very seldom th:a we find a new economic 

 ^ r^ movement initialed in several places simul- 

 rfc?*©* taneously. Betuic making an effort to put 

 any such scheme into action, records show that there 

 is generally a preliminary period of discussion, after 

 ^vhich one place at last takes the lead, and demonstrates, 

 at its own risk, the success or otherwise of the scheme 

 in hand. 



The island of .St. Vincent has been the scene of 

 a considerable amount of this experimental work in 

 economic afifiiirs, and many other islands in the West 

 Indies have benefited by tiie successful demonstrations 

 that St. ^'incent has made. This island appears to have 

 been the first in the British West Indies to undertake 

 a definite land settlement scheme. As early as 1885, 

 in connexion with the survey of the Crown lands bound- 

 ary, an attempt was made to form a land settlement 

 for the local peasantry. This, however, was affected 

 adversely by the disastrous hurricane of 1898; but in 

 1899 the policy was continued b}- the Government 

 purchasing two estates in the neighbourhood of the 

 capital town. Siiici- that time the scheme has made 

 steady progress, not only in connexion with the inclu- 

 sion of fresh land, but also in regard to the organiza- 

 tion of agricultural mothods amongst the occupiers. 



The establishuient of land settlements in St. Vin- 

 cent led, in 190;!, to the purchase by the Grenada 

 Government of two estates in Carriacou. a dependency 

 of Grenada, and in 1910 Grenada itself began on a 

 modest scale. At the present time the settlements in 

 tJrenada occupy some 600 acres. In 1911 Union 

 Island, one of the northern ( irenadines, was sold to the 

 St. Vincent Government and opened up for settlement 

 under the supervision of the Commissioner of Carriacou. 

 More receiitly, in 19 1:^, St. Lucia entered upon a defin- 

 ite policy of land settlement for peasants at Reunion 

 estate, purchased by the Government, and over 200 

 acres have been allocated for settlement. As well as 

 this, the Governments of St. Lucia, Dominica, and 

 Trinidad have endeavoured to attract European settlers 

 by means of affording facilities in regard to the 

 occupation of larger areas of Crown lands on an estate 

 scale. This latter move possesses special significance 



