40 



doing away with the suspicion, no man who knows anything of its; 

 working can deny ; ninety-two entries for the scheme, each competitor 

 paying his shilling in Westmoreland, over eighty promised in St. 

 Elizabeth, is a brilliant comparison to sixteen in St. Mary and twenty- 

 three in Trelawny of last year. 



" There is still the most important point left untouched : the 

 facilities gained for personal instruction ; as judges the Instructors 

 enter the holdings and go over the various points, the first question 

 usually asked being, "how me tan. sah ?" The reply will be. " well 

 you cawfee no prune too good you know." and there and then prac- 

 tical instruction is given on this point or any other point which may 

 crop up. 



" We caught one Tartar in this way : At one of the holdings land 

 was being prepared for ginger with the hoe : now, I said if you would 

 only fork that land instead of humbugging about with the hoe you 

 would get a much better crop of ginger ; if you have a fork bring it 

 here and I will show you how to use it. A fork was brought by a 

 bright looking youth, and I instructed him to commence forking his 

 way, and I would then show him the proper way. As he commenced 

 to fork I saw that he was a professional. I however let him fork a 

 bit to give me time to get over my astonishment, and then I mildly 

 asked him where he lived, and was informed " same place here." 1 

 further asked him if he had been away at anytime to see forking done, 

 and gained a negative reply. I then asked him the straight question 

 as to who taught him to fork so nicely, and was informed that he 

 attended one of my demonstrations and 1 myself had taught him. I 

 complimented him on his skill and hoped that he would by this 

 example cause all his neighbours to do likewise 



"Various objections have been, I believe, raised against the 

 scheme, one being that people were being awarded prizes which they 

 had not earned. I trust that what 1 have already said will show that 

 even if this objection had any grounds when the scheme was started 

 they do not exist now, and therefore, no argument is needed tor its 

 refutation. 



"lam positive that no scheme for rousing competition in this 

 Island has ever been productive of a tithe of the effort which the 

 Small Holdings Prize Competition has. Take the shows, for instance : 

 why all the Shows in the island do not call forth the efforl aroused 

 by the scheme in this parish alone. Mr. Allwood objects to the 

 scheme, I believe, on the ground that the money would be better 

 spent on instruction. I trust I have said enough to convince the 

 Board that this money is spenf on the linest form of instruction ]■■ 

 sible. An objection which 1 have heard raised is to the giving of 

 marks to "house and sanitary condition." I am astonished thai am 

 person should object to any Society attempting to remove the greatesl 

 plague-spot in our social system, [fan improvemenl can be broughi 

 about in the housing of our peasantry, the greatest step of all would 

 be made toward the improvement of the class, mentally, morally; 

 physically, and inconsequence, agriculturally. We want to get the 

 ambition for better things into them, and how this can be done for u 

 class housed in a waj thai is qoI tolerated anywhere in the l>riti-li 

 Empire for the vilesl criminal, 1 fail to see. Then "Sanitary Condi- 



