508 HISTORY 



for further changes in society, that they ought to strictly obey the reciprocal 

 obligations imposed on them, and that their cooperation was necessary to secure 

 the most benefit to themselves,^'' and further " to impress on all parties that 

 the term of apprenticeship was one of probation in which they were to be 

 gradually prepared for the new relations in which they would ultimately stand 

 to each other, and that the best preparation for the change would be a strict 

 observance of the law and the obligations it had imposed." ^'"' They heard com- 

 plaints of employers and employees, settled disputes and adjusted differences, 

 the neglect of which might have led to more serious disturbances/™ They had 

 authority to judge of the point at issue in dispute, between employer and em- 

 ployee, in case of the failure of the parties to agree/" These things they did 

 with results that were most gratifying to those interested in the success of the 

 change in progress/" They quieted the misapprehensions of all parties, re- 

 stored order, and won the confidence of the people/'^ To keep the peace and 

 quell incipient disorders, jails and places of confinement had to be erected. As 

 hard labor was much employed as a form of punishment, work-houses were to be 

 supplied. The special justices cooperated with the rate payers in providing 

 funds to pay the cost of materials and of work on these buildings. They ap- 

 pointed constables in every district, who made monthly circuits, received com- 

 plaints and kept journals of them. These constables were empowered, in 

 extreme cases, to send offenders to Nassau during the intervals between the visits 

 of the special magistrates. Ordinarily these constables were called on to act 

 only when the justices came. They acted for the most part as advisers to 

 apprentices.'*" The magistrates made sketches and surveys of lands in the 

 Out-islands, took account of any features of soil, etc., that might conduce to the 

 formation of settlements. They were members of the school commission and 

 visitors of the public schools. They aided the out-lying communities in erect- 

 ing school houses and in providing means of education.^*' 



Lieutenant-Governor Colebrooke rightly judged that the special justices 

 on their tours would collect much information as to the actual condition of 

 things in the Colony, by which information he could ]u-ofit in making more 



■■'•^ Sess. P., 1836, 49, p. 513. instructions to magistrates. 



^"=H. v., 1834-35, p. 190. 



^"Colebrooke to Glenelg, No. 122, Dec, 1833. 



"' Sess. P., 1836, 49, p. 532. 



"^ H. v., 1834-35, p. 184 ff. 



''^ Colebrooke to Aberdeen, No. 53. 



^^ Sess. P., 1836, 49, pp. 512-14. 



''^^ hoc. cit.. pp. 512-13, and 543-45. 



