RESIDENT PROPRIETARY. 397 



The tillage of the soil ought to receive the largest share of 

 encouragement; to this subject I cannot too often recur: and yet, 

 excepting the cultivation of the sugar-cane, all other growths are 

 discouraged, particularly by the heavy ward- rates ; whilst, on the 

 other hand, an immense number of individuals are allowed to 

 resort to petty trade, free from taxation, or to shift at pleasure 

 from one place to another, almost everywhere leaving behind them 

 the dupes of their frauds among the credulous. And yet, upon 

 the success of agricultural pursuits, and the tendency of the 

 labouring population towards those pursuits, depends the prosperity 

 of every class not of the hired labourer only, but of the artisan, 

 of professional men, and of the mercantile body; their profits 

 must be in proportion with those of the cultivators of the soil. 

 Encouragement given to the growth of provisions and the rearing 

 of live stock, would tend to retain in the colony a large amount 

 of specie annually. We pay to foreign markets for fresh meat and 

 other articles of food, the enormous sum of 121,000 sterling per 

 annum, and of that sum we could save at least 40,000 sterling, 

 by only producing our own corn, rice, plantains, yams, &c., and 

 by rearing our own domestic animals of all kinds. True, part of 

 the tribute money we pay to Venezuela, and for cattle particu- 

 larly, remains in the colony, as remittances for merchandise 

 purchased ; but, it cannot be regarded as an accession to the 

 island capital, since it is paid over to our merchants, who generally 

 return home after a greater or less number of years, with whatever 

 amount of fortune they may have accumulated. 



Much has been said on the importance of a resident proprietary, 

 and the beneficial influence such a body must exercise on the pros- 

 perity of these colonies. I concur, heart and soul, in all that has 

 been said on this subject : yet, at the same time, I cannot shut 

 my eyes against the fact that rich proprietors will always feel a 

 strong inclination to spend a part, if not the whole, of their time 

 and revenue in Europe, which offers so many attractions to the 

 educated and the wealthy. But the small proprietor must, of 

 necessity, become a fixture in the island, there accumulating his 

 savings and concentrating his affections. Those who are already 

 possessed of a small capital, those who would emigrate to the 

 colony at their own expense, and, finally, imported emigrants who 

 might have made money by persevering industry, would evidently 

 form the best foundation of an industrious class of small proprietors. 



