36 Timehri. 



They say that the people are taxed to keep up sugar. Very well, if 

 practically every man, woman and child in the colony is better off because 

 the plantations exist, why should they not contribute to their retention ? 

 As for taxation of the average labourer it is a negligible quantity ; apart 

 from rum and clothing he pays little and the former is not a necessary. 

 If the average man in the country districts kept up the sugar estates they 

 would be in a very poor condition. This is so obvious that I need not 

 dwell upon the matter. I only mention it because of so many mis- 

 representations. 



There is another absurd statement which has been often repeated — 

 the coolie takes bread from the negro labourer and lowers the price of 

 labour. If he cc;nDeted fairly in the labour market the black man could 

 more than hold his own because he is stronger than the East Indian. 

 But, there is no such competition for these immigrants who work five 

 days a week have no rivals. They stand alone in the colony as the only 

 people M'ho will keep the cane-mills in working. We can safely state that 

 though others may cut canes by the job, there could be none to feed the 

 mills if there were no East Indians. Were there no coolies we should 

 have no sugar estates, and I understand that the five working in Surinam 

 are also kept up by coolie labour. As far as can be judged no sugar 

 plantation could remain if all our East Indians left the colony. Even 

 were wages excessive we need not hope for a plantation without these 

 people for even though some jobs might be done by others, the all-round 

 work would be practically impossible. 



We have in the colony a larger proportion of East Indians than of 

 other people ; if we judge by majority alone they are " the people." We 

 are just beginning to see what they can do ; a start has been made with 

 rice, and coconuts will come to the front largely through their initiative. 

 All other industries were started by Europeans aud even were we to admit 

 that Africans were the first gold-diggers we can hardly say they did it 

 alone. We need not, however, make odious comparisons but simply call 

 attention to facts. When we see that runaways cultivated rice a century 

 and a half ago and largely fed upon it we wonder why it was left to the 

 East Indians to develop the industry. The fact is we have in our immi- 

 grants possibilities at present unknown, which we want to develop for 

 the benefit of the colony, Probably indentured immigration was not the 

 best way of getting colonists, but some good settlers have been developed 

 to the advantage of the whole colony. 



Here I must say something of the value of the different races, and it 

 must be thoroughly understood that I accept the principle that every 

 race and nation excels in something. When we speak of inferiority it 

 does not mean that the people are less developed on all lines but only on 

 some that make them more suitable for one branch of industry and less for 

 another. We must try to find out the value of each race and its capaci- 

 ties when in the right places. It seems as if all the difficulties of the 

 freed men came through misunderstandings. 



