Our People. 2] 
It would appear. moreover, from Mr. Hewick’s article that he does not take 
into account these so-called “coloured people.” No mention whatever is 
made of them. But if he wishes to include them in his references to the black 
race, then his statement is an egregious error. For by the same census returns 
the coloured people show an increase of 1,222. The Census Commissioner 
reports as follows :—‘‘ Taken by races, the only race divisions to show an 
increase during the period 1891-1911 are the Hast Indians or coolies, who 
show an increase of 21,054, or very nearly 20 per cent. in numbers ; the blacks, 
who (taken separately from the Africans—who now number but 1,114) have 
increased by 2,217 or 1.96 per cent. ; and the mixed or coloured race, who show 
an increase of 1,222 or over 4 percent.” And when it is remembered that the 
census was taken when hundreds of these blacks were away in Dutch Guiana 
at work in the balata fields, and great numbers were in the hinterland of this 
colony beyond the reach of the most industrious sub-commissioner of census, 
additional force is lent to my contradiction. 
With reference to the “reverse of progress ”’ alleged to be shown by statis- 
tics “in the upward march in condition,” Mr. Hewick must have had exclusive 
sources whence he obtained these siatistics. I suppose allusion is here made 
to the possession of material wealth, for which no statistics exist. But it is 
usual to conclude from the annual reports of the Savings Banks under Govern- 
ment control that the figures there given indicate the wealth of the various 
nationalities resident in the colony. There are no other statistics of which I 
am aware to which reference can be made. But the conclusion thus usually 
drawn is glaringly fallacious. Savings Bank deposits show, at the very most, 
the thriftiness of the common people. It is illogical to regard them as a sign 
of wealth. In point of fact a man’s bank account is an uncertain indicator of 
his means ; it is much rather indicative of his uninvested surplus cash. Upon 
teflection that the black people own considerable property in Georgetown 
and New Amsterdam, estates in the Canals and the Canals Polder, where much 
cultivation is carried on, that the numerous villages abounding in the colony 
belong almost exclusively to the black people, that under the direction of the 
Local Government Board these people are paying to bring their holdings to a 
state of perfect sanitation on up-to-date lines, that the majority of the houses 
are well-kept and sufficiently well-appointed to suit the needs of the occu- 
pants—conditions which are an undoubted improvement upon those which 
Mr. Hewick’s so unequivocally lauds—their families are better clothed, fed and 
educated than the Hast Indians are,—ii is clear that Mr. Hewick got his 
information at second-hand. To conclude from mere comparisons of the 
respective savings banks’ accounts of negroes and Hast Indians, that the former 
are retrograding whilst the latter are progressing 1s,to say the least, a most 
unwarrantable mental proceeding. If the assets and liabilities of each indi- 
vidual were balanced, and the results then compared, the conclusion would 
not be the same. 
But I am quite alive to the fact that there isa great deal of avoidable waste 
amongst the negro population; happily the hardships endured since the failure 
of the gold industry have taught the people a salutary lesson. Their lack 
of penuriousness is due to their environment, and to the evil example of those 
