342 TiMEHRI. 



grant. In handling greenheprt the quicker it is done 

 when started, the less the cost, which implies the 

 command of capital and is just one of the desideratums, 

 disqualifying the men for the work who are at present 

 engaged in it. There is a want of that confidence be- 

 tween the master and servant which is all important to 

 harmony in work. The labourer is rarely if ever paid in 

 full on the expiration of his contrafl ; experience has 

 taught him to expe6l this, consequently he is always 

 on the alert to " floor" his master whilst working. The 

 labourer also knows that when his master "floors'* him it 

 is a waste of money, if he has it to spend, and time, 

 to legally sue for what the master has not in his poses- 

 sion. Furthermore, the labourer comes on the grant 

 and goes away when it suits his convenience regard- 

 less of the terms of his contra6l, and whilst on the 

 grant does his work in such quantity and of such quality 

 as he thinks fit. Discipline is unknown to the servant, 

 and the master cannot enforce it ; the law is then of 

 no pra6lical use, it is too expensive to use owing to 

 the time and money lost in traversing the distance to 

 and from Court and the long intervals between Courts &c. 

 The truck system is universally used by grantholders in 

 their transa6tions with their men, so that really the prices 

 quoted in your report are fictitious and form no adequate 

 measure of what the man makes per day. You want to 

 get at the purchasing power of the dollar before any 

 real and true estimate of the man's wage can be made. 

 I think this pernicious system ought to be abolished by 

 law. There should be no need for a man to buy any- 

 thing from his master whilst working for him, but if at 

 any time such need did arise, let the necessary article be 



