349 
labourers on estates. If work cannot be found for the labour- 
ng 
i ion on estates, they must either emigrate or support 
themselves by cultivating small plots of land th 
account. No large industry, other than agriculture, offers any 
prospect of success, except possibly the gold industry in British 
uiana, and when large estates cannot be profitably worked 
the adoption of the system of cultivation by petty proprietors 
is inevitable. 
113. The labouring PR in the West Indies is mainly 
of negro blood, but “ther is also, in some of the Colonies, a 
strong body of "Fast Thi immigrants, e the descendants of 
such immigrants. The negro is an efficient la espai pore 
hen he receives good wages. He is disignlitied. $ nuous 
the future, E rily good-humoured, but  excitable and 
difficult to manage, especially in large numbers, when his 
temper is arouse iod. 
114. The East Indian immigrant, ordinarily known as the 
coolie, is not so strong a workman, but he is a steadier and 
more reliable labourer. He is economical in his habits, is fond 
of saving money, and will turn his hand to anything by which 
he can improve his position. 
115. The cultivation of the sugar-cane has been almost entirely 
carried on in the past on large estates, but both the negro and the 
coolie like to own small pat tches of land by which they may make 
iens ea sp and take a pride in their position as landholders, 
ugh in some cases they also labour at times on the larger 
tes a are generally glad to have the opportunity of earn- 
ing money occasionally by working on such estates, and on the 
construction and maintenance of roads and other public works. 
The existence of a class of small proprietors among the popula- 
tion is a source of both economic and political strength. 
116. The settlement of the labourer on the land has not, asa 
rule, been viewed with favour in the past by the persons interested 
in sugar estates. What suited them best was a large rn] of 
labourers, entirely dependent on being able to find work on the 
estates, and, consequently, subject to their eee and willing to 
work at low rates of w wage i. But it seems to us that no reform 
affords so good a prospect for the permanent weta in the future 
of the West Indies as ^u settlement of the labouring population 
on the land as small peasant proprietors ; and in.many places this 
is the only means by which the population can in future be sup- 
ported. The drawbacks to the system of peasant proprietors have 
hitherto been their want of knowledge and care in cultivation, and 
the habit of what is called predial larceny. The latter term is 
applied to the theft of growing crops, which is said to be very 
prevalent. We do not believe it will disappear until such 
practices are universall condemned oy native public opinion, 
which, unfortunately, does not appear to be the case at present, 
and in ‘the meantime each Colony e ded vim the question as 
