| £ | s. | d. | |
| Rent of 2 acres of land as a ground for each able adult, at £5 per acre | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Do. of house and garden, from £4 to £10 per annum, say | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| Medical attendance, medicine, &c. &c., worth £4 per annum | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Clothing and Christmas allowance per annum | 1 | 13 | 4 |
| ---- | ---- | ---- | |
| 21 | 13 | 4 | |
| ---- | ---- | ---- | |
| Four days' or 36 hours' labor in each week, at 2s. 1d. per day, or 208 days, at 2s. 1d. | 21 | 13 | 4 |
| If task-work were adopted, or the day's labor prolonged to 10-1/2or 12 hours' labor, 3 days' or 3-1/2 days' laborwould suffice, consequently, the laborer would have 2 or 3days in each week to work for extra wages. | 21 | 13 | 4 |
| In addition to the above, say pasturagefor a horse, at 4s. 2d. per week per annum | 10 | 16 | 8 |
| Pasturage for an ass, at 2s. 1d. per week per annum | 5 | 6 | 4 |
| Run of pasturage and fruit, for a sow, barrow, or sholt; IF RUNG IN THENOSE, 10d. per week;IF NOT RUNG, 1s. 8d. per week; perannum, at 10d. per week | 2 | 3 | 4 |
The above charges for pasturage might be paid for either by additional labor or in money, and to a good head-man they might be granted as a gratuity, and perhaps an additional acre of land allowed him to cultivate. It would be desirable that the negroes should, when quite free, work 11 hours per day in the short days, and 12 hours in the longer ones. I believe the shortest day's labor in England in the winter months in 10 hours' actual labor, and 12 hours' in the summer, for which 2 hours they are paid extra wages.
St. Mary's, 8th June, 1838. S.R.
The date should not escape notice. By this plan, for a few petty indulgences, all of which were professedly granted in the time of slavery itself, the master could get the entire labor of the negro, and seven or eight pounds per annum besides! Some may be disposed to regard this as a mere joke, but we can assure them it was a serious proposal, and not more monstrous than many things that the planters are now attempting to put in practice. The idea of actually paying money wages was horrifying and intolerable to many of the planters; they seem to have exercised their utmost ingenuity to provide against so dreadful a result. One who signed himself an "Old Planter" in the Despatch, before the abolition of the apprenticeship, in view of the emancipation of the non-praedials which was to take place on the first of August, gravely wrote as follows:--
"It is my intention, therefore, when the period arrives for any arrangement with them, to offer them in return for such services, the same time as the praedials now have, with of course the same allowances generally, putting out of the question, however, any relaxation from labor during the day, usually allowed field laborers, and understood as shell-blow--house people being considered at all times capable of enjoying that indulgence at their pleasure, besides the impossibility of their master submitting to such an inconvenience.--This appears to me to be the only mode of arrangement that would be feasible, unless we resort to money wages, and I should regret to find that such a precedent was established in this instance, for it would only be a forerunner to similar demands at the coming period, when the praedials became free."
There were more reasons than one why "money wages" were feared by the Jamaica planters. A great many estates are managed by attorneys for absentee proprietors. These gentlemen pocket certain commissions, for which reason they keep in cultivation estates which cannot possibly yield a profit under a system of paid labor. They deem it for their interest to retain their occupation even at the expense of their employers. Not a few conceive it for their interest to depreciate the value of property that they may purchase low, hence they deem it good policy to refuse wages, let the crops perish, and get up a panic. The documents we shall furnish will be clear on these points. The great diversity of practice in the planters in regard to wages, as well as the reasonable disposition of the laborers, is shown by the following paragraphs culled from the Morning Journal of August 10:--
"ST. DAVIDS.--A gentleman in the management of a property in this parish, writes in the following strain to his employer--"I have an accession of strength this morning. The people are civil and industrious. I have received letters assuring me that the example of the Cocoa Walt estate people, has been the means of inducing those on other estates to enter into the terms proposed"--that is 5s. per week, with houses, grounds, medicines, &c, &c."
"St. Thomas in the East.--The apprentices on Golden Grove Estate, turned out to work on Monday, but we have not learnt on what terms. At Mount Vernon, the property of Kenneth McPherson Esq., they turned out on Tuesday morning to work for five days in the week, at 10d. per day with houses, grounds, &c."
"Trelawny--A correspondent writes, every thing is quiet, and the people would go to work if any bargains were made, but I believe throughout the parish the people were directed to go to work on Monday morning, without any previous arrangement, or being even told how much they would be paid, or asked what they expected. On one estate 1s. 8d. with houses and grounds was offered and refused. Some of the masters are determined, it is said, to hold out, and will not consent to give more than 1s. 3d. or 1s. 8d. per day."
"St. Johns.--The people in this parish are at work on most of the estates without any agreement. They refuse the offer of 1s. 01-2d. per day, but continue to labor, relying on the honor and liberality of the planters for fair and reasonable pay. If they do not get these in two weeks, our correspondent writes, there will be a dead stop. The laborers fix the quantity of work to be done in a day, agreeable to the scale of labor approved of by the Governor during the apprenticeship. For any thing beyond that, they demand extra pay, as was usual under that system."