§ Mr. G. Berkeley,who spoke amidst some noise, was understood to ask the noble Lord, the Secretary for the Colonies, whether he was aware that in some of the West India colonies the cost of making a hogshead of sugar was really greater than its value in the home market? and also whether he were aware that there at present existed great facilities for the agents of proprietors in the colonies to defraud the owners of estates by means of false registers of the cost of production? and, lastly, he wished 330 to know whether the Government had in contemplation any plan for the importation of labourers into the West India colonies?
Lord Stanley,in reply, observed that, as the questions put to him were of very great importance, he could not with propriety answer them simply in the negative or affirmative, but would, with the permission of the House, do so as shortly as possible. He believed, that the hon. Gentleman's first question applied only to the colonies of Demerara and Berbice, and not to all the West-Indian colonies. He was aware of the fact of the enormous expense of cultivating certain estates in consequence of the competition for labour enhancing the cost of producing sugar. A large body of planters had made general complaints on the subject, and had stated, that on some estates—he believed, six in number—in consequence of the competition for labour, and high wages given, the expense of cultivation was found to have been much greater than the value of the produce. Under such a state of things, it was obvious, that cultivation could not go on for any time. It was, therefore, clear, that some steps must be taken to prevent competition going on in this way, although he doubted whether the planters proposed to take the best mode of effecting this object. The second question related to the opportunities which dishonest agents might have in defrauding the owners of estates in this country. He did not doubt, that absentee proprietors in the West Indies, as anywhere else, could not compete successfully with the resident proprietors as regarded the superintendence of their property, and, of course with reference to the absentees, it must be much more in the power of the agent to make false returns, than it could be to persons residing on the spot. If he might be allowed to offer an opinion on this subject, he would say, that in the present very critical situation—which he did not deny, and which was much to be lamented —of the West-Indian colonies, and with the much greater facilities of communication between them and this country, which had lately been introduced, it would be highly desirable to induce the personal attention of owners of estates in the West Indies to their property there. He believed, that much might be effected by a personal visit, as regarded a saving in the management of their estates in 331 various charges, which it would be difficult for him, or for any one in that House, to form an accurate opinion of, or to enumerate, and that it would tend to bring about a great moral change, which he believed was inevitable and desirable, namely, a transfer of the management of property, from the hands of agents to those of resident tenants. That change he believed to be now in progress, and he believed it to be most desirable for proprietors themselves, and for the public generally. He would venture to say this, with respect to the expense of cultivation, that there was no single instance in which this natural consequence had not followed as effect and cause—namely, that where they gave to the negro labourer an interest in the amount of work to be performed, and in the amount of produce raised, there they would obtain constant and industrious labourers; but where they did not give that interest, there they would not obtain them. The amount of competition carried on there at present was ruinous. The planters were competing with each other in this way, by employing their labourers for a certain time, and paying them accordingly, and not by giving the labourers an interest in their work, by rewarding them according to the actual portion done. This, he thought, was a great cause of the ruinous expense which the planters were now subject to in the West-India colonies. With regard to the importation of labourers, he considered the emigration from Sierra Leone and the coast of Africa, had been most useful and beneficial for the persons importing; from all classes, with the exception of European emigrants, the Government had received the most satisfactory account with regard to their health and prospects. But the hon. Gentleman must be aware there were great difficulties in promoting general emigration from the coast of Africa, or from any quarter in which it was not in the power of the Government to see, that the emigration was really free, really voluntary, and really and entirely at the option of the parties emigrating. He would not say, it might not be possible or advisable even to extend the system in operation at Sierra Leone, to the subordinate colony on the Gambia; but the hon. Gentleman must allow him to say, in regard to her Majesty's other settlements on the coast of Africa, which possessed no land beyond that on which the colony 332 actually stood, and which were in the centre of a population in whose laws domestic slavery was closely interwoven, there was great difficulty in sanctioning the system of emigration from these districts. Although it might be highly beneficial to the emigrant going out, it was almost impossible to avoid one of two fevils, or perhaps both; either that these settlements should become the refuge of fugitive slaves from all quarters around, and thereby bring down upon the colony, the jealousy of the chiefs of the country; or, if that were not the case, the emigration would not be voluntary, but a forced emigration, giving encouragement to the sale of slaves, by those chiefs who possessed a property in almost the whole of the population. He had answered the question to the best of his power, and hoped, that he had not occupied too much of the time of the House, but he felt, that these were points on which it was necessary to state distinctly what were the views of her Majesty's Government on a subject so intimately connected with the office he had the honour to fill.