[Footnote A: The sums are in the currency of the islands when not otherwise specified, that is 7s 6d to the dollar.]
L
s. d.
Rent of 2 acres of land as a ground for
each able adult, at L5 per acre 10
0 0
Do. of house and garden, from L4 to
L10 per annum, say 6
0 0
Medical attendance, medicine, &c. &c.,
worth L4 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 10-1/2
or 12 hours’
labor, 3 days’ or 3-1/2
days’ labor
would suffice, consequently,
the
laborer would have 2 or 3
days
in each week to work for extra
wages.
In addition to the above, say pasturage
for 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 THE
NOSE, 10_d. per week_; IF
NOT RUNG,
1_s._ 8_d. per week; per annum,
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.