g 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 t