CO885-24 — Page 9

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BARBADOS.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 885

24 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

seven months, and the resulting scarcity had caused the retail price of all locally grown foodstuffs to be abnormal. At the same meeting of the Legislature on the 4th of August, a resolution (No. 19 of 1914, attached hereto) was passed, placing £200 at the disposal of the Governor for the service of the Colony.

4. On the 6th of August, 1914, I appointed a committee, consisting of two members of the Legislative Council (who were also members of the Executive Committee), of three members of the House of Assembly, and of three merchants of known ability in the matter of the importation and dissemination of imported foodstuffs; the function of the committee being to advise me on the steps to be taken from time to time to maintain a proper and efficient supply of food for the people. In consequence of the recommendations of this committee I published the annexed Proclamation* (dated 10th of August, 1914), under Section 8 of The Fisheries Regu- lation Act (1904-5), shortening the close season, and permitting at once the gather- ing around the coasts of the island of sea-eggs, "which latter are an important item of food among the lower classes. This step was free from all objection, because by good fuck-the sea-eggs were exceptionally advanced in maturity for the time of the year, and were therefore quite fit for consumption.

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5. On the 11th of August, 1914, I introduced into the Legislature, and obtained the immediate enactment of, two Acts* hereto annexed; No. 11 of 1914 being to amend the Trade Act (1910-6) and the Exportation of Foodstuffs Act (1914-10), and No. 12 of 1914 being to authorize the Governor in Executive Committee to fix from time to time maximum prices for certain necessaries of life named in the Schedule to the Act.

6. On the 12th of August, 1914, I made the first Order under the latter Act. Annexed hereto is a copy of the Order,* as published in an Extraordinary Official Gazette of that date; and, for the sake of convenience of comparison, I append immediately thereafter all the subsequent Orders published under the same Act: as also a short Act* (1914-15) amending the Regulation of Prices Act by a reduction of the penalty for any breach thereof.

7. On the 11th of August the Legislature by Resolution (No. 22 of 1914, hereto annexed) placed a further sum of £1,200 at the disposal of the Governor for the service of the Colony, and on the same day by Resolution (No. 21 of 1914, hereto attached) authorized the addition of sixty recruits to the infantry of the Volunteer Force, the number mentioned being that which utilized all the spare arms and accoutrements then available in the Colony.

8. On the 20th of August there was an informal joint meeting of the members of both branches of the Legislature. The meeting had been convened by the President of the Legislative Council and Speaker of the House of Assembly; and the result of the meeting was a unanimous request asking the Governor in Executive Committee to submit forthwith to the Legislature a resolution granting £20,000 as a contribution towards the expenses of the war.

9. This request materialized in the Resolution of the 1st of September (No. 48 of 1914, hereto annexed). Ultimately this sum was borrowed from the Sugar Industry Agricultural Bank under Act 1914-14 (hereto annexed)* of the 4th of September, 1914; and since that date the money has been expended in the purchase of sugar, in accordance with your instructions.

10. Although pride can never be pardoned, a lenient view should be taken of the pleasure with which Barbados remembers that it was the first West Indian Colony to tender an offering to the dear old Mother Country, who is fighting so hard in a "righteous war."

11. On the 18th September the Legislature voted a sum of £480 to meet additional cost of telegrams due to the war (Resolution No. 49 of 1914. hereto annexed); and on the 6th of November a sum of £885 19s. was also sanctioned, to meet the war expenditure which is itemized in the Resolution No. 51 of 1914 (hereto annexed).

12. At a meeting of the Legislature on the 17th of November, 1914, resolu- tions were passed placing at the disposal of the Governor £1,000 to meet the cost of a temporary barrier across the Careenage; and £200 was also allotted for the service of the Colony generally (Resolutions Nos. 53 and 55 of 1914, annexed).

* Not reprinted.

*

13. The Trading with the Enemy Act, 1914" (1914-21, hereto annexed*), received my assent on the 19th of November, 1914.

14. The Public Safety Act, 1914" (1914-24, hereto annexed"), became law on the 18th of December, 1914.

15. With regard to the social and economic conditions of Barbados, it is of obvious importance to consider what effect the war is having upon the cost of the food and clothing in the case of the negro population. Any inquiry into this matter must, of course, be complicated if conditions have prevailed which reduce the purchasing power of the labouring population; and there are two factors of this kind in the present inquiry, viz. the drought, which has already been mentioned, and the diminution in family remittances from Panama, due to cessation of work in the canal zone.

18. Food. I append a statement (enclosure No. 20), prepared by the above- mentioned special committee on food maintenance, and comparing the normal prices of the chief imported foodstuffs prior to the war with the prices at the 31st of December, 1914.

17. Clothing of the People. I caused inquiries to be made of the principal dry-goods merchants. Their replies were in general agreement with the reply given by Messrs. Cave, Shepherd & Company, and a copy of the latter document is forwarded (enclosure No. 21) because it contains an exceptionally clear and explicit statement of the facts.

18. Earnings of the Labouring Population.-A distinction must be drawn between two classes of labourers. Thus lightermen, stevedores' labourers, coal carriers, and others whose livelihood is dependent on the shipping and coaling trade, should be distinguished from the artizans, agricultural labourers, and domestic and other servants of the island. During the month of August, in consequence of the prolongation of the drought, there was less done in the way of agricultural labour than is usual at that time of the year; but, from the incoming of the rains in September, the labour conditions of the latter of the two classes mentioned above have been normal as regards both quantity and price. In Bridgetown, however,

such has not been the case.

19. The tonnage dues received from the 1st of August to the 31st of December, 1914, were £490 (or rather more than one-seventh) less than the amount received during the same period of 1913. The Careenage dues and Harbour Master's fees were £175 (or a trifle under one-seventh) less than the corresponding amount for the same period of 1913. The coaling business of the port, indeed, shows a much greater decrease; for while in the last five months of 1913 32,246 tons of coal were taken by steamships, during the same months of 1914 only 18,271 tons were taken.

20. In answer to an inquiry made by me, the Chamber of Commerce reports as follows:-

"As the intercourse with the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada has been tarried on without any serious interruption to the existing steamship communications, the import trade may be said to have been fairly well served, having been affected, however, to some extent in the volume thereof owing to enhanced original cost of goods with increased freight, insur- ance, and other incidental charges added in consequence of the war, such as foreign exchanges and certain banking and cabling restrictions, which have, of course, brought about in some instances a curtailment of consumption in the case of foodstuffs and of demand in the case of other goods."

21. Purchasing Power of the Labouring Population.-Remittances from relatives who have emigrated to Panama, the United States, and Canada, have in recent years formed an important factor in the economic condition of the labouring population. These remittances were £16,000 less in the second half of 1914 than those for the same period of 1912, although the latter period compared unfavour- ably with corresponding periods in the four immediately preceding years. The falling off in the remittances from the United States and Canada may be due to the temporary effect which the war is exercising upon the labouring classes of those countries; but with regard to remittances from Panama the decrease must be regarded as permanent, because it is brought about by the completion of the canal and the consequent repatriation of the labourer employed in construction.

* Not reprinted.