this act is not much known. It may gradually work itself into usefulness. The extent of waste land in Jamaica may amount to half a million acres; possibly a million, one-fourth of its territorial surface. This opinion, however, is conjectural, on a comparison of extent and population. No improvements take place on waste land, beyond the casual clearance of timbers and vegetation by the nomadic population. The whole tenure of land in Jamaica is allodial, or by title in fee simple, holding only from the crown, subject to a land tax of one penny per acre; of necessity also subject to settlements and mortgages, or encumbrances, or judgment by voluntary creation, or by process of law. The public records can alone shew the proportion of land under family settlement. Four-fifths of the land may or not be encumbered by claims of mortgages, or by creditors on judgment; as to this, the public records are the only safe test. The court of Chancery in Jamaica, an independent jurisdiction, has similar local powers to the Court of Chancery in England, and can and does appoint receivers of encumbered estates. The quantity of land in receiverships, although matter of record, can only be conjectured. Most Chancery estates, so called, are in ruinate, or else abandoned to the receiver by reason of the costs of litigation and management. They are now being gradually, silently reclaimed, under the salutary provisions of a local act, 15 Vic. c. 16, to diminish the delay and expense of proceedings of the high court of Chancery of this island-nearly a transcript of the act as to Chancery reform in Ireland of the previous session. The Irish rules applicable to it, published in Dublin, are now in force, and applicable to the act of this island. Owners of land are not exempt now, nor are any classes exempt from the operation of the law as to insolvents; the mere fiat, or the declaration of insolvency brings all within the scope and power of the official assignee for distribution among creditors, subject (only in cases of difficulty as to law) to the controlling powers of the court of equity or law. The court of Chancery in Jamaica, as in England and Ireland, may sell estates for the payment of debts. The jurisdiction in Chancery, as heretofore in England, extended merely over the person or ad personam, to compel personal obedience to its decrees by force of process of attachment, continued receivership, or sequestration. The parliamentary powers of absolute sale are now being partially enforced under the local 15 Vic. c. 16, and will in all probability be more stringently adopted in this island as soon as a precedent is furnished by the imperial statute book. Under a public compact made with the imperial government, 1708, (subsequently confirmed in the present reign) the common and statute law of England as then in force was recognised in this colony, and is still continued as law, subject to such modifications as have been since introduced by the course of local legislation, or by the decision of the court of justice. The rule of construction still adhered to as to right and property, and in all cases, is by interpretation of the imperial acts anterior to 1708, explained and amended by English decisions, and by subsequent local legislation. The local courts are severally regulated by the English reports in Chancery, and of King's Bench, where not controled by statuary law. There is a local stamp duty in Jamaica on the model of the English act. It produces about £3,000 or £4,000 of revenue to the general exigencies of the colony. There are also public fees appropriable towards salaries of the judges and officers of the courts. Their pressure is not observable. The revenue of stamps may, without injury to substantial rights, afford more scope for increase with the progressive improvements of property. PRINCIPAL CAUSES OF PRESENT DEPRESSED STATE OF THE ISLAND. I. Estates encumbered with debt. Release from mortgages would enable the planter to send his produce to any market, by any ship, to any agent he may think fit, and agencies and commissions I would then be much reduced. II. Want of capital, skill, and enterprise; estates frequently come into the hands of persons who have not the means of carrying them on efficiently. III. An absentee proprietary, and the non-introduction of recent improvements in agriculture, and the manufacture of sugar. IV. Want of attention to the raising of minor products for home consumption. V. The indifference of the upper classes generally to the education of the lower classes, and the bad influence exerted by many of the managers of estates on the ignorant and inexperienced around them by their living in concubinage; the offspring of such connexions, being neglected as to education and morals, are unfitted for situations of trust when they rise into manhood. VI. The general indifference of the people to the education of their children, and a disposition to avail themselves of their earliest labours rather than entrust them to the care of the schoolmaster. TABLE No. I. Tabular view of the different parishes into which Jamaica is divided, their population, rate of wages and other particulars, taken from a return by the Board of Health. 1843 8,667 8 1844 10,804 4 96900 3,174 12 II 1,374 19 5 686 6 7 514 16 7 185 0 3,748 3 10,475 16 II 10037010639 I 19,282 9 3 9,182 4 7 4 10,989 4 10 1845 11,145 12 9 Do. 36,347 18 4 Numbers this year from St. Helena, 202; Sierra Leone, 339; Cuba, 4 Calcutta, 261; Canada, 270 1846 28,331 10 10 Do. 1847 45,507 17 8 Do. India, 1851; Africa, 126; Emancipado, 163; Europe, 9 5,067 11 4 445 10 IO In addition to this sum, £2,069 5s. 5d. were paid in this year, partly for Africans. In 1848, St. Helena, 480; Sierra Leone, 905; Cuba, 56 1441 1850 By a recent act some customs duties have been laid on, to assist in defraying the expense of introducing immigrants. TABLE No. 3. SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE. Expenses of conveyancing and general business.-Schedule D. Receiving instructions to prepare any deeds Drafts, deeds or cases, or other statements or abstracts of title per legal sheet Fair copy Engrossments Perusing and considering drafts of deeds submitted for approval, including attendances, taking instruction, and on the opposite conveyances, per sheet - - Perusing deed to ascertain the necessary stamps to be impressed Attendances at Receiver General's and Stamp Offices to procure stamps to be impressed on any deed or instrument, each Attendance at Secretary's Office to record deeds or other papers Searches in Secretary's Office in common If for an hour or more, per hour Making ordinary docket If more than a sheet, for each additional sheet Writing letters not exceeding two sides Each additional side Journeys and attendances if required, including travelling expenses at the rate of £3 per day, and 8s. per mile Journeys to or from Kingston or Spanish Town on special business - Harvey's Constitution, p. 20. TABLE No. 4. Educational returns made a short time before the cholera visited the island in 1850. |