Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 07/Sep 07:34

Supporting agriculture, defence: Tobago 1795

DR RITA PEMBERTON IN November 1795, the Tobago House of Assembly passed a law “to ascertain, repair, alter and improve, the public roads in this island, and to appoint proper persons to order out negroes and to direct and superintend such repairs, alterations and improvements as may be judged necessary.” In its preamble, the document provides justification for a law of this nature at that point as a measure to support agriculture and commerce and facilitate intercourse among residents. The stated need which prompted it was to keep the public roads in a state of good repair, for Tobago was notorious for the poor state of its roads, which up to this point had never received the attention they deserved, and the authorities acknowledged that Tobago suffered from a communications problem. However, there are two developments which are significant factors that underscore the official attention to the state of the roads. Firstly, after a longstanding tug of war between the French and British, the British had gained possession of Tobago in 1763, but the French, who never accepted that treaty arrangement, occupied the island from 1781-1793. This resulted in severe economic damage to the agricultural and commercial sectors, which both needed rehabilitation afterwards. During the post-occupation years, administrative focus centred on efforts to put the island’s production and commercial activities on a stronger footing. Secondly, and related to the first, was that the French occupation was humiliating to the British, who were caught by surprise by a French land attack – not the expected attack at sea – by night, from an unexpected direction. The poor state of the roads contributed to the British forces’ inability to mount an effective counterattack. At its possession in 1763, British policy had emphasised speedy occupation by a British population, allocation of land resources into planting plots and establishing an operating sugar plantation complex. These measures, it was believed, would make the island strongly British and impervious to any further French designs on it. However, French success in 1781 revealed the Achilles heel of British policy in Tobago, which they exploited. In attempting to correct this anomaly, a system of interlocking public roads was initiated by the act of 1795. [caption id="attachment_1176611" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Fishermen aboardProsperity vessel casttheir net at Castara Bay. - File photo[/caption] These were: the coast road from Scarborough all around the island; the cross road from Little Rockley Bay to Little Courland Bay; the cross roads from Scarborough to Little and Great Courland Bays; the road from Scarborough to King Peter’s Bay; the cross road from Barbados Bay to Castara Bay; the road from Plymouth through the plantations of Adventure, Arnos Vale, John’s Hill, Les Coteaux, Highlands, Golden Lane and Woodlands to join the cross road from Scarborough to King Peter’s Bay; and the road from Scarborough to Fort King George. This system connected one part of the island to the others, which was also important for day-to-day communication. Its operation was the responsibility of a group of officers called way wardens. Way wardens were to be permitted by the plantations to appropriate the labour of enslaved Africans in the parishes the roads passed through, for the purpose of keeping the roads in good repair for the convenience of the public. The parishes were realigned for the purposes of the road improvement and maintenance programme: Auchenskeoch, Riseland, Sherwood Park, Carnbee, Hampden and Lowlands in the parish of St Andrew’s were to be aligned to the parish of St Patrick; and the estates of Orange Valley, Prospect and Grafton in the Parish of St Patrick were linked as a part of the parish of St David. The plantations of Amity Hope, Orange Hill, Mt William, Harmony Hall, Fraternity, Courland Castle, Providence, Mt Grace and Whim were aligned to St David; and the plantations in Cinnamon Hill, Concordia, Adelphi, Friendsfield, Cradley, Bacolet, Belvedere and Courland River were aligned to the parish of St Andrew. To facilitate efficiency of labour, the following were appointed way wardens to mandate the services of African workers and superintend and direct repair, alterations and improvements on the roads. From St Patrick, the Hon Joseph Robley and Hon Thomas Currie, Robert Miller and James Hamilton. St Andrew: the Hon John Balfour, Nathaniel Steward, Charles Wighiman and Thomas Ruddach. St George: the Hon John Gilbert Franklyn, Tremiah Kent and Thomas McKnight. St Mary: the Hon Robert Mitchell, James Drew and Daniel Elder. St Paul: Archibald Napier Thomas Orr, Peter Murdoch and Charles Mansion St John: James Allen, Oswald, Clarke, James Moody, Charles Gustavius Myers and John Livingston. St David: the Hon Gilbert Petrie, Walter Irvine, John Campbell, John Anderson and George Morrison. Scarborough: Robert Peterson, Robert Fullerton and Thomas Strickland These appointees were authorised to order the required number of African workers from any estate at any time. They were also empowered to hire overseers, who were to be paid for every three days’ labour of enslaved Africans from any estate. In addition, they were given the authority to order the services of cattle, horses, mules and carts, stone and any other material required for road improvement. The labour of enslaved Africans was valued at four shillings and sixpence a day and cattle three shillings and sixpence, while the services of carts were valued at 16 shillings and those of horse or mule carts at ten shillings per day with additional costs for drivers and materials. The services of these individuals, their enslaved African charges and the estate animals were mandatory, and delinquent way wardens and unwilling freeholders were liable to charges of £50. While the system was laid out in detail on paper, there was no consideration of its practicality, especially given the pressure under which plantations operated during this period. It was a challenge for estate owners and members of the assembly who performed multiple roles in the society to devote the required time to road improvement and give up the labour of their enslaved workforce when estates needed them. In addition, the French made another another successful attack on Tobago in 1802. The island’s sugar industry was unable to attain production vigour and continued to decline up to the end of the 19th century. While knowledge of how best to traverse Tobago if and when necessary was made clearer, the roads remained in a very bad state, with difficulty of access to some areas continuing into the 20th century.   The post Supporting agriculture, defence: Tobago 1795 appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.