"I will show that properties which formerly paid £1400 taxes are now, if not entirely abandoned, very nearly so. Let the most favourable supporter of Free Trade policy ride over the Buff Bay River district, and at one glance he will see the awful, lamentable, miserably fallen state of our once valuable and flourishing coffee properties. Let him continue his ride through the sugar district, and I envy not the heart of that man who can look on approvingly when he beholds so many valuable estates grown up in common brushwood; the residences of many falling into decay, and scarce affording shelter to the watchman. Let him ask how long has all this been brought about, and I will tell him--that by the list I now hold in my hand, and about to submit to you, sir, it will be found that twenty-six of these coffee properties were valued in 1841 by the assessors of the parish, appointed by the House of Assembly, at a total of £53,060; that these properties paid £619 public and parish taxes; that fourteen of these sugar estates, now nearly all abandoned, were then valued for £83,600, and they then paid £782 taxes; that in 1850 the whole of the taxes of the twenty-six coffee properties amounted to, and were reduced to £147!--and of the fourteen sugar estates, £144. Are these not damning evidences of the destructive policy? Mr Sollas then laid before the meeting the following statement, which he had prepared for the occasion:-- +------------------+-----------+-------------+-------------+ | -Sugar Estates.- | Assessor's| Public and | Public and | | | Value, |Parish Taxes,|Parish Taxes,| | | 1841. | 1841. | 1850. | +------------------+-----------+-------------+-------------+ |Eden,[R] | £4,500 | £45 14 9 | £5 0 1 | |Paradise,[S] | 7,000 | 60 18 9 | 12 3 11 | |Lenox,[R] | 10,000 | 94 8 9 | 13 19 0 | |Hart Hill,[R] | 6,000 | 59 16 0 | 12 13 10 | |By Brook,[R] | 1,000 | 18 19 6 | 2 14 6 | |Hope,[R] | 1,600 | 22 4 0 | 3 5 11 | |Spring Garden,[S] | 20,000 | 181 3 1 | 36 5 8 | |Cainwood,[R] | 6,000 | 56 10 0 | 8 1 10 | |Buff-Bay River,[R]| 3,000 | 33 2 6 | 6 13 4 | |Elysium,[R] | 8,000 | 72 4 0 | 15 16 7 | |Craigmill,[R] | 3,500 | 35 14 0 | 4 9 10 | |Skibo,[R] | 3,000 | 32 13 1 | 6 11 5 | |Chepstow,[R] | 8,000 | 39 4 0 | 9 13 4 | |White River,[R] | 2,000 | 29 15 9 | 7 8 8 | | +-----------+-------------+-------------+ | | £83,600 | £782 8 2 | £144 17 11 | +------------------+-----------+-------------+-------------+ [R] Abandoned. [S] In partial cultivation.