“In reply to your letter of the 24th September we acquaint you that we entirely concur with you in the propriety and importance of giving to the black labourers of your establishment, at the expiration of their apprenticeship or legal servitude, all the assistance in our power towards obtaining an honest livelihood, and at the same time keeping them within reach of the moral and religious instruction of the chaplain of the yard, and we are glad to hear the men are so well qualified in their respective trades, as to obtain work when set free. “We have therefore no hesitation in assenting to your proposition of appropriating ground to them for erecting dwellings upon in the way you have mentioned; if upon further consideration you are fully satisfied that such an indulgence to the black people, will not afford any just ground of dissatisfaction and complaint to the European artificers; and provided an absolute power is reserved to the Commissioner for the time being, to deprive the people of their houses and grounds in case of misbehaviour, or if required for the public convenience; giving them in either case such reasonable compensation for their labour and expenses as he may think equitable; and no man to have more than a life interest in the property; but as deaths occur, you will in giving the houses to others, make it a condition that the family of the deceased shall have some small sum paid by the new occupant. “Signed, H. B. MARTIN H. LEGGE R. G. MIDDLETON.” “COMMISSIONER SIR J. BRENTON.”