IMMIGRATION TO THE WEST INDIES.

Colonist, Volume IV, Issue 317, 2 November 1860, Page 4

IMMIGRATION TO THE WEST INDIES.

The Immigration into the West Indies to supply the deficiency of labor existing there has been prosecuted on a very considerable scale of late years, more freely than is perhaps generally supposed. Thus, since 1848, 5557 immigrants have been introduced into Jamaica, 17,965 into Trinidad, 38,921 into British Guiana, 1674 into St. Lucia, 895 into St. Vincent, 2034 into Grenada, 1213 into Antigua, 853 into St. Kitt's and 292 into Tobago, making an aggregate of 68,603. The immigration has been derived from the following sources:—Darien, United States, 32; Great Britain, 22 ; Havannah, 276; Saba23; Sierra Leone, 6543; Kroo Coast, 273; St. Helena, 7181; Rio de Janeiro, 619; Madeira, 12,670; Azores, 164; East Indies, 36,021;. China, 2806; Cape Verds, 1198. Since 1848, no fewer than 192,992 immigrants have also been introduced into the great sugar producing colony of the Mauritius, nearly the whole of them 191,996, having been drawn from the East Indies.

The transport of the immigrants from the East to the West Indies has been attended with a rather heavy mortality. Thus, in the case of 2927 immigrants despatched to British Guiana from Calcutta and Madras in the season 1858-59 only 2714 were landed, exclusive of seven infants born on the voyage. Of 3713 immigrants into Trinidad despatched from .the same ports, only 3418 were landed, exclusive of 18 infants bora on the voyage; and of 344 persons shipped from Calcutta to Grenada, only 299 were landed. The mortality, in fact, was about 7| per cent, on the whole number of immigrants embarked, while in the case of British emigrants to Australia in 1856-7-8-9, the deaths were only about 1 per cent. At the same time every care appears to be taken to secure the health of the immigrants to the West Indies, by means of efficient ventilation, exercise in the open air, cleanliness of berths and decks, inspection of food, due supply of medicines, and surgical aid. The constitution of Asiatics (who are wholly unaccustomed, in remote villages, to even a sight of the great deep) seems to be more feeble than that of Europeans, and less fitted to endure changes of climate. The immigrants are engaged for five years, and are hired at a fixed sum of four dollars per month; but if on their arrival in the colonies they prefer to be paid by the day in the same way as non-contract laborers, the necessary alteration is made in their contracts, and they are placed on the same footing as to remuneration. The immigrants are provided with a free passage, and, if any one desires it, an advance of 20 dollars is made to him, repaid subsequently by deductions from his wages. Women, when they accompany their husbands, are left unfettered by any conditions.— Times.

Damascus.—We may here state that, during the past month, the most frightful details of massacre have been received from Syria, relating chiefly to Damascus, where it is calculated that at least 6000 persons have lost their lives under circumstances of almost unexampled barbarity. We learn by a despatch from Beyrout that upwards of 400 persons have been arrested at Damascus, who are incriminated in the massacres. They are to be tried summarily, and those who are convicted are to be immediately executed. Damascus is reported to be quiet, and the authority of the Sultan is established. [From a statement addressed to the British Syrian Belief Fund by Dr. Thompson, an American missionary, it appears that there are at this moment as many as 75,000 destitute people in Syria, 10,000 of whom are widows; the demand for pecuniary assistance is, consequently, most urgent. The English subscription list, headed by the Queen and Prince Consort, already exceeds £5000. In France the Emperor has subscribed 25,000 francs and the Empress 10,000, while the private subscriptions are both large and numerous. Fuad Pacha appears to be.vigorously at work in subduing the Syrian insurrection. By accounts from Damascus more recent than those above referred to we learn that he had invaded the Lebanon with troops, arid threatened fire and sword if the Druse Seikhs did not surrender in two days. 20 of them had already been taken, nearly 800 other independent arrests made, and ] 000 came! loads of plundered property recovered.] French Troops por, Syria.—On the 6th of August the Emperor Napoleon went to the camp at Chalons to review the regiments about to leave for Syria. He addressed the troops as follows:-— * Soldiers— You leave for Syria. France hails with joy an expedition the sole aim of which is to caujse the rights of justice and humanity to triumph. You do not go; to make war \ against any foreign Power, but to assist the i Sultan in bringing back the obedience of his subjects, who are blinded by the fanaticism of a former century. In that distant land, rich in great reminiscences, fulfil your duty—show yourselves the worthy children of those who once gloriously carried into that country the banner of Christ. You do not leave in great numbers, but your courage and your prestige will supply the deficiency, because wherever <;he French flag is seen to pass, nations know that a great cause precedes it, and a great people follows it.' The despatch of the 6000 troops to the East has been effected by the French government with its usual rapidity. Suez Canal at last.—M. de Lesseps has arrived in Paris from Alexandria. He gives out that he is altogether satisfied with the result of his mission, and that he obtained from the Pacha of Egypt everything1 he asked for. The works of the famous Suez canal are, he says, going on with prodigious rapidity; the native 'navvies,' stimulated by French example, prove efficient, arid a'place called Port Saib, which a year ago was a bare desert, is now a town, and will become a. city before another year expires*