Letters received from various government offices (departments), other organisations...

Letters received from various government offices (departments), other organisations and individuals relating to Barbados. Correspondence from the bishop of Barbados for 1832 is bound separately [see CO 28/151]. Correspondents and subjects are as follows:

Offices:

• Agent (requests renewal of legislation to suspend the duties on the import of lumber, fish and provisions [as hurricane relief measure]; House of Commons grant for hurricane relief; report of a committee of the Assembly appointed to ascertain deaths and losses caused by hurricane with statement of numbers of 'white persons, free coloured and slaves' killed, missing or injured, and a summary of the value of 'public, private and slave property' destroyed; request that a 1816 report of the 'insurrection of the slaves' of that year should be submitted to the committee of the House of Lords appointed to enquire into the condition and treatment of slaves);
• Commander in Chief (barrack accommodation at Tortola; arrangements for the inspection of the troops in the West India Command; removal of 'Staff Pay' for major generals in charge of islands or colonies in the West Indies);
• Board of Trade (renewal of legislation to suspend the duties on the import of lumber, fish and provisions [as hurricane relief measure], and inclusion of shingles under the heading 'lumber'; expediency of keeping open the ports of Barbados, St Lucia and St Vincent for the importation of flour etc beyond 1 January 1833);
• Foreign Office (query concerning exemption of shingles from import duty);
• Home Department [Home Office] (circumstances under which two prisoners from Barbados, sentenced to transportation, have been received on board the hulk Coromandel at Bermuda);
• Law Officers (extension to Barbados of recent legislation for amending the criminal law of England);
• Treasury (property escheated to the Crown on the death of Abraham, also known as George, Depeza; House of Commons grant for hurricane relief; proceedings against the officers of the Customs at Bridgetown for the recovery of foreign duties; deaths and losses caused by hurricane; removal of slaves from Barbados to Trinidad in 1828 and 1829; notice issued by collector and controller of the Customs at Bridgetown 'apprizing the Masters of Vessels having Slaves on board not being the Property of the Owners of such Vessels, that such proceeding was Illegal' [with example of statement asserting that enslaved persons are accompanying their owners as domestic servants, and of the licence given]; importation of tiles for repair of buildings damaged by hurricane; memorial of Elizabeth Ann Ford asking for grant of £200 from escheated property; return of duties paid on lumber; grant of half salary to clergymen who have leave of absence beyond 12 months; comments of West Indian Island Relief Commission on question concerning colonial legislatures; losses sustained by Governor Sir James Lyon as result of hurricane);
• Relief Commissioners (establishment of enquiry; report of hurricane committee);
• Colonial Registry Office (summaries of the returns of the Barbados slave registry for 1817 to 1829 as ordered by the House of Lords [not in item]).

Individuals:

• Sir R Alleyne (requests appointment in Australia or Canada);
• Robert Aberdeen (his memorial praying final settlement of his affairs);
• John Hall Byars (asking for assistance in meeting foreclosure of a mortgage held by Samuel Henry);
• George Samuel Collyer (Sir James Lyon's salary);
• Charles Hill (importation of flour from United States into Barbados duty free);
• William Davies, tailor, Llanelly (query regarding the disposal of the property of the late Mr Morris of Barbados, a native of St Ishmaels, Carmarthen);
• Benjamin Elkin (pecuniary claim on Mr Musson);
• George James Evelyn (seeks promotion);
• Frederick Ford (application for appointment in the Customs);
• Thomas Garth, Maidenhead (referring to recent defamation of 'West Indian Proprietors' and forwarding a printed copy of an 1823 statement by F Clarke, manager of estates in Barbados, endorsed by Samuel Hinkson in 1831, which details the working and living conditions of enslaved people [printed as 'Negro Slavery: a Plan of Treatment of the Negroes on the Estates in Barbados']. Mr Garth considers that this 'proves the contented and happy state of the Negroes' and states 'I feel confident that your Lordship will admit that we should be very happy if the same could be said of the English Peasantry, namely they are so well off that we are at a loss to know what more to do for them to add to their comfort and happiness');
• John Mayers (wishes to be included in the Commission to be appointed to enquire into the property on which advances may be made from the proposed Parliamentary loan);
• J W Orderson (refers to his published material on poor white inhabitants of Barbados, education of the poor, and the extension of rights and privileges to the 'free coloured' inhabitants, and requests appointment as protector of slaves);
• Thomas P Parkinson (seeks colonial appointment);
• W Skeete (recommends Mr Grant for appointment as puisne judge at St Lucia);
• Henry E Sharpe, attorney general (order in Council of 2 November 1831 for regulating the treatment of slaves; administration of justice [including his suggestions for improvement following a meeting with James Stephen, with comments by the latter]; request for copies of Barbados legislation; his opinion that there is nothing in the existing legislation of Barbados to exclude from the Court of Kings Bench a sufficient jurisdiction to prevent it from being serviceable in correcting many of the 'evils' of the existing judicial system; asks that opinions expressed by Sir James Lyon and himself concerning the administration of justice be considered confidential);
• John Farrell Taylor (seeks loan to prevent foreclosure of mortgage and states his wish to avoid having to sell slaves to whom he is 'most parently attached');
• A Vail (asks for a communication to be sent to Barbados);
• Sir H Wheatley (forwards address of the Assembly concerning the hurricane).

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