Order of Government Pointing out the Days which are to be allowed to Plantation Slaves in Saint Lucia, and fixing the Weekly Market Day, &c. &c. &c.

Order of Government,

 

Pointing out the Days which are to be allowed to Plantation Slaves in Saint Lucia, and fixing the Weekly Market Day, &c. &c. &c.

 

John Carter,  Lieut.-Col. administering the Government.

 

WHEREAS it is ordered by the 88th section of His Majesty’s Order in Council of the 2d November last, that “every slave, for or in respect of whom any ground shall be so appropriated and set apart, (namely, according to the provisions of the said Order,) shall in each year be allowed forty days at least for the cultivation thereof, so that from the commencement thereof, one Sunday at least may intervene between every two successive days until the entire number of forty days shall be completed, and each of such forty days shall be understood to consist of twenty-four hours, commencing at the hour of six in the morning, and terminating at the hour of six in the next succeeding morning:”

 

And whereas it is expedient to define with certainty what days the slave may claim as his own, and that such days should be fixed with due regard to the necessities of and convenience of the planter in crop time: Now I, John Carter, Lieutenant-Colonel administering the Government, do hereby order and declare, That every such slave as above mentioned shall have every second Monday for himself during the first twelve weeks of crop time, commencing from the first Monday in February, and that for the remaining and ensuing forty weeks of the year, every such slave shall be entitled to and have every Monday for himself. It is at the same time hereby ordered and declared, That all Plantation Slaves shall be entitled to the Festivals hereinafter mentioned: namely, New Year’s Day, Good Friday, Ascension Day, the Patronal Feast of the Quarter, the King’s Birth-day, Christmas Day, and All Saints Day. It is further declared, That every day allowed to slaves by virtue of the said Order of His Majesty in Council, or by virtue of this Order, is to consist of twenty-four hours, in manner as hereinbefore mentioned. And further to remove doubts as to what days such Plantation Slaves may be entitled to, who receive the specified legal allowance of food according to the provisions of His Majesty’s said Order in Council, it is hereby declared, that such slaves are entitled, exclusive of Sundays and their regular daily hours to the Festivals only, as they are hereinbefore enumerated. And it is hereby ordered and declared, That Monday shall henceforward be the Weekly Market-day for slaves, inasmuch as that day heretofore has been found to be the most convenient.

 

By His Excellency’s Command. J.M. Stephens, Acting Secretary.