Trinidad planters neglected infrastructure to prevent ex-slaves from leaving estates

Evidence

The decline of sugar production in Trinidad during the 1840s and 1850s was also attributable to the neglect of the road systems that connected the plantations and ports in western Trinidad. This neglect was connected to the movement of ex-slaves—an attempt by the planters to keep their labor close by. Thirty years after emancipation, the new governor, A. H. Gordon (appointed in 1866) and his surveyor-general were confronted with the results: “During his early excursions Gordon saw at first hand the state of the roads. Everywhere he found neglect. As he was travelling on the main highway to San Fernando a rotten bridge collapsed beneath his party.” “Gordon’s response was prompt… . The Surveyor-General planned an ambitious programme of new roads, not without opposition from some planters who feared that an improvement in communications might drain off labourers from the estates.” — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 2313

Categorization

• SHARE: A vivid micro-instance of how infrastructure policy was deliberately retarded to bind labor — worth sharing with anyone interested in the political economy of infrastructure.