224 TBINIDAD AND TOBAGO BULLETIN. [XVIII. 4. 



several hundred acres available for sale or lease. (1) When these surplus 

 lands have been disposed of the management of the estate will be 

 greatly simplified. It will perhaps be found convenient to put the land 

 let under long lease in the custody of the Sub'-Int^ndant of Crown Lands 

 and to arrange for the payment of rents to be made to the Warden. 



As regards the River Estate, practically the whole of the cultivable 

 land is now used for experimental work in connection with the cultiva- 

 tion of cacao, coconuts, coffee, limes and other economic plants. The 

 remainder of the area consists of poor land on the slopes of the hills, 

 control over which it is desirable to retain for the conservation of the 

 water supply of Port-of-Spain. This land is now being planted with 

 trees suitable for shade and timber, so that ultimately some return will 

 be obtained from it. 



33. In the past, experimental work with practically every species of 

 economic plant cultivated locally has been carried on at each of the 

 estates, and also to some extent at St. Clair Experimental Station. 

 There has in consequence been unnecessary duplication of work. 

 Instructions have been issued that the River Estate should in future be 

 used for experimental work on cacao, limes, coconuts, coffee and rubber, 

 for which it is well suited, and that the St. Augustine Experimental 

 plots should be devoted mainly to the cultivation of sugar, rice, cotton, 

 bananas, corn, grasses and ground provisions, the existing rubber 

 plantations being however retained. I propose that the St. Clair 

 Experimental Station should continue to be used for nursery work in 

 connection with cacao, coffee ami other economic planes as well as for 

 the cultivation of fruit and vegetables, and that the propagation of 

 flowers and ornamental plants should be carried on at the Botanical 

 Gardens at St. A.nn's. 



PUBLIC PASTURES. 



34. I propose that the control of the public pastures, at any rate in 

 Port-of-Spain, should be transferred to the charge of the Department of 

 Agriculture, in order that supervision by technically qualified officers 

 may be insured. 



AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



35. Owing to its unofticinl character the Agricultural Society is 

 particularly useful to the small cultivators to whom its meetings afford 

 opportunities to express their views, make complaints and to discuss 

 freely the problems and difficulties that confront them. For this reason 

 it is desirable that the unofficial status of the Society should be carefully 

 preserved. I am doubtful, therefore, if it is expedient that the Governor 

 should preside over the meetings of the Society. His presence must in 

 some measure restrict the freedom of discussion, for he cannot be expected 

 to acquiesce in hostile criticisms of Government officers or to defend 

 before a semi-private body the policy of the Government. It is on the 

 other hand desirable that such criticisms should not be suppressed. The 

 Governor, as Chairman of the Board of Agriculture, which did not 

 exist when the Agricultural Society was formed, has ample opportunities 



(1) See Ciovernor's despatch No. .367 of October 0, 1917. 



