354 TRINIDAD. 



great measure, of the advantages of civilisation. Whereas, the 

 different parts of a same country ought to be bound one for all, and 

 thus afford mutual assistance for the promotion of the general 

 welfare. 



As to education, it is evident that its diffusion is for the 

 benefit of the community at large, as well as for that of private 

 individuals but not of the peculiar locality wherein they reside. 

 By removing ignorance, and placing within the reach of indi- 

 viduals the means of working out the natural faculties with which 

 they have been endowed by Providence, education promotes the 

 general welfare. Besides, can it be said that the education 

 afforded to an individual by ward A, is not for the benefit and 

 advantage of ward B, whither that individual, once educated, may 

 afterwards remove and therein settle ? I am, therefore, of opinion 

 that part of the expenses of public education ought to be charged 

 to a general fund be it the treasury fund of the colony, or a 

 special fund, set apart for the purpose. The teachers, for instance, 

 could be paid out of the educational funds, and the wards could 

 furnish the school house and teacher's residence. So long as this 

 is not done, there cannot be any reasonable hope that knowledge 

 shall be diffused, or an effectual system of education established. 



I also consider that the preservation of any individual's life is 

 for the benefit of the whole community, and not of the peculiar 

 spot which he has actually inhabited ; for the individual whose 

 treatment at the colonial hospital is charged to the ward-funds, at 

 the rate of one shilling per diem, may have been residing there 

 for a few months only, and may, after he is discharged from the 

 hospital, leave the ward for ever. To be useful, the colonial 

 hospital must be made a really public institution, or it will remain 

 what it is at present an institution for the advantage of the few. 

 It seems to me, therefore, very plain that the expenses of the 

 colonial hospital ought to be defrayed from a general stated fund 

 say from a special fund contributed by the wards of the colony, 

 and from other sources. 



The question of roads is somewhat more complicated ; for, if 

 some roads are clearly for the sole advantage of the ward they 

 traverse, others may equally claim to be for the advantage of 

 the whole community, or of several wards jointly; at least, 

 this principle obtains, more or less, in all countries. It had 

 been adopted here, and the roads of the colony were accord- 



