ASSESSMENT. 365 



object, to misappropriate it to other requirements, is a violation of 

 the compact. The ward rates were raised for certain purposes, 

 specified in the ordinance itself, as of the nature of local improve- 

 ments. But to what purposes are the local funds now devoted ? 

 To the clearance of a large portion of the items always recognised 

 as charges against the general funds of the colony : and after 

 deducting those items which must be paid, nothing is left to 

 effectuate the local objects contemplated in the ordinance. 



A few alterations, however, have been made, which deserve 

 approbation : parents and guardians of persons under age, and 

 heirs and executors, or administrators of deceased persons, are 

 charged with the payment of the rate. (Clause XLIII.) Auditors 

 are elected annually, in and for each ward, whose duty it is to 

 examine and audit the accounts of the wardens, for the year 

 immediately preceding. (Clauses LVI. and LXI.) The wardens are 

 also to send in, annually, an estimate of the probable revenue and 

 expenditure of the wards for the ensuing year, with the assessment 

 to be levied for meeting the expenditure. (Clause LXII.) On the 

 other hand, the governor is to determine the rate, and hitherto he 

 has exercised his power of control by increasing, never by reducing 

 the amount. The wording and the spirit, or essence of the thirty- 

 first clause, has also been altered ; and " the rate is now to be 

 " paid in respect of the dwelling-house and any house or building 

 " which may be let, or used as a shop, or which may be let out 

 " for rent on all cultivated and pasture lands" instead of " on all 

 " sugar, cacao, coffee, or cotton estates" as in the first ordinance : 

 this may be called a sham amendment. The last change, namely, 

 the formation of ward unions, has, in my opinion, greatly compli- 

 cated the already complicated machinery of the Territorial Ordinance, 

 whilst but little confidence is placed in the ultimate success of 

 those changes. I feel, therefore, at liberty on this point, to offer 

 a few suggestions ; they are based on a division of the functions 

 now performed by the wardens. 



In all countries, the constitution and management of public 

 roads and bridges are intrusted to men possessing special quali- 

 fications, and are considered as belonging to the highest branch of 

 Civil Engineering. Here, all of the respectable class, whether 

 lawyers, artists, or agriculturists, are regarded as eligible to give 

 an opinion on, or to prepare directions for the making of roads 

 and the construction of bridges. If it were an assumption of 



