404 TRINIDAD. 



different offices of government, received their appointments from 

 Home, and could not be dismissed, except on an order from the Colo- 

 nial office. Evidently, this was too much centralisation, but, in order 

 to avoid one excess, they have fallen into a still greater. All the 

 inferior officers are, at present, mere dependents of their chiefs, 

 appointed by them, or through their interest, and may be dismissed 

 at will. It needs but to mention the many inconveniences resulting 

 from such a system, to render evident its injustice and dangers. 

 As the heads of offices possess the privilege of choosing their own 

 subordinates, it is natural they should be guided, if not invariably, 

 yet on many occasions, by private considerations. They will gene- 

 rally select their clerks, either through the tie of relationship, or 

 from being highly recommended by some friend ; but seldom or 

 never from the just claims of previous services, or actual qualifi- 

 cations. Under this system, what is the position of young 

 men employed in the public offices? What are their hopes of 

 advancement ? and what becomes of the incentives to emu- 

 lation ? Subservient and accommodating they must be, to 

 gain the goodwill of their employers, and to secure a recom- 

 mendation to their future superiors. Now, can a man placed in 

 such a situation be independent ? And, unless he be case-hard- 

 ened in honesty, is there any guarantee that he will disclose any 

 sinister transactions in the office ; or even that he will not parti- 

 cipate in any delinquency of his superior ? The present plan is 

 evidently pregnant with injustice to the employ '4, and danger to 

 the public service. The subordinates ought to be appointed by 

 the governor personally, and be responsible to him solely, as the 

 only impartial arbiter in cases of merit or demerit. The conclu- 

 sion to be drawn from the facts enumerated in the foregoing pages 

 is, that there is something rotten at the core, in the system of ad- 

 ministration, as regards this colony. 



The geographical position of Trinidad and its natural re- 

 sources are, as I have elsewhere observed, surpassed only by 

 those of Cuba; it is also comparatively a new country laid 

 open to successful enterprise : yet, it is every year sinking 

 more and more deeply into the abyss of misery, all classes 

 suffering alike. I have endeavoured to trace the causes of 

 that misery, and have found that, whilst some are beyond our 

 control, others we can grasp and cope with. These causes are the 

 following: the ruinous price of our staples, in consequence of 



