72 



TRINIDAD ; THEN AND NOW. 



possessed of it under conditions of his being paid the 

 value of the plantations or provisions that may be 

 found thereon, and other expenses he may have in- 

 curred on his establishment." 



This does not mean, as at first sight it may be 

 inferred to mean, any former holder who had been 

 granted crown lands, but those who unlawfully held 

 possession of crown lands which recently had been 

 granted to the new comers, were to be ejected from 

 it on receiving compensation for the crops, buildings, 

 etc., then found on dt. 



I may here mention a fact not generally known, 

 that the Proclamation containing these regulations 

 was afterwards, in 1868, taken as the basis on which 

 the Trinidad Government formed the " Squatters 

 Ordinance ; 3 of 1868." A portion of section three 

 reads as follows : — 



" It shall be lawful for any Stipendiary Justice 

 if he shall see fit, on making any order under this 



Ordinance to allow as the value! of any building or 



growing crops, or cultivation, on such lands, to 

 such person and such sums shall be paid by the 

 Warden, etc. ' ' 



Anyway it very considerably alienated the old 

 Spaniards from whom this land had been taken, and 

 it was alleged against Chacon that all this was done 

 in the interest of the newly introduced French in- 

 habitants. Supposing it was, was it not justified as 

 against those who had previously robbed the abori- 

 gines of their possessions ? Anyway it made his posi- 

 tion anything but a comfortable one, and from then 



