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TRINIDAD I THEN AND NOW. 



129 



walk, neglected, and it is Now in as bad a state as it 

 was Then, little better than a sugar plantation road, 

 sometimes full of ruts and at all times rough and un- 

 even and unfit to be used by invalids or the aged 

 public. 



When I was a stranger to Trinidad's supineness 

 I frequently wondered how it came to pass that this 

 fine square came into existence, and so wondering, 

 also wondered how it came to be placed in the posi- 

 tion it now occupies, and being so placed how it came 

 to be so neglected ? 



The answer came to me as a surprise in the 

 following way : — A friend, hearing that I was writ- 

 ing a book on Trinidad Then and Now, lent me a 

 book called " Truths from the West Indies," written 

 by a Captain Studholme Hodgson of Her Majesty's 

 19th Regiment of Foot, stationed in Trinidad be- 

 tween 1833-8. Writing of Sir Ralph Woodford, who 

 had been governor of Trinidad from the 14th June, 

 1813 to 1st April, 1828, and particularly of his liber- 

 ality towards the citizens of Port-of-Spain by bestow- 

 ing upon them this fine square, he says : — 



M A strong instance of this liberal feeling occurred 

 in Trinidad during the administration of Sir Ralph 

 Woodford. His Excellency at considerable expense 

 to himself, caused a square to be built in the centre of 

 the town, a boon of no little value, as until then there 

 was no public promenade in the colony. While the 

 work was in progress nothing could equal the enco- 

 miums lavished upon Sir Ralph ; his public spirit and 

 munificence were the discourse of all. 



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