TRINIDAD : THEN AND NOW. 



145 



to St. Kitts, had to bear the after effects. Thus the 

 destitute, and in some eases, almost starving popula- 

 tion of those places, had to seek some land in which 

 to live, and hearing that Trinidad, like Egypt of old, 

 had abundance and to spare came down to visit us. 



Here the vast majority and their descendants 

 have remained and like the Israelites in Egypt were 

 fruitful and increased abundantly with the effect 

 that what was Then enough for two is not Now 

 enough for four. Thus Trinidad has become a veri- 

 table dumping ground for the surplus poor of the 

 neighbouring islands and not being of the required 

 sort became a burden on all. 



But, irrespective of this, it is natural that many 

 undesirables from the smaller islands will find them- 

 selves, in Trinidad, and that, irrespective of any 

 calamities in their own colony. Thickly populated 

 Barbados presents us freely, also, with some of the 

 scum of its population, for it is reasonable to think 

 that good agricultural labourers should hardly care 

 to leave their native land and that planters naturally 

 make efforts to retain them. 



Let it not be thought that by any of these re- 

 marks I intend to belittle all the people who come 

 to us from neighbouring islands, for I do not. Many 

 — and perhaps the majority — are not only desirable 

 but welcome ; our police force is largely composed of 

 them and excellent men many of them have been and 

 are. Of this fact no man in this colony can speak 

 with greater authority than I can and it gives me a 

 pleasure to assert it. But this does not justify the 



j 



