182 



TRINIDAD : THEN AND NOW. 



things wdth what now exists and it must be acknow- 

 ledged that the roads and the modes of locomotion 

 have wonderfully improved. 



A favourite occupation of mine when riding 

 along the roads, when they had somewhat improved, 

 when my duty called me to various parts of the 

 colony, was to take note of the situation of the 

 various mile posts on such roads as were provided 

 with them. What I began as a pastime often after- 

 wards served me in good stead and enabled me to give 

 information to others standing in need of it, and, I 

 believe, I can still remember most of them. They 

 were not always accurately placed, but I believe this 

 has been set right. In respect of this I remember an 

 amusing story in connection with this inaccuracy. 

 The miles on the Moruga road were not accurately in- 

 dicated ; the Magistrate, an Inspector of Police and 

 the Clerk of the Peace while riding along on the way 

 to hold a Police Court entered into a discussion as to 

 various distances between the mile posts and it was 

 arranged to test them. On the next occasion when 

 the corporal of police came to San Fernando for the 

 monthly pay he was directed to time the distance be- 

 tween all the mile posts on the Moruga road and he 

 accordingly did so. On his way back to his station, 

 he was joined by the road officer of that district and 

 as they rode along together the corporal frequently 

 looked at his watch and made an entry in his memo- 

 randum book. When they reached Moruga the road 

 overseer found that the rest house was undergoing 

 repairs and there was no place for him to put up for 



