240 TRINIDAD : THEN AND NOW. 



but that is your look out ; I am really surprised that 

 more people do not take advantage of it. Let me 

 describe it in my own way and in my own words as I 



began it over a dozen years ago, and now bring up 

 to date. 



Another advance for the development of the 

 colony that has come under my notice and which will 

 offer a fair comparison of the Trinidad of Then and 

 the Trinidad of Now is the "Coastal Service" — much 

 welcomed by those who had to get the produce of 

 their places, be they large or small, to Port-of -Spain 

 there to be disposed of ; and not only to them but 

 also to those who had to visit remote parts of the 

 colony along and around the coasts, for although it 

 was not inaugurated for this purpose it was con- 

 sidered, and availed of, as a great boon. This must 

 be apparent to anyone who has read my account of 

 the roads of those days, and to no one in the colony 

 was it more w T elcome than to me, by Kfbt only enabling 

 me to more frequently visit the remote parts of the 

 country with greater ease and what was of greater 

 importance still, of bringing me into close contact 

 with people whom I would not otherwise have had an 

 opportunity of knowing, but it also enabled me to 

 acquire a better knowledge of the coastal outline of 

 the country. 



To Sir William Robinson, as governor, is due the 

 credit of inaugurating this useful service. It was in- 

 troduced for the purpose of establishing and encoura- 

 ging a banana and fruit industry and trade, then 

 so much spoken of in the colony, when things were 



