274 



TRINIDAD I THJbl'N AND NOW. 



then so large as it is now, many wards having 

 been added and also quarters for the assistant 

 surgeons, so that all the medical staff, except the 

 Surgeon-General, now reside within the precincts. 

 The whole institution has vastly improved ; but it was 

 not Then as it Now is a credit to the colony. 



I think what I have already written will show 

 that I am not desirous of saying harsh things about 

 persons or institutions ; but if I am to show the 

 strides made, truth compels me, now and then, to 

 show what they were, otherwise I would not be able 

 to show the contrast between Then and Now nor 

 show the vast improvements made. The following 

 narrative will describe the Then state of the Colonial 

 Hospital in Port-of-Spain. 



In passing along St. Ann's road (now Charlotte 

 Street) one must be struck by the fine, outward ap- 

 pearance of this building and its well kept grounds, 

 which from the first was, and to the present is a 

 credit to the colony. My first acquaintance with its 

 internal arrangements occurred in this way, and the 

 story I have to tell will not reflect much credit on 

 either its discipline or arrangement at that time. 



One Saturday, either in February or March, 

 1875, having finished my office work I strolled up to 

 the Savannah with the intention of ending my walk 

 in the Botanic Gardens, then kept in a better state 

 than they now are — although they are beginning to 

 improve. Having entered the Savannah I sat down 

 on the stump of a tree and while so sitting a number 

 of school boys entered, evidently bent on playing 



