336 



TRINIDAD : THEN AND NOW. 



the gauntlet of abuse and misrepresentation of a 

 host of traducers ; but he also, before he left Trinidad 



introduced many stable reforms. The work begun by 

 these two able men has been also ably carried out by 

 Mr. Walcott the present head of this important de- 

 partment. * 



The present Customs buildings were commenced 

 in 1880 and since then have been three times en- 

 larged. The Customs duties which in 1875 amounted 

 to £117,281 have in 1911 reached the respectable 

 figure of £405,710. I could say a good deal more on 

 this subject but let what I have said suffice, little as 

 it is it will illustrate the great difference between the 

 Trinidad of Then and the Trinidad of Noiv. 



I now come to deal with 



The Post Office. 



This Public institution had to be pulled out 

 of the mire into which it had been allowed to 

 sink before its reformation began which placed 

 it on its present high pinnacle under the able 

 hands of Mr. J. A. Buhner, I. S. 0., whom I am happy 

 to be able to count as one of my most intimate 

 friends. He, like myself, had to struggle against ad- 

 verse criticism and he like myself, overcame it ; 

 not perhaps, without being the object of a little 

 mud-throwing, for which I am sorry to say Trini- 

 dad was at one time notorious. If ever a country be- 

 lieved. in the old trite saying " throw plenty of mud 

 some of it is sure to stick" it was this colony ; and the 

 mud-throwers in Trinidad in by-gone days did not 



