344 



TMNIDAD : THEN AND NOW. 



down to the present there is no department in the 



colony with which I have been more intimately ac- 

 quainted than the Post Office, as Mr. Bulmer fre- 

 quently asked for and got my assistance in selecting 

 the most convenient sites for placing local offices. 

 In this way I gained a good deal of knowledge. I am 

 therefore able to speak with authority. 



The Post Office in a small place, such as Trinidad 

 is, can never be such a money-making concern so as 

 to be a source of revenue to the colony ; the expendi- 

 ture must always be above the receipts, but as time 

 advances the service may be improved at the same 

 cost ; as, for instance, when the railway is extended 

 the carriage of the mails to many places will be more 

 expeditious and less costly. 



That occasional abuse will be levelled at it by dis- 

 contented grumblers is only to be expected, because 

 that is a chronic complaint relative to everything 

 governmental, and the Post Office cannot expect to be 

 the exception. So long as the Postmaster-General or 

 any other head of a department keeps pace with the 

 times, people must learn to be satisfied. And I who 

 know it assert that Trinidad is keeping abreast of the 

 times in a very marked degree and that is all that 

 can be expected. As I have shown, the Post Office of 

 Now forms a great contrast with the Post Office of 

 Then and I am sure that as time moves on it will eon. 

 tinue to do so. 



