194 PROCEEDINGS OP THE VICTORIA INSTITUTE. 
in this Island showed that in 1896, 2,817 ships, steam and sail, 
came into Trinidad, representing 623,000 tons cf goods ; that 
vfas to say, that we imported to the amount, but lie found on 
the clearing side that there were 2,815 ships that cleared this 
Colony with 619,000 tons. 
That was a satisfactory statement. It showed that 
there was only a slight extra importation, and that they 
exported 4,000 tons less only than what they imported But 
what did these 4,000 tons represent ? They represented food. 
They represented that which they could grow here. The 
other represented the whole wants of the community, and these 
4,000 tons absolutely represented nothing else but food brought 
into the Colony which might be grown here, and that was a point 
which he insisted upon because it was probable that the few 
remarks he had the honour of making might be reported, and he 
wished the whole colony to know that, since he had been here and 
had studied it and had seen and taken to heart the position that 
he had the honour to occupy among them, he believed this colony 
could produce far more than it did, and he intended it to produce 
much more. So far as the first stage, namely, the position of 
the colony and its progressing yearly was concerned, they would 
allow with him that it really was satisfactory. Tt was not per- 
haps what they might wish in their sanguine desires to be above 
all other colonies, but it was satisfactory as it, stood Tf tW 
amaica boasted of. The 
