been ill-managed." Why, the very gist and kernel of the whole
agitation, set forth in print through long years of iteration, has been
the scandalous mismanagement of the affairs of the Colony--especially
under the baleful administration of Governor Irving. The Augean
Stable, miscalled by him "The Public Works Department," and whose
officials he coolly [58] fastened upon the financial vitals of that
long-suffering Colony, baffled even the resolute will of a Des Voeux to
cleanse it. Poor Sir Sanford Freeling attempted the cleansing, but
foundered ignominiously almost as soon as he embarked on that Herculean
enterprise. Sir A. E. Havelock, who came after, must be mentioned by
the historian of Trinidad merely as an incarnate accident in the
succession of Governors to whom the destinies of that maltreated Colony
have been successively intrusted since the departure of Sir Arthur
Hamilton Gordon. The present Governor of Trinidad, Sir William
Robinson, is a man of spirit and intelligence, keenly alive to the
grave responsibilities resting on him as a ruler of men and moulder of
men's destinies. Has he, with all his energy, his public spirit and
indisputable devotion to the furtherance of the Colony's interests,
been able to grapple successfully with the giant evil? Has he
effectually gained the ear of our masters in Downing Street regarding
the inefficiency and wastefulness of Governor Irving's pet department?
We presume that his success has been but very partial, for otherwise it
is difficult to conceive the motive for [59] retaining the army of
officials radiating from that office, with the chief under whose
supervision so many architectural and other scandals have for so long
been the order of the day. The Public Works Department is costly
enough to have been a warning to the whole of the West Indies. It is
true that the lavish squandering of the people's money by that
department has been appreciably checked since the advent of the present
head of the Government. The papers no longer team with accounts, nor
is even the humblest aesthetic sense, offended now, as formerly, with
views of unsightly, useless and flimsy erections, the cost of which, on
an average, was five times more than that of good and reputable
structures.

This, however, has been entirely due to the personal influence of the
Governor. Sir William Robinson, not being the tool, as Sir Henry
Irving owned that he was, of the Director of Public Works,