§ MR. HUME, having referred to a petition from the inhabitants of Trinidad, praying that they might be granted a representative system of local government, asked the Under Secretary for the Colonies if the Government had any intention of taking measures to secure such a mode of government to that colony?
§ MR. HAWESstated, that in the existing condition of the colony, with education very little diffused among the inhabitants, it had not been deemed advisable at the present period to establish there representative institutions. Steps had, however, been taken to prepare the people for some future measure of that kind. The island had been divided into districts; municipal forms had been conceded; and this, it was hoped, would lay the firm foundation for good independent government.