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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

16 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

MY LORD,

No. 125.

(TRINIDAD.)

LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.

[Proposed acquisition of the Cipero tramroad.]

Royal Courts of Justice,

22nd December, 1909. WE were honoured with your Lordship's commands signified to us in Mr. G. V. Fiddes's letter of the 26th November last, stating that he was directed by your Lordship to transmit to us the correspondence with regard to the proposed acquisi- tion of the Cipero tramroad by the Government of Trinidad.

That Mr. G. V. Fiddes was to explain that the town of San Fernando in Trinidad was connected with Princetown by a tramway of which the section near Princetown, the Cipero tramway proper, was in the hands of the Cipero Tramway Commissioners while the San Fernando section was vested in the Crown, but leased to the Commissioners, subject to resumption on three months' notice. That the two sections together were sometimes referred to as the Cipero tramway. That in order to extend the Government railway beyond San Fernando the Colonial Government must resume possession of a portion, at least, of the San Fernando section and desire to acquire the whole tramway. That an attempt had been made to obtain the consent of the Cipero Commissioners to an Ordinance transferring the tramway to the Government, but that the Commissioners (who were nominees of the neigh- bouring estate owners) contended that the tramway was built at the expense of the owners of the estates served by it and was private property; and that they refused to agree to the transfer except on payment of a sum which the Government regarded as excessive. That on the other hand the legal advisers of the Colonial Govern- ment were of the opinion that the Government had the right to assume possession of the tramroad without compensation, and had furnished a joint opinion to that effect, a copy of which would be found among the enclosures to the Acting Governor's despatch of the 8th March, 1909:

That the Cipero tramway was one of those built under Ordinance 4 of 1856, entitled "An Ordinance for encouraging the formation of Tramroads," which was passed for the objects stated in the preamble. That this Ordinance empowered the Governor to borrow money by way of loan on debenture for the purposes of the Ordinance, and made the moneys so borrowed a charge on the general revenues of the Colony (Sections 1 and 2). That by Section 12 the owners of not less than one- fourth of the estates in a ward were authorised to apply to the Central Road Board for an advance; and that by Section 18 the Central Road Board was empowered to make an order authorizing the construction of a tramroad and the making of an advance under the Ordinance for the purpose, and also to make a separate order, called a "charging order," for securing the repayment of the advance with interest by means of a charge thereby created on the estates specified in the order. That provision was made by Sections 13, 14, and 15 for hearing and deciding on objections to a proposed charging order. That the annual amounts payable under a charging order were to be recoverable in the same way as ward rate (Section 23) and were also to be a charge on the fares and tolls to be taken on the tramroad (Section 44).

That the Central Road Board were to appoint the Warden (who is an officer of the Colonial Government) and any other persons they thought fit to be Commis sioners for the construction and management of the tramroad and the outlay and expenditure of the moneys to be advanced for the making of the same (Section 25). That the provisions of this section were repealed by Ordinance 20 of 1869, which transferred the control and management of tramroads constructed under the Ordi- nance of 1856 to Boards of Commissioners consisting of a warden appointed by the Central Road Board and of the owners or proxies of the owners of the lands charged with repayment of the moneys advanced for the formation of the tramroad. That it was understood that the only surviving Commissioners, besides the Warden, were the representatives of the New Colonial Company and of Messrs. Charles Tennant and Sons, who now owned between them all the estates on which the cost of the formation of the tramroad was charged.

(15341-3.) W, 96-329, 25, 1/10. D & B.

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