E.—la.

N.B.—The matter to be read is marked off by thick lines into sections, each of which is to occupy a minute, and also by thinner lines into smaller sections, each containing the number of words to be read in twelve seconds. Passage for Dictation. [The passage takes 8 minutes.] The twenty-third of March, 1903, will long be remembered in the history of the remote West Indian Colony of Trinidad. It witnessed one of | those terrible struggles that from time to time take place between the people and their rulers. It opened with the prospect of a constitutional and well | organized struggle for the right of public entry to the Council Chamber during the proceedings of the Legislative Council, and ended in violence and incendiarism on | the one side and in bloodshed on the other. For nearly an hour the mob stoned the whole building, which includes the Law Courts and many | other Government offices, and then set it on fire. The proceedings of this memorable day began about eleven o'clock, when the Committee 1 of the Batepayers' Association | presented themselves at the door of the Council Chamber, and demanded admission without tickets. They were refused, and after the display of just sufficient force to | constitute an assault they retired to hold a meeting in the adjoining square. At noon the proceedings of the Council began in the presence of about | thirty persons, some of them officials, who had obtained tickets. One of the Councillors immediately called attention to the illegality of the notice excluding the public, | and, having failed to carry his motion for the adjournment of the House, retired from the Council. Another member followed his example. Meanwhile the crowd outside I were engaged, some in holding a meeting and discussing plans for future action, others in marching round the building, singing the National 2 Anthem and beating drums | and tins so loudly as frequently to disturb the proceedings of the Council. At one stage a van drove up with the Council's luncheon, and the | driver called out to the crowd to " make way for the Governor's luncheon." This provoked the first real act of violence. The now excited mob declared | that if there was to be no water for them there should be no food for the Governor, and they took possession of the contents of | the van, and scattered them in every direction, breaking every plate and dish. Soon after they took possession of the Governor's carriage, smashed it to pieces, | and threw the unbreakable portions into the sea. They then stoned the building, breaking every window, and driving the clerks out of 3 the lower storey. The | members of Council sheltered themselves as best they could in the Council Boom in the upper storey, not daring to come out and face the anger | of the mob. The lower storey being vacated and unprotected, the mob entered unmolested, made piles of paper and broken chairs and shelves, and set them |on fire. The building soon was ablaze, and the Governor and Councillors escaped as best they could, some protected by bodies of police, the majority unprotected. | In an hour or two the building was in ruins, although the firebrigade station is immediately opposite. The police barrack on the other side of | the building also caught fire from the ejected sparks, but the fire did not extend beyond the tower. 4 The next serious stage in the events of | the day was the order to the police to charge the crowd, which was not given until the building was on fire. The police with shot j and bayonet quickly dispersed the crowd, killing eighteen and wounding about forty. Some of the flying crowd rushed into or broke into three large stores, evidently | for the purpose of securing guns, of which they are said to have obtained some. Fortunately at this juncture a body of marines was landed from | His Majesty's ship " Pallas," which had been lying in the harbour since the Venezuelan blockades ; and the rioters seeing this ceased their looting and dispersed. When | the rioting began the leaders made several attempts to check the violence, but the mob was, 5 as might have been expected, entirely beyond their control. Whether | the attack of the mob was a well-organized attempt to inflict corporal punishment on certain members of Council, or whether one step merely led on j to the next, will probably never be known. The circumstances that led up to these deeds of violence are connected with the watersupply of Port |of Spain. Some of them are of long duration, others are of comparatively recent occurrence. The water-supply has for many years been insufficient for the j requirements of the largely increased population, and in the dry season has had to be cut off for several hours during the day. Steps had been | taken to remedy this, and a sum of £57,000 6 had been expended in obtaining an additional supply. As soon as the supply from | the new sources had been connected energetic measures were adopted to prevent waste. Some steps were undoubtedly necessary, but the people strongly objected to their pipes | being cut. The supply of water for flushing the drains was discontinued, and the Town Commissioners protested against this on account of the danger to the | public health. These measures, together with certain rumours as to the failure of the wells to give the quantity expected, rightly or wrongly, created an impression | that the money spent in endeavouring to obtain the additional supply had been wasted. Two other features lent acuteness to this impression—viz., the very high | insurance rates and the introduction of the sewerage system into the town. After the big fire 7 of 1895 the insurance rates (already 15s. Jto 20s. per £100) were raised 50 per cent.; after the fire of last year these were again raised 25 per cent. Special | efforts were made to remove the last 25 per cent., and on the assurance by the Governor that a good supply was forthcoming the insurance | companies agreed to suspend it for six months. The period of suspension will expire on the eighteenth of April, and this explains the anxiety displayed by | the Chamber of Commerce for a commission of inquiry. This was purely a monetary question. On the other hand, those interested in the health of the | town welcomed the introduction of the sewerage system, but viewed with anxiety the possibility of the water-supply being cut off 8 for several hours a day. j

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