THE EDITOR: The seemingly harsh move by Caroni’s Land Management Agency to remove squatter farmers and other squatters could be the first golden opportunity to begin to sort out the disorder this country has been in since Christopher Columbus landed here and named it La Trinidad for Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain.

Since the announced closure of Caroni (1975) Ltd, a babble of voices has been claiming the lands for Indians, for Africans, big business, a credit union, wealthy expatriate Trinidadians and others. Caroni lands are State lands and so belong to all the people of Trinidad and Tobago. If we are a true rainbow nation, then to say that the lands belong to Indians and Africans shatters this image as the other groups are left out if they do not belong. At the end of slavery and indentureship both Indians and Africans got lands from the plantation. The Africans were allowed small plots of land for a house and a small kitchen garden. Despite this they left the plantation by the thousands. The wounds of slavery were too deep for them to retain any attachment to the cruel plantation system. Africans went to the cities and became civil servants, craftsmen, teachers, artisans, vendors. Some Africans who fought in the American civil war were given plots in south Trinidad which still bear the names of their military units, names as First Company, Second Company and so on. Many Indians were given lands in lieu of their passage back to India.

When the Africans abandoned sugar, Chinese were tried before the Indians. Their journey proved to be too long and expensive and those who came soon abandoned sugar to set up shops and laundry services. Other people came too, some from the Middle East all joining to form this nation Trinidad and Tobago. The idea to give ex-Caroni workers and cane farmers first preference to the lands is more than generous; considering the golden enhanced VSEP package most of them got. To extend the programme to all nationals interested in agriculture must be commended. Here is a chance for Afro Trinidadians who fled the plantation in the wake of the dreadful experience of slavery to return to the land to build themselves and their country. In principle, the offer is also open to Europeans and others a promise of utopian approach to agriculture with all sections of the society contributing to growing our own food.

Alas this grand plan which holds so much promise is fraught with danger, a danger engineered by the very ones who conceived it. The land distribution plan can turn out to be a poisoned chalice. The threat comes from the Government’s massive housing plans. The first warning shot came in Curepe some months ago when food crop farmers were put off fertile lands to make way for housing. The same fate awaits the rich lands in Orange Grove.  The opposition’s claims of house padding can have credence here. So far no one in Government circles can explain this bizarre development. Agriculture Minister John Rahael feigns ignorance of what is happening. How can this be? To which Cabinet does he belong? Two factors are driving this foolishness, the ruling party’s need to increase its presence in marginal areas and the promise of mega dollars from the oil and gas reserves. We are borrowing from the future to ruin ourselves with so called development. As a nation, all should unite and voice strong opposition to the Government locking away fertile lands under housing. Apparently the present administration is living for now, 2020 is a sham as far as food security is concerned. Future generations will curse us when the oil and gas runs out and they have to deal with hardships of not having food security. The nation should not allow this great sin to be perpetrated on generations to come.

MC DONALD JAMES
Couva

THE EDITOR: I read with much interest a letter from R Rose to the Editor which appeared in the newspaper on Saturday, September 20, 2003, questioning the CXC grading. My son brought this anomaly to my attention last year when he got a Grade II in English A with a profile A, while another of his classmate got a Grade I in the same subject with the exact same profile. I, like R Rose would like an explanation/clarification from the Caribbean Examination Cou-ncil/Ministry of Education on this issue.

R ROBINSON
San Fernando

THE EDITOR: I am a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago who has been on the receiving end of bad service and I am going to express my anger to you as Editor of the leading newspaper.

My best friend and I went into a reputable clothing store (whose name I will not mention in order to save its reputation) in order to buy a top for her birthday. Firstly, when we went into the store the sales person was very rude and ignored our presence, offering her assistance to us in a very insolent manner. When we chose what we wanted to buy and waited for her to assist us by locating a dressing room, we noticed that the sales person was standing nearby talking to another sales girl, completely forgetting that we were waiting for her.

When we finally caught her attention she lazily showed us to an available room. My friend tried on the top and to our dismay we realised that it was too big so we asked her to bring a smaller size for us, and with most disgust she flared her nose and rolled her eyes at us like she didn’t want to serve us anymore. My friend realised that she didn’t want the top anymore,  we gave it back to her nicely and told her thanks for her service, she answered very rudely “so why did you waste my time” and my friend answered very nicely “because we thought we wanted it” and she again rolled her eyes at us and went back talking to the other sales girl. Now is that service or non-quality service or what. To all business owners out there, when you are teaching your sales representatives about “Quality Customer Service” teach them these words of Jane Applegate — “Service without a smile can be deadly to a business.”

EARL HARRY
Diego Martin

THE EDITOR: Now that we have heard the knee-jerk reactions of a few so-called financial experts concerning the possibility of a merger between FCB and UTC, please allow me to put some more considered views.

As I understand it, any combined entity could boast assets of some $21 billion. The commercial world has become a brutal place, in which size counts. One large company would surely be better placed to prosper, locally and regionally, than two smaller ones. Who said anything about a full-scale merger? What if one holding company operated the two brands separately? Customers could remain with whichever brand their loyalty dictated. This holding company could effect economies of scale by sharing a host of systems and technologies. Might this not enable it to pay better rates on their units/deposit accounts? One extraordinary letter argued that FCB and UTC are in different businesses. Wrong. Every major commercial bank in this country runs at least two mutual funds. UTC is essentially a collection of mutual funds. It even does merchant banking, and has issued ATM cards. So much for that letter. Do some of the naysayers have axes to grind? A certain stockbroking pundit has loudly condemned the merger proposal. Could this be because two thirds of his company’s business is in UTC and he doesn’t want his personal boats rocked?

Finally, let us remember some earlier policy initiatives that were derided by the “experts.” When Government localised the entire banking industry, the experts foresaw disaster. Result? Our banks are among the largest in the Caribbean. When Government established the Deposit Insurance Corporation, forcing all banks to contribute, the experts argued against it. Result? Today, this scheme is a model for the rest of the Caribbean. When Government decided to merge NCB, TCB and Workers’ Bank, the experts said the new bank — FCB couldn’t survive. Result? FCB is declaring profits of over $200 million, is perfectly stable and has just become the only local bank to achieve a “Positive” rating from Standard and Poor’s. The point is, we can’t just dismiss this proposal out of hand. It could well be the best way forward for both companies, and their customers. Remember, experts have a regular habit of being wrong!

ARTHUR JOSEPH
Maraval

THE EDITOR: After reviewing the 7 pm news on TV which stated that four people died on the road within 24 hours, I wrote this letter to the Commissioner of Police concerning carnage on the roads of Trinidad and Tobago.

This is a follow up to several I wrote to you before on the same subject, suggesting a simple solution to solve the problem. That is, all vehicles in the country should be equipped with a governor attached to their carburetors to limit the vehicles to a maximum speed of 50 miles an hour, because all the fatal accidents on our roads are caused by speeding vehicles. I am begging you sir, please give this matter top priority because it is a matter of life and death. In my previous letters I mentioned two different areas, Williams Bay in Chaguaramas and the corner of Jogie Road, Fifth Street and the Priority Bus Route in San Juan-Barataria. Please help us. God bless you.

ETHU THOMAS
Barataria