City Corporation

Knox Street, Port of Spain

Woodford Square with Trinity Cathedral in the background

June 26^th, 1914 marks the Restoration of the Municipal Rights of the citizens of Port of Spain and its elevation to City status. The proclamation was signed by Governor George Le Hunte.

The Restoration followed a fourteen an a half year period during which the Port of Spain Borough Council had been abolished and the town was placed, at first in the hands of four Town Commissioners for about six years, then under the control of a Town Board.

The abolition of the Borough Council was effected on January 18^th, 1899 by then Governor Jerningham�s proclamation of the Port of Spain Ordinance which put the town in commission.

The train of events leading up to the abolition of the Port of Spain Borough Council was started in January 1896 when the Town Clerk sent a letter to Governor Jerningham through the Colonial Secretary seeking reliefs from having to make certain contributions, and also seeking certain payments from Government.

The Council�s request to the Government were as follows:-

1. That the annual contributions made by the Borough towards the maintenance of the Hospital and towards Education, and the payments for the registration of vaccination cases and Births and Deaths in the Borough are unjustifiable and such as the Municipality should be relieved from.

2. That the revenue derivable from certain licences in the Borough should belong to the municipality.

3. That in view of the fact that the water- works have been paid for out of rates levied on Port of Spain and that since the passing of Ordinance 12 of 1875 the Public Institutions in and near Port of Spain have been supplied with water from the water- works free of charge and further that these works have been utillized for the extension of the water supply to places outside the Borough, compensation in some form is due to the Municipality.

4. That as the Government Buildings and other buildings leased to the Government are exempted from the payment of House Rates and Government Carts ply in the town without paying licences, an annual grant should be made by the Government to the Municipality towards the upkeep of streets and drains.

   Meanwhile the Corporation had gone into arrears on its various contributions and payments. Secretary of State for the Colonies, Joseph Chamberlain, argued that:

"The whole theory and foundations of sound Municipal Government is that the ratepayers through their elected Representatives should have the local affairs, and they cannot throw off this responsibillty upon any other authority unless they are content at the same time to part with their control:

He blamed the Council for using their powers to raise rates so as to increase revenue to match expenditure and refused to accept the case of the Port of Spain Borough Council which he described as a body which is or ought to be a leading Municipality in the West Indies".

However, the Colonial Secretary was willing to accede to some of the Council�s requests, subject to certain conditions, namely that:-

1. the house rates were raised to 7 � percent instead of 5 percent so as to place the finances (of the Borough Council ) in a more elastic condition; the assessment be done by an officer appointed by the Governor.
2. the estimates of revenue and expenditure were submitted for the Governor�s approval every year.
3. the accounts of the Borough were submitted to audit by the Government Auditor.

Borough Council members stood firmly against these conditions which were seen as encroaching on their authority. The battle of words continued into January 1899, when Council was abolished. It appears that the lobby for Restoration was always strong. By 1904, Governor Sir Henry Jackson, in reference to the abolition was recorded as commenting:

"You cannot keep such an intelligent community as this in leading strings forever". Petitions from the Port of Spain Workingmen�s Association in 1906 spurred on the Governor to initiate moves for the Restoration.

By March 1910, the first attempt was made when Hon. L. A. Wharton K. C. moved a Resolution in the Town Board seeking to have incoming members of the Board elected by the citizens of the town "with a view to the gradual substitution of an elected Council for the present Board". The restoration was not carried in division.

Success finally came on June 25^th 1913 when a Resolution moved by the Hon. Dr. Enrique Prada seeking the gradual substitution of the Town Board by an elected body was adopted by the Legislative Council. Details were ironed out over the next year and in 1914, the Governor proclaimed June 26^th as City Day.

The first Mayor of the City of Port of Spain was Dr. Enrique Prada