School Reenactment of the 1776 Debate

Añadido: 2026-04-29

[00:00:54]Pleasant. Good morning ladies and gentlemen. My name is Goinda Ramloan and it is my pleasure to serve as your master of ceremonies for today's event.

[00:01:05]Welcome to the school's debate reenactment of the 1776 ordinance. At this time, I would like to kindly ask everyone to please rise as the members enter the chamber.

[00:01:42]Heat. Heat.

[00:02:15]Please note the following Safety rules.

[00:02:18]Should there be any reason for you to evacuate the chamber, use either of the two exit doors. People who use the door located next to the public gallery are advised to proceed through the lobby to the front doors down the main staircase to the must point at James Park. People who use the door located to the presiding officer's left are advised to proceed to the gate leading to Backl Street extension and then to the muster point at the old market car park. At the must points, further instructions will be given by fire wardens or other authorized officials. Also, please sanitize your hands upon entering and leaving the premises at the designated security checkpoints. Social distancing should be practiced at all times. If you have flu-l like symptoms and or a fever, please seek further guidance at our security checkpoints. Thank you for your attention.

[00:03:27]Heat. Heat.

[00:03:47]Oh, heat, heat.

[00:04:01]Heat.

[00:04:25]Heat.

[00:04:38]I would like to extend a warm welcome and sincere thank you to each of you for being here. Please have your seats everyone.

[00:04:51]I would also like to acknowledge the support of the assembly legislature as a partner in this initiative and presiding officer Mr. Nyall George for being so gracious in offering the chamber for use. I would now like to invite Mrs. Camelin Belville Panton to do the opening prayer.

[00:05:26]Yeah, come back the mic.

[00:05:34]Can we all kindly stand? Good morning everyone.

[00:05:41]Almighty God, we ask for your holy presence to be with us today. Oh God, indeed today is a good day and we are truly glad because you would have allowed us to see another day. Oh God, as we are about to begin this process, oh God, we pray that your Holy Spirit will be with us. Cover this room, oh God, with the blood of Jesus. And we pray, heavenly father, that the students will be remember their blinds, Lord God.

[00:06:04]they would be comfortable and be at peace, oh heavenly father, because of your holy presence. We pray that you bless everyone present this morning. And we pray, oh God, that your will be done.

[00:06:14]In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

[00:06:16]>> Thank you.

[00:06:19]Please have your seats.

[00:06:22]Thank you Mrs. Mrs. Pantins. I would like to extend a a warm welcome to our chairman Mr. Beal Ram Logan to bring greetings.

[00:06:32]Mr. Madame Lan.

[00:06:38]All protocols observed. Secretary Darren Henry, Secretary Mr. Clark, specially invited guests, students, a pleasant good morning.

[00:06:48]It is my honor as the chairman of the main 250 committee to welcome you to day two of the main rich 250th celebrations here at the assembly legislature.

[00:07:00]Yesterday we opened the historic week of activities. Today we continue by bringing history, leadership, and education together in this distinguished chamber.

[00:07:11]We are gathered for the school reenactment of the historic 1776 debate that helped shape one of the most important environmental decisions in the entire world. 250 years ago, Swami Jennings and others of that period were thinking beyond their time. They were building a future. They understood that by preserving the main rich forest for this present day is protecting Tobago's watershed, natural resources, and long-term well-being for generations to come. Because of that foresight, Tobago became part of the earliest examples of environmental policy in the current world.

[00:07:56]As we mark 250 years, we honor the legacy of Swami Jennings by doing the same thing. We honor that legacy by continuing to conserve and protect the main rich forest reserve. We also honor that legacy by investing in our young people because the future of Tobago depends not only on our forest but on our youth. When we create opportunities for students to learn, to lead, and to participate, we are also building their future. That is why today's reenactment is so meaningful. Our students are stepping into history, learning decisions and their importance. We are proud to welcome the partnering schools on this initiative. Goodwood Secondary School, Spaceside High School, Mason Hall Secondary School, Harmon School of SA, Bishop's High School, and the Roxboro Secondary School. To every student participating today, let me say I commend you for your preparation and your willingness to be part of that historic debate. Let's get a round of applause for the students from the gallery.

[00:09:10]In closing, let today remind us that great decisions such as this can shape centuries. Let it also remind us that the next great chapter of Tobago's story will be written by the young people we see before us. In 50 years time, the time capsule from our main rich event will be opened. But before that, I predict in about 25 years time, some of the students that we have acting in this house today, they may return in this house, but in a different capacity where they will earn their seats. So I leave you with a quote from former US President Franklin Roosevelt. He said, "We cannot always build a future for our for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future." Thank you.

[00:10:04]Thank you, Mr. Bear Ram Logan, for those insightful remarks. I would now like to invite Assembly Member Mr. Darian Henry, Secretary of the Division of the Environment, Climate Resilience, and Energy to bring remarks as we proceed this morning.

[00:10:38]Assembly Member Wayne Clark, Secretary of Food Production.

[00:10:44]Miss Clark of the House, Mr. Lincoln Nelson, administrator in the division of food security, assistant conservator of forest in the department of natural resources and forestry, Miss Camelin Melville, staff of the best division in the Tobago House of Assembly, specially invited guests, teachers, members of the media, online viewers, and of course our students.

[00:11:12]Pleasant good morning and welcome to day two of the main 250 commemorative week.

[00:11:23]Students, today is about you. Let me ask you a quick question. If you could make one decision today that will still matter 250 years from now, what would you choose?

[00:11:40]Think about that as you go about your school life. While it may sound like a big question, that is exactly what happened to Tobago in 1776.

[00:11:52]At a time when forests were being cleared all over the world, a group of decision makers chose something different.

[00:12:02]They chose to protect the main rich forest reserve not just for themselves but for the future. And here we are today living in that future. They never met us. They never knew you. But their decisions still shape your life. That is the power of a good decision. And today through this reenactment you are stepping into that moment. You are not just learning history. You are experiencing it.

[00:12:36]You are thinking, questioning and understanding what it means to make choice matter.

[00:12:46]Now, here is the important part. You do not have to wait to grow up to make a difference. Being a steward of the environment starts with simple things.

[00:12:57]It start with how we treat our surroundings, how you care for your school, how you respect nature. Whether at the beach, the forest, or your own community, every small action counts.

[00:13:13]Because just like in 1776, the future is shaped by the choices we make today. So think, so think of it this way. They started the story 250 years ago and today you are part of what comes next. So as you take part in this debate, do more than perform. Think, engage, imagine, and ask yourself, what kind of future do I want to help create? Because the truth is the future of Tobago is not something far away. It is something you are already shaping. I look forward to your presentation.

[00:13:55]Make us proud. I thank you.

[00:14:03]Thank you for those insightful remarks, Mr. Darren Henry. We will now move into the special segment of our program. I would like to allow our members to present the reenactment now. Thank you.

[00:14:38]Have you ever held a belief others refused to accept?

[00:14:44]So firm your colleagues called it foolish? So unwelcomed your family answered with scone? so persistent it left you standing alone in this chamber in the year 1776 one man stands in that position his name is Swami Jennings across the Atlantic the American colonies are declaring their independence from the British crown the world's most powerful empire is indeed fracturing at its edges and in this chamber the house of commons Westminster, London. That crisis dominates almost every conversation.

[00:15:28]Well, almost every conversation.

[00:15:32]Today, one member rises to speak on something that has nothing to do with America and everything to do with the future. He is 72 years old, a member of parliament for the burough of Dunwitch and a commissioner of trade and plantations.

[00:15:50]He's also a poet, a theologian, and for 11 years the most persistent voice in Westminster on a subject that most of his colleagues find either obscure or absurd.

[00:16:05]The subject is a forest on a small island called Tobago in the southern Caribbean. The great ridge runs along the island. The great sorry the great ridge that runs along the island spine is being cleared for sugar plantations estate by estate acre by acre and Jennings believes has believes since the since the 1760s that after reading the work of a scientist Stefan Hails that when the forest goes the rain will go with it. No forest, no rain, no water, no crops, no future. For 11 years, he has tried to convince this parliament he has been ignored, dismissed, and questioned.

[00:16:57]Today is his last chance.

[00:17:03]The debate you're about to witness took place across the ocean in a chamber built like this one governed by rules just like these. What was decided there on that day would cross the Atlantic, reach a small colonial council in Scarough and become on the 30th of April 1776 the world's first conservation law.

[00:17:30]250 years later, that forest still stands.

[00:17:35]Let the debate begin.

[00:17:43]Member please members please rise for the speaker.

[00:17:58]Order. This house will come to order. We are convened to hear the motion put by the honorable member for Dunwwich, Mr. Seom Jennings, regarding a proposed ordinance for the island's colony of Tobago. Mr. Jennings has the floor.

[00:18:23]>> Mr. You may now be seated.

[00:18:28]Mr. Speaker, I am grateful to this house for its time. I am aware that the crisis in America presses upon every mind in this chamber. I will not take more of the House's time than the matter requires, but I will ask the House's patience because the matter requires more than a moment. I have been bringing this proposal before the parliament in various forms for 11 years. I have been told it is too early, too theoretical, too cautious. We must develop the island first and worry about the consequences later. Mr. Speaker, later has arrived.

[00:19:13]>> of Tobago was was seeded to Britain in 1763.

[00:19:18]In 13 years, we have surveyed it, divided it, and sold over 50,000 acres of it to planters.

[00:19:27]The plantation economy is established.

[00:19:29]The crown's revenue is being served, sugar is being grown, and the forest of the main ridge is being destroyed.

[00:19:44]Mr. Speaker, the honorable member uses the word destroyed. I would use the word developed. The land is being put productive use. That is not destruction.

[00:19:54]That is an empire. The honorable member, Colonel Dumba, Mr. Jennings has the floor. You will have your opportunity later.

[00:20:05]Mr. Speaker, I thank the chair.

[00:20:08]I want to ask this house one practical question in the language of commerce not sentiment.

[00:20:16]The plantation economy of Tobago depends on water. The cane fields are productive because the island receives reliable rainfall. That rainfall feeds the feeds the streams that water the estates. And that rainfall, I will argue and the science will demonstrate is the is maintained by the forest of the main ridge. Remove the forest, lose the rain, lose everything.

[00:20:45]The planters depths, the merchants's profits, the crown's revenue. All of it rests on water. And the water rests on the trees.

[00:21:06]Mr. Speaker, that is a very large claim for such a small premise.

[00:21:12]>> Honorable member Lord Hartley, Mr. Jennings has the floor.

[00:21:17]>> I I beg the chair's pardon. I shall contain myself. Mr. Speaker, the honorable members restraint is appreciated and his challenge is fair, which is why I invited Dr. Edward Porter >> to address this house.

[00:21:35]Member Cedric Jennings has the floor to address this house with the chair's permission.

[00:21:47]The house will hear Dr. Porter.

[00:21:51]Mr. Speaker, in 1727 Redvert Stefan Hall's clergyman, scientist fellow of the Royal Society p published a work called vegetable statistics.

[00:22:04]In it, they demonstrated through careful measurements that the plants draw water from the soil through their roots and releases it into the air through their leaves. He called this transpiration.

[00:22:16]He measured the daily transpiration of a of a single large plant precisely. The figures were remarkable. A single sunflower in one day releases the water equivalent to more than a pint.

[00:22:29]>> And the measurement from remember I am on my feet.

[00:22:38]Dr. Porter has the flow.

[00:22:43]He measured the daily transpiration of a single large plant precisely. The figures were remarkable. A single sunflower one day releases the water equivalent to more than a pint. Scale that to a large tree and a large tree releases hundreds of gallons of water vapor into the atmosphere every day.

[00:23:02]Scale that to a mountain range covered in forest and you begin to understand what the main ridge of Tobago is doing.

[00:23:08]It is an engine.

[00:23:14]It draws water from the soil and releases it into the air. The water forms clouds. Those clouds produce rain.

[00:23:21]The force does not merely shelter from the rainfall. It generates it. I take one. Now, >> Mr. Speaker, one scientist, one sunflower. The honorable gentleman asks us to legislate the destiny of an island on the basis of a plant experiment conducted 50 years ago.

[00:23:48]>> Lord Hartley, please be reminded that Dr. Porter has the flow.

[00:23:58]>> Mr. Speaker, Hails is not the only evidence.

[00:24:00]>> What other evidence do you have?

[00:24:06]Member, I am on my feet.

[00:24:11]>> You're out of line, Mrs. Hart. Mr. Speaker, Hills is not the only evidence.

[00:24:16]The French naturalist Tumblr Don Monia documented the same relationship in the Mediterranean. Portuguese engineers observed the drying of the springs in Azour after the hilltop forest were cleared. The pattern is consistent across climates and continents. Remove the high forest and within years the springs diminish. The streams run dry in dry season. The soil erodess and the harvest declines.

[00:24:48]>> Mr. Speaker, hails oceans. The honorable gentleman describes events in the Mediterranean and the Azros. to be poor is neither.

[00:25:00]>> The Caribbean climate is different. The soils are different. The rainfall patterns are different. To apply findings from Portugal to a tropical island requires a leap of faith that this house is not equipped and should not be asked to make it.

[00:25:25]>> Mr. Montro I may repeat Dr. Porter has the flow >> that is honorable Mr. Mr. Speaker, the underlying mechanism transpiration, the movement, the movement of water from soil to the atmosphere through their vegetation is not specific to Portugal.

[00:25:50]It is physics. Water moves the same way in every >> not in every climate.

[00:25:56]>> Member member Cedric, I'm on my feet.

[00:26:03]>> Dr. Porter, you may continue. the effect if anything more pronounced in the tropics where water force density is greater and the water cycle is faster.

[00:26:16]>> Mr. Speaker, I have proof my word. I would like to bring to this house's attention an excerpt taken from an article written in the O in the Jackson's Oxford Journal dated Saturday 29th, 1970. And it reads, "The Dolly Peter Maddock from the island of Tobago consigned to Mr. Blackburn is arrived at cows laden with sugar. This is the first ever vessel first ever that has ever cleared from Europe with produce from that island.

[00:27:03]It is thought that this island will in a few years make as much or rather exceed any of our leeward island in its produce. The land has been proven by what it has yielded to be of the best quality of sugar which must render it the islands equal in value to any other of its neighborhood. I shall take my seat. Mr. Speaker, I must ask the indulgence of the house.

[00:27:48]The honorable gentleman speaks with confidence, but confidence is not evidence at all. What we are being asked here is to pass a permanent ordinance on the basis of scientific theory. If the theory is wrong or incomplete, we will have made an irreversible mistake. Has the honorable gentleman himself been to Tobago? Has he stood on the marriage and measured the rainfall? hands. Dr. Potter, >> Lord Hartley, >> Dr. Porter has the floor.

[00:28:25]Thank you, >> Mr. Speaker.

[00:28:35]>> Nothing good to say. Member, I'm on my feet.

[00:28:42]Dr. Porter has the floor. Save your commentary for later.

[00:28:51]>> Mr. Speaker, I have not been to Tobago, nor ask Commissioner James, but someone has, and their letter is before this house today.

[00:29:03]I shall take my seat.

[00:29:08]>> Mr. Speaker, with the chair's permission, I ask that the clerk read into the record a letter received from Tobago from Mr. James Campbell, a planter on the island, a member of the Tobago Colonial Assembly, a man who has found that island for 13 years.

[00:29:28]Um, the clerk will read the correspondence.

[00:29:39]The letter is addressed to the commissioner and member for Dunri, Mr. Swami Jennet. It is dated the 14th of February 1776.

[00:29:50]It is sent from the Agal Estate, Queens Bay Division, Island of Tobago, and it is signed by Mr. James Campbell, planter and member of the Tobago Colonial Assembly.

[00:30:05]Dear commissioner generals, you have asked me to write plainly of what I have seen and I will do my best. I am more comfortable with a ser with a service chain than a pen. But what I have to say matter more than how I will say. I came to Tobago in 1763 when the island was first open for settlement. I purchased the land in the northeast at Queens Bay on the eastern coast where I have since plant where I have since built my estate at AA.

[00:30:39]I have now been there for 13 years. I have cleared the land. I have planted cane and I have built roads and employ workers and watch this island grow. I do not say this to recommend myself. I say it so the house understands that I am not a man given to the sentiment about trees. But what I must say no tells you what I have watched.

[00:31:06]When I arrived in 1763, the streams that run from the main ridge to the coast were strong and clear from October to June. The soil held moisture well into the dry months. My workers never went without water. The ridge above me was thick with forest and in the mornings before the sun rose fully, the mist would come down from it across my fees. I took it for granted.

[00:31:38]Today, in the months of January and February, the streams that feed my argal estate run so thin that I could step across it.

[00:31:49]This parts the dry season. I lost a third of my estate of my eastern cane fields. Not to diseases, not to storms, but to drought. The soil cracked in Jan in January. The cane yellowed and died.

[00:32:04]I have told no one for fear of my creditors, but it happened. And I walk up to the main ridge above my land where the trees still stand, where no axe has reached it in another world. The air is so cool, water seeps from the ground. I could hear it running beneath my feet.

[00:32:27]And when I looked down from the ridge and cleared land below, I understood the forest is holding water. Where the trees are gone, water goes with it. I am not a scientist. I cannot give measurements or latter names or theories. I'm a planter who has farmed this island for 13 years.

[00:32:49]And I am telling you what I have seen. I am more reason to wonder want to clear the ridge than to protect it. But I will not be honest if I pretended I have not seen what I have seen. You have been making this argument for 11 years. I do not know if this letter will reach to you in time, but if it does, please use it. The forest and the rain are one thing. I know it the way I know the weather, not from books, but from watching. Your servant, and I hope your ally, James Campbell, Argyle, Tobago.

[00:33:32]Mr. Speaker, James Campbell is not a philosopher.

[00:33:36]He is not a member of the Royal Society.

[00:33:39]He is a planter, a man who has cleared land, built an estate, and accumulated depths like every other planter on that island. He has more reason to argue against this ordinance than for it. And yet he writes what he writes.

[00:33:57]>> And yet stupidness Remember, I'm on my feet.

[00:34:08]Please do not take my patience for granted.

[00:34:12]Mr. Dumba has the floor.

[00:34:17]Mr. Speaker, the honorable member presents us with a moving letter. I do not doubt Mr. Campbell's sincerity, >> but I will concern this house listen to what he's actually saying. One man, one dry season, one estate on the eastern coast of a small island. The planters of Tobago are not incompetent men. If the rain falls were failing across the island, if streams were drying up everywhere, as the honorable member implies, they would know it. They would say so. Mr. Campbell's letter describes his own misfortune. The honorable member asks us to make it everyone's permanent law.

[00:34:59]Mr. Speaker, furthermore, the facts of the debts in 1776, the planters of Tobago owed the crown £69,000 for the land alone, £30,000 in interest, a further £740,000 to the merchant houses of London. These are men under enormous financial pressure. The ordinance proposed by the honorable member would permanently close the operation to any further development removing from those plans any possibility of expanding the opportunity to reduce these debts.

[00:35:31]>> Member please slow down. We are we cannot understand what you are saying.

[00:35:36]>> My apologies.

[00:35:40]The honorable member asked them to bear this restriction permanently on the basis of one letter and a theory a theory about sunflowers.

[00:35:52]>> Mr. Speaker, I speak for the merchants entrance. England is at war. War.

[00:36:01]>> The American supply is disrupted. Tobago is one of the few Caribbean islands still producing reliably under British control and the demand for sugar has not reduced. This is not the moment to restrict Tobago's productive capacity.

[00:36:23]This is the moment to increase it. I have nothing against forest in principle, Mr. speaker, but I have shareholders. I have ships. I have control and I cannot fill them with good intentions.

[00:36:41]>> Mr. Speaker, I want to speak carefully because I do not wish to be misrepresented at all. I am not unsympathetic to the scientific arguments. Hail's work is credible. The observations gathered from Portugal and France are interesting. Mr. Campbell's letter, I admit it is it is more than I would have expected. But what we are being asked here is to pass a permanent ordinance, not a temporary restriction, not a review in 20 years, a legal permanent designation removing Kelman from any further development. If we are wrong, if the science is incomplete or the application to Tobago is imperfect, we cannot undo it. This house does not make irreversible decisions lightly, nor should it.

[00:37:38]>> Mr. Whitmore has the floor.

[00:37:42]>> Mr. Speaker, I have had the honor of serving as a governor in the Caribbean >> because they wanted you member Mr. Whitmore has the floor.

[00:37:59]>> Mr. Speaker, I have seen with my own eyes what happens to islands where the hillside forests have been removed. I have seen springs that once ran year round reduced to mina dry months. I have seen top soil that took centuries to form washed into the sea a single storm.

[00:38:23]I have seen prosperous estates rendered unproductive within 20 years of clearing the high ground. The honorable member Lord Hartley asks whether the science is complete. In my experience, Mr. Speaker, by the time the science is complete, the forest is gone.

[00:38:38]>> Well, your experience is wrong and I stand by it.

[00:38:43]>> That is member.

[00:38:46]Please be reminded that Mr. Whitmore has the flow.

[00:38:59]>> That is the nature of this problem. You cannot wait for certainty. The certainty arise after the damage.

[00:39:09]>> Mr. Speaker, with due respect to the honorable member, one man's colonial experience does not constitute policy.

[00:39:15]Mr. Speaker, nor does the merchants >> letter members.

[00:39:24]I am on my feet.

[00:39:27]This house will conduct itself with civily.

[00:39:32]Mr. Jennings, does the honorable member wish to respond?

[00:39:41]>> Mr. Speaker, I have sat in this chamber. 34 years of foolishness. I shall say to take every >> members order in this house.

[00:39:54]Mr. Cedric, please excel out of this house.

[00:40:03]>> You cannot place me now where I hold my seat.

[00:40:07]>> Why? That does not make any sense.

[00:40:10]>> Why though? Why? Why?

[00:40:14]Wait, wait. And is this what you all want? Is this what you all want? Is this what you all want?

[00:40:22]Is this what you want?

[00:40:28]This is This is ridiculous.

[00:40:31]Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, I think that she should return. I think he should return. Don't touch me. Don't touch me. Do not touch me.

[00:40:42]You want to do it.

[00:40:53]>> Members, order. Or order. Or order in this house.

[00:41:02]This house will now have a recess. And as the speaker of this house, I would take my leave because I do not condone disrespect in my house.

[00:41:17]Thank you.

[00:41:19]Members, please stand for the honorable speaker.

[00:41:45]In the absence of the speaker, I the deputy speaker will take over. This house will resume. You may have your seat.

[00:41:54]Simo Jennings, you may have the floor.

[00:41:59]Mr. Speaker, I have sat in this chamber for 34 years. I voted on taxes, on wars, and on treaties. on the fate of nations.

[00:42:13]I have been right sometimes and wrong sometimes. I do not claim infall infallibility.

[00:42:20]But I will say this in 34 years, I have never been more certain of something that I am that I have that I am of what I am asking this house to do today. Mr. Speaker, the honorable member for Colonel Dumbar speaks of depth. He is correct. The planters are in depth.

[00:42:53]But I asked this house to consider what happened to those depths when the rain stopped. The care needs water. The water comes from the stream. The streams are fed by the ridge. The ridge is held in moisture by the forest. This is not a theory. This is a chain of dependencies.

[00:43:13]And every link in it is observable. Mr. Campbell has observed it. Sir Thomas obser observed has observed it elsewhere. The scientist has measured it. Break the chin at any point. And the depth comes at the least of the planters problem.

[00:43:36]Mr. Speaker, chains can be chains can be repaired. Let's cannot wait for repayments.

[00:43:41]>> Colia, Mr. Jennings has the floor.

[00:43:48]>> Mr. Speaker, I thank the chair. I want to directly address the concern honorable Lord Hartley has raised because it is the most honest concern in this debate. He asks what if we are wrong? What if we are right?

[00:44:08]What if the science is incomplete and we have passed the permanent ordinance for nothing?

[00:44:24]I thank you.

[00:44:31]Can you please bring back Heartley and Montro in?

[00:44:41]I'm only allowing y'all back in to make a vote.

[00:44:48]You may have your seat.

[00:44:57]The House will come to a determination.

[00:44:59]The motion before the House is for this parliament to instruct the Colonial Council of Tobago to pass an ordinance permanently reserving the main forest as crownland unaniable for the purpose of attracting rains. Those in favor would say yes. Those not in favor say no.

[00:45:19]Samoi Jennings.

[00:45:24]>> Yes.

[00:45:28]>> Yes. I'm in favor.

[00:45:30]>> Yes.

[00:45:32]>> Yes.

[00:45:36]I am not in this.

[00:45:40]I am not >> I find >> Wait, what?

[00:45:59]>> You could ever be serious. Excuse me.

[00:46:05]>> You may have shut them out.

[00:46:07]>> The Lord would richly bless your soul.

[00:46:11]>> I am not as lenient as the speaker. I will shut this whole thing down.

[00:46:18]>> The king bless your soul.

[00:46:20]>> The motion carries. The resolution will be transmitted to the Colonial Council of Tobago for enactment. Mr. Jennings as the motions author. It is a custom of this house that you read the agreed text in the in the record. Mr. Speaker, I want to say one final thing and I ask the indulgence of the house for a moment that is not perhaps strictly procedural.

[00:46:48]I will not live to see whether I am right. I am 72 years old and I have no expectations of visiting Tobago.

[00:46:59]The men who will live with this decision are not in this chamber.

[00:47:05]They are on the other side of the world.

[00:47:08]They are Mr. Campbell and his workers and their children and their children's children.

[00:47:14]We are not deciding the future of a forest we have never seen on an island most of us has never visited visited for people whose name we do not know that is what empire is Mr. Speaker, we make that decision every day. The question only is whether we make them wisely or carelessly.

[00:47:41]I have spent 11 years asking for wisdom.

[00:47:44]I ask for it one final time. Mr. Speaker, I thank you.

[00:47:52]Can you please read the agreed text?

[00:48:05]The agreed text to be transmitted to the colonial council of the island of Tobago. An act for rendering a certain track of mountaneous land proper for attractive reigns unalienable.

[00:48:20]That's all. The track of land appearing upon a plan of this island set aside and reserved unalienated.

[00:48:29]Not to have been laid laid out in lots shall be and remain to your majesty your hairs and successors for unalienable to continue in wood for expressing purpose of attracting rains upon which the fertility of lands in these climates don't entirely dep entirely depend.

[00:49:06]The resolution crossed the ocean. On the 30th of April 1776 in a colonial council chamber in Scarro, Tobago, the Tobago Assembly passed the ordinance in law.

[00:49:22]The act was entitled an act for rendering a certain tract of mountinous land proper for attracting rain unalienable.

[00:49:33]On the 1st of May 1776, James Campbell, Deputy Provice Marshall, signed his name to the act and published it in Scaroo.

[00:49:45]At the foot of the document, in his own hand, he wrote, "Tobago, duly published at Scarro this first day of May, 100 1,776.

[00:49:59]Ja Campbell, Deputy Provice Marshall.

[00:50:06]The forest was finally protected by law permanently.

[00:50:12]Unfortunately, Swami Jennings died in London on the 18th of December 1787.

[00:50:21]He was 83 years old. He never saw Tobago nor the forest he saved.

[00:50:28]The main rich forest reserve has stood for 250 years.

[00:50:34]It is registered as the oldest legally protected forest reserve in the entire western hemisphere. Established nearly 100red years before Yellowstone National Park and 174 years before Britain established a single park of its own.

[00:50:54]Scientific American has called the protection of Tobago's forest the first act in modern environmental movement.

[00:51:04]The decision was made in London in a chamber much like this one by men who never stood beneath those trees.

[00:51:14]250 years later, we sit in the very institution that grew from the council their resolution.

[00:51:23]The trees still stand above us. The rains remain in the forest.

[00:51:29]All because someone once chose to protect what they could not see.

[00:51:54]Thank you to our talented students for the engaging presentation. Please give them a round of applause.

[00:52:13]At at this time, I would like to invite the students to introduce themselves along with their respective schools and the characters they portrayed.

[00:52:28]Hello, good morning. My name is Faith Charles and I attend Gurit Secondary School and I was the speaker of this house.

[00:52:45]Hello, good morning. My name is Zim Blackman and I attend the Hmon School of SDA and I was a sergeant of arms.

[00:52:59]Hi.

[00:53:00]So, my name is Destiny Weeks and I am representing Goodwood Secondary School and my character was Swami Jennings, the main character out of here.

[00:53:18]Hello, I am Theren Stout and I am representing Mason Hall Secondary. My character was Dr. Porter.

[00:53:35]Good morning everybody. My name is Adriana Duncan and I am representing Mason Hall Secondary School.

[00:53:51]>> Morning everyone. My name is Joakim Nanis. I'm representing Rushbury Secondary School and my character was Sir Thomas Whitmore.

[00:54:12]Morning everybody. My name is Tafa Nances and I'm a government member in this chamber.

[00:54:33]Good morning everyone. My name is Amarissa Whiskey. I'm representing Spacide High School and I am a government member for this shave.

[00:54:52]Good morning everyone. My name is Kiranik and I attend the space at high school and my role was the government for this chamber.

[00:55:15]Hi, good morning everyone. My name is Anika Blackman and I attend the Hmons SDA school and I was the deputy speaker.

[00:55:33]Morning. My name is Zam Paul and I attend space at high school and I was your sergeant, the one that got rough up the most.

[00:55:51]>> Good morning everyone. My name is Mayor Nancis. I attended Tobago Hospitality and Tourism Institute and my role was the narrator and I hope that you all enjoyed our reenactment.

[00:56:13]Hi everyone, good morning. My name is Kala Pong. I attend Mason Secondary and I played the role of Kunal Dumpa.

[00:56:33]Good morning everyone. I am Taraji Davis from Bishop's High School, the best school. And I and I played a member um and I was a part of the opposition. I played Lord Hartley.

[00:56:57]Good day everyone. My name is Alina Thomas and I represent Mason Hall Secondary School and I was the clerk in this chamber.

[00:57:17]Good morning everybody. My name is Zion George and I represent the Spaceide Secondary School and I'm unfortunately the clerk of this barberry house.

[00:57:35]>> Don't watch me.

[00:57:40]>> This thing on right. Good morning everyone. My name is Janelle Dan and I attend the Spayside High School and I was Mr. Frederick Montro.

[00:58:14]Good morning everyone. My name is Domino Fleck like the biscuits. Um I attend this field high secondary school and I am I play the role of Mr. Cedric and the vicious and most disruption one.

[00:58:43]Hi, good morning everyone. My name is Ebony Phillips. I represent Masonal Secondary School and I am on the opposition bench as a member.

[00:59:08]Hi, good morning everyone. I am Safia Niles Goodridge. I am from Mason High School and I played um as a opposition member.

[00:59:18]>> Hold on, hold on. Let me get to that part there. Now, >> I um I played as the opposition member who made the right choice. Thank you.

[00:59:49]Thank you once again to these very talented students. Give them another round of applause.

[01:00:01]As we come to the close of today's proceedings, I would like to invite the coordinator of today's event, Mr. Robert Deats, to deliver the vote of thanks.

[01:00:33]Good morning everyone.

[01:00:36]>> So yesterday on the group chat I told the students to give them performance and I think they did it.

[01:00:53]So I will begin my vote of thanks.

[01:01:00]Honorable chief secretary in his absence, deputy chief secretary also in her absence, the secretary of the division of environment, climate resilience and energy, the best division.

[01:01:16]other secretaries and assistant secretaries of the Tobago House of Assembly, chief administrator and other administrators of the Tobago House of Assembly, chairman of the organizing committee, representatives of the telecommunication services of Trinidad and Tobago, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good morning.

[01:01:42]On behalf of the organizing committee, it is my honor to de deliver this vote of thanks for the 250th anniversary celebration of the main ridge forest reserve.

[01:01:54]I will start by thanking the honorable chief secretary in his absence. Mr. Augustine, we thank you for your commitment to conservation policies that allow for the continued protection and conservation of this reserve and for ensuring that our students are not left behind.

[01:02:14]Honorable Secretary. Yeah, you're not honorable but not supposed to be honorable but honorable.

[01:02:21]Darren Henry, the division of environment, climate resilience and energy for your overwhelming support from the first day we mentioned this idea to you. We thank you other secretaries who have come here today to support our school children on their day. We thank you.

[01:02:43]The chief administrator, Miss Denise Toby Koshi, she is not here, but the first day we mentioned this to her, she gave her overwhelming support.

[01:02:57]To the chairman of the committee, your guidance and leadership continues to be seen in a tireless work that has turned into a fitting commemoration.

[01:03:08]And we also thank you for instilling some of that drama with the students.

[01:03:14]We extend special appreciation to the management of this August house for the accommodation and guidance so that our program would have come to fruition.

[01:03:27]Secretary George Secretary George Mr. George, presiding officer. Thank you to our hardworking team at the Tobago Reforestation and Watershed Rehabilitation Program. You have indeed made our work easier on our burdens light.

[01:03:49]To our other THA partners, TAL TAC Festivals, our heartfelt thanks. This is an example of what can happen when we work together.

[01:04:02]We also thank if there any our representative from our diamond sponsored TST team who has continually supported environmental programs to all our other stakeholders and invitees who have accepted our invitation to this momentous occasion.

[01:04:21]We say heartfelt thank you to the forestry team who continues to contribute when asked. We thank you.

[01:04:32]And let me see the teachers. Teachers, please stand.

[01:04:51]Right. We must thank the teachers. They have been here supporting the students and giving their honest feedback. We say thank you and keep up the hard work.

[01:05:07]The parents are not here today. I think we have one or maybe two. We say thank you for allowing your children to be part of this occasion and we save the best for last to my students.

[01:05:23]>> Yes, my students.

[01:05:32]You know the chairman asked me if I feel like a proud father. I say yeah.

[01:05:37]So to my students I left you for last today because we say a special thank you for accepting the challenge putting in the work and executing a great performance today. You really give them performance and I implore you all to keep working hard.

[01:05:56]Today was about education.

[01:05:59]Today, some of us may have learned something new, something that will light a fire in us that will make us want to ensure that we tell the world about Tobago's rich history. As we leave here today, let us continue to do what is necessary to ensure Tobago remains the greatest little island on the planet.

[01:06:22]Thank you all for attending, for your support, and for your commitment to this priceless heritage. Thank you.

[01:06:38]Thank you very much, Mr. Robert Deats.

[01:06:41]Let's give them another round of applause.

[01:06:48]I would like to thank everyone for your presence and participation today. I hope you all have a wonderful day. Thank you very much.

[01:07:05]Hey, hey, hey.