JNF-The-Working-Class-Struggle-of-Half-a-Century

Unofficial Majority on the Legislature, have we so little confidence in
ourselves as to doubt that will of the people will ultimately prevail?
The vitriolic and uninformed attacks on the Closer Union
Commission report which had appeared in certain sections of the West
Indian press provoke the painful query: Is destructive criticism the alpha
and omega of West Indian politics? Is the West Indian politician
capable of constructive thoughts and action, or must he be definitely
discounted as a specialist in froth blowing and fruitlessness?
It is superlatively clear that very important reforms have been
suggested by the Closer Union Commission; and I venture to predict the
Commissioners’ confidence that they have helped to lay “a sound foundation
for a structure designed eventually to grow, if the communities
so desire, into a West Indian Federation” will prove to be well grounded.
The report is by no means a perfect instrument; it is full of blanks,
and in certain respects it is indefinite. In at least one paragraph its
choice of words is most unhappy; but any unbiased observer will readily
concede its sincerity of purpose, and its sympathy towards the political
aspirations of the people of the British West Indies.
The report is a cautious and conservative document aiming at
orderly progress; it provides for a substantial constitutional advance,
but it seeks to test the ground for a firm foothold for each step to be taken.
With a typical English dislike of cast-iron constitutions it leaves the
uncertainties to be settled by practical experimentation in which the
personality of the Governor and the character and calibre of the elected
representatives of the people will play decisive parts. It is a grain of
mustard seed that is destined to grow to pleasing proportions unless
choked by clumsy handling.
The most unsatisfactory features of the report are (a) its failure
to make special provision for the constitutional advancement of
Trinidad; (b) its hesitancy with regard to the unification of services;
and (c) its upholding of the irrational principle of sectional representation
by nomination. The reluctance of Trinidad to shoulder any potential
financial obligations, real or imaginary towards the smaller Island
led her to exclusion from the picture; nevertheless, a denial to Trinidad
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