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

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The 1932 Commissioners commented on the position, taking care to suggest what they regarded as a safe and simple start along the road . They held that further progress should depend upon improvement in the standard of education. The report said, With the introduction of the elective principle into the constitution of the Leeward and its expansion in the Windward Islands, the question of qualifications for Membership of the Council and the exercise of the franchise have to be considered... With regards to the former, the only Island in the Leeward group which enjoys electoral privilege is Dominica... As regards voting qualifications, there is great divergence of opinion and it was one of the points on which no agreement was reached at the Dominica Conference. We are definitely opposed to grant of universal adult suffrage until the present standard of education in the Island has greatly advanced ... Hold and Contend The recommendations of the Commissioner did not produce all that the leaders wanted, but they decided to make good use of what was offered and to keep up the struggle for wider measures of reform. The main recommendation centered around constitutional changes. These included qualifications for membership of the Legislative Council and for the registration of voters. Based on these, for a person to be qualified to stand for elections to the Legislative Council he must possess, among other things (1) an income of £200 per year or (2) real property valued at least £500 or (3) he must occupy land of rental value of at least £50 per year. For a person to be entitled to register as a voter he must possess (1) an income of £30 per year or (2) land of his own value £100 or (3) he must pay rent of £12 per year on a real property or (4) pay direct taxes in previous years of at least 15 shillings and (5) reside in the territory 12 months previously as well as (6) be able to read and write. The commissioners found that in some of the colonies women were debarred from registration as voters while in others the age at 83
which women became entitled to use the vote differed from that prescribed for men. The conditions were not regarded as desirable. Up to this point, the strenuous effort to gain a measure of selfgovernment for the country were showing progress. But nobody even dreamt at that time that there was still to come a bigger battle in St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla for the right to use the ballot. Despatch No. 394 The British Colonial Office made its position on reform clear when the Secretary of State sent out a Despatch No.394, dated 21 st September,1934. In it he informed the Governors of the Leewards and Windwards that he had concluded his examination of the reaction of the Legislative Councils to the proposal for adopting the recommendations of the Closer Union Commission. In part, he said, I observe that a considerable divergence of opinion exists on the desirability of adopting the Commission’s proposal as they stand more particularly on grounds of the additional expense as indicated in the estimates which were placed before the legislatures. In all the circumstances, I have reached the conclusion, that it is not practicable now to proceed with a scheme of the closer union. It follows that the two groups of Islands will remain separate as at present and that the existing federation of the Leeward Islands will remain unaltered... The Commissioners also recommended the introduction of the elective principle into the constitution of Antigua, St. Kitts-Nevis and Montserrat : in the constitution of Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Dominica this already exists... I have been impressed with the recommendations made by the Commissioners on these matters, and I feel that the time has now arrived when some further measures of constitutional progress consistent with requirements of proper administration can usefully be considered. I have decided therefore that public opinion in the Windward Islands and the Leeward Islands should be given the opportunity of expressing its views through the Legislative Council as to the adoption of the particular recommendations in the Commission’s report... I should 84
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J. N. FRANCE ______________________
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© 2015 Published by The National A
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Preface The Working Class struggle
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1 EARLY VISION Where is this countr
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With the passing of time, social an
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This early attempt at workers' orga
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post as a school teacher to succeed
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For several years the pressure was
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and school houses are being used fo
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housing condition arising from the
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3 PREPARING THE GROUND The thought
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That impressive English story told
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they had accumulated £28 with whic
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Commons that since the colony of th
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1922, some of the members of Legisl
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On 30 th August 1932 the Dominica T
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country and I regard British Guiana
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Mr. Marryshow then raised his tone
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Delegates to the West India Confere
Page 42 and 43: The conference opened its proceedin
Page 44 and 45: protests can be ignored with impuni
Page 46 and 47: Closer Union Commission widened to
Page 48 and 49: He said it was a privilege to him t
Page 50 and 51: possible, an education that must be
Page 52 and 53: and suffering, and in such a condit
Page 54 and 55: The land forming the Hospital compo
Page 56 and 57: ing able to grant the request of th
Page 58 and 59: prison sentences for what was commo
Page 60 and 61: sinned against the Factory. Theirs
Page 62 and 63: 9 FROM PAUPER RELIEF TO PROVIDENT B
Page 64 and 65: 1954 declared the first Monday in M
Page 66 and 67: it has proposed to interfere will b
Page 68 and 69: Change When the League came on the
Page 70 and 71: Children of the working class. 61
Page 72 and 73: had just dumped out a load of cane
Page 74 and 75: There was no reply from London. Twe
Page 76 and 77: president. When the delegation gave
Page 78 and 79: Under the law of 1937 only a limite
Page 80 and 81: Workers who would have benefited fr
Page 82 and 83: Grenada, and will seek to work in a
Page 84 and 85: Ferguson, Chairman of the Commissio
Page 86 and 87: Now let me say in the first place t
Page 88 and 89: We should like to refer to West Ind
Page 90 and 91: in West Indies there is a considera
Page 94 and 95: not regard it as essential that the
Page 96 and 97: official news of its adoption by th
Page 98 and 99: gravity of the situation to the att
Page 100 and 101: On 13 th December, 1934 an unusuall
Page 102 and 103: employed by those who demand the ad
Page 104 and 105: concerning the right for the workin
Page 106 and 107: come relief to a grateful people an
Page 108 and 109: vance towards the goal of the Feder
Page 110 and 111: members of the Council. Mr. Marrysh
Page 112 and 113: see no reason why we should be give
Page 114 and 115: Unofficial Majority on the Legislat
Page 116 and 117: tional reform movement in this Pres
Page 118 and 119: combine to give the Closer Union Sc
Page 120 and 121: prominent part in marking the close
Page 122 and 123: when the slaves were set free, and
Page 124 and 125: The people in those days took it fo
Page 126 and 127: Sugar Factory workers were “chast
Page 128 and 129: At West Farm the marchers were prev
Page 130 and 131: Some of the men, it was alleged, we
Page 132 and 133: gear was damaged and the employees
Page 134 and 135: Inspector of Police and Magistrate
Page 136 and 137: H.M.S. Leander arrived in the port
Page 138 and 139: satisfied that the action taken by
Page 140 and 141: 16 THE FIRST ELECTION The clash of
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opposed to it. The 1936 Constitutio
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important matter, I promise the Ele
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could have no better representative
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whether it was a fact that the St.
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existing, it is not considered that
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17 THE 1938 ROYAL COMMISSION The 19
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A: Any law-abiding citizen over 16
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appeared and presented the case of
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18 A STAKE IN THE COUNTRY Land owne
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culture and Commercial Society. The
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After this, the land would vest abs
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age. In the following month, Januar
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19 MARCUS GARVEY IN ST. KITTS St. K
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When he made man he said, ‘By the
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oil underneath his feet. Englishmen
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is a little four-page newspaper. Yo
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provided the major portion of the e
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which should be paid for the variou
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In April 1969 the Minister of Labou
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21 POWER OF THE PRESS During first
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Commission headed by Sir Charles Fe
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President wrote, The issues are too
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the sea. The effects were terrible
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mendous crowd packed the Mutual Imp
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territory, the success of the past
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the notice, was that employees were
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JNF-The-Working-Class-Struggle-of-Half-a-Century

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