Ghana
p. 149 · Read in the full issue
[?]ew British [?]s Are Born
T Indies And
JARY was an important th in one respect in the >ry of the British Common md Empire. new nations were born, [formerly the West African ast) and West Indies Fed (formerly the scattered archipelagoes of the West were raised from less than status to something not far Dominion status, have little in common, ex t they are British and (as lies is generally negroid) of •ace. was admitted to nation great ceremonies in Feb- It has 92,000 square miles, •ly 5 million population, [ndies Federation is of in the South Pacific. It has . islands, containing 8,000 liles, with a population of s, spread across 1,500 miles aribbean, Sea. discussions extending over le following British Terri cided last year to amalga a Federation: [CA, with 4,400 sq. miles 0,000 people. It has insuf ndustries, over-population, i,OOO unemployed, and is ne of the problem areas of d.”
DAD, 1,800 sq. miles, 560,000 't is close to the coast of a and has rich oil.
MX)S, a sugar-g rowing rith only 166 sq. miles for ieople.
WARD IS. (Dominica, St.
. Vincent, Grenada)—small,
and backward.
ARD IS. —largest in Antigua, liles. Backward, apital has been fixed in , and a Governor-General appointed shortly, will be a House of As freely elected on a broad ', and a Senate of 18, nom >y the Governor-General.
Britain retains control of foreign relations and defence. But the Islanders generally are pro-British; there is no sign of Red subversion; and there is probability of Dominion status at no very distant date.
NOTE: If such a development is possible in the West Indies, why not in the South Pacific, among the British archipelagoes of Fiji, Samoa, Cooks, New Guinea, Solomons and Gilberts? If oilfields were found in New Guinea, the set-up might be comparable with that in the West Indies. Of course, critics will im mediately point out that Western Samoa and New Guinea are " Trusteeships.” 4s the years pass, UN becomes more discredited ; which suggests there is no future for Samoa and New Guinea except, maybe, in the kind of Federation accepted in the West Indies.