REPORT
OF THE BRITISH GUIANA
CONSTITUTIONAL COMMISSION 1954
(The Robertson Commission Report)
Editor - Dr.Odeen Ishmael GNI Publications - 2004 © Odeen Ishmael
Presented
by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to Parliament by Command of Her
Majesty September 1954
LONDON
HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE THREE SHILLINGS NET Cmd. 9274
MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION
SIR JAMES ROBERTSON, K.C.M.G., K.B.E. (Chairman).
SIR DONALD JACKSON.
MR. GEORGE WOODCOCK, C.B.E.
MR. R. E. RADFORD, Colonial Office (Secretary).
TERMS OF REFERENCE
In the light of the circumstances which made it necessary to suspend the Constitution of British Guiana to consider and to recommend what changes are required in it.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER
1. THE GENERAL BACKGROUND - 10
I. Economic Factors
II. Social Factors
III. Political Factors ...
IV. Conclusion
CHAPTER 2. THE WADDINGTON CONSTITUTION - 29
CHAPTER 3. THE ELECTIONS - 33
CHAPTER
4. THE SUSPENSION OF THE CONSTITUTION - 36
I. Introduction
II. The P.P.P. and the Constitution
III. The Attitudes of Others
IV. The Working of the Constitution
V. Main Issues which Arose
VI. Development of the Crisis
CHAPTER 5. THE FUTURE - 74
CHAPTER 6. CONCLUSIONS - 84
CHAPTER 7. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS - 85
APPENDIX I - 88 Extracts from P.P.P. Periodical " Thunder " and from Writings and Speeches of P.P.P. Leaders
APPENDIX II - 96 List of Communist Literature distributed by the P.P.P....
APPENDIX III - 99 Note on the Arson Plot
APPENDIX IV - 101 List of Witnesses
APPENDIX V - 109 Itinerary of the Commission
APPENDIX VI - 112 Brief Notes on P.P.P. Ministers
INTRODUCTION
To The Right Honourable A. T. LENNOX-BOYD, M..P., Secretary of State for the Colonies.
SIR,
The composition of the Constitutional Commission appointed to visit British Guiana following the suspension of the Constitution was announced by your predecessor in the House of Commons on the 2nd December, 1953, and at the same time he made public the following terms of reference for the Commission:
"In the light of the circumstances which made it necessary to suspend the Constitution of British Guiana to consider and to recommend what changes are required in it."
2. Two members of the Commission, the Chairman, Sir James Robertson, and Mr. George Woodcock, accompanied by the Secretary, Mr. R. E. Radford of the Colonial Office, left London by air on the 4th January, 1954, and reached Georgetown, British Guiana, on the 6th January. Meanwhile the third member, Sir Donald Jackson, had made his own way from Grenada to British Guiana, arriving at Georgetown on the 5th January.
3, The Commission held their first meeting on the 7th January to plan the programme for their work and to consider the situation which had arisen with regard to their appointment and terms of reference. The Commission found on arrival in British Guiana that an influential local Committee representative of 15 citizens' organizations had been formed under the chairmanship of Mr. W, 3. Raatgever and had already communicated with the Secretary of State stating that in their opinion the Commission's terms of reference were too limited in scope and suggesting their extension to include matters concerning the economic, educational and political development of the Colony. Furthermore this Committee thought that the membership of the Commission should be increased to five.
4. The Commission determined not to be delayed by the action taken by this committee and decided to hold a Press conference at which they should give their interpretation of the terms of reference. This was done on the 9th January and the criticisms regarding the terms of reference were dealt with by the Chairman in that part of his statement which reads as follows:
"Another criticism has been made that we should have been asked to consider other than purely constitutional matters. It is true that the Commission is only charged with making recommendations about the constitution, and that we are now required to make recommendations on social, educational and economic matters. But we consider that in order to appreciate the circumstances which made it necessary to suspend the constitution we must acquaint ourselves with all aspects of the country's life. The constitution in our view must be related to the general conditions of the country and is not a thing existing in vacuo quite unrelated to the social, economic and educational environment in which it has to function. It is in this sense that we interpret our terms of reference and we propose to try to get as clear a picture of the general background as we can. We visualise the possibility that in our report we may have to make observations upon these aspects of the situation, while not making specific recommendations about them."
The statement was repeated in a broadcast on the following day. In the event, large numbers of people came forward and several of these, who had been leaders in setting up the Committee and making representations, informed the Commission that their doubts had been completely dispelled and that they were satisfied with the way the Commission were setting about their task.
5. We were faced at the outset with the decision of the Executive of the People's Progressive Party (P.P.P.) to boycott the Commission. The Party leaders by coming forward would have rendered themselves liable to public questioning on matters of some difficulty, abut the reasons for their decision declared publicly were:
(a) that the Commission were, by their terms of reference, precluded from enquiring into the circumstances which led to the suspension of the constitution and were committed to recommending some curtailment of it;
(b) that the Commission were weak, uninspiring and unlikely to report objectively,
6. We tried in a number of ways to show that these objections were not valid. For example, in the statement made to the Press and broadcast the Chairman said:
"We propose to make enquiries both as to what happened before the constitution was suspended, and also to see what people here think should be done for the future.
We have been told that some people wish to boycott us, because they fear that our recommendations will not be free and unbiased.
I should like to make it absolutely clear that the Commission is a perfectly free body we have been given no directions regarding our recommendations we are not committed to any solution nor are we bound to accept any suggestions made by anyone. We would not have agreed to come if such conditions had been imposed. We intend to follow our terms of reference honestly and impartially, and to make recommendations based not only on our own experience and common-sense but also on advice and information given us here both by members of the public and by members of the Government.
There also seems to me to have been some misunderstanding of our terms of reference. I should like to give you one or two examples. It has been stated in the Press here that the terms of reference which we have been given do not allow us to recommend that the constitution should remain unchanged. We consider that if on full consideration of all the facts we believe that the suspended constitution should be re-introduced just as it was, we are entitled to say so, and it may be of interest if I repeat a quotation from the official record of the House of Commons in London to show that we are not unsupported in this belief."
On the 2nd December, 1953, when the Commission's personnel and terms of reference were announced, Mr. James Griffiths, the previous Colonial Secretary, asked the following question:
'It is difficult to follow these terms of reference. Will they leave the matter in this way? That if the Commission having enquired into all the circumstances come to the conclusion that no basic fundamental change is required in the constitution, it will be at liberty so to report?'
Mr. Lyttelton the present Colonial Secretary replied:
'The Commission is asked to recommend what changes are required. If it ends that no changes are required, I imagine that it will say so.' "
The Chairman also wrote later to Mr. Ashton Chase, then Acting Leader of the P.P.P., referring to a pamphlet " Why we boycott the Commission " issued by him and trying to persuade him to call off the boycott; but the reply was that the Party Executive had decided to adhere to its previous Decision.
7. We do not believe that we were materially handicapped by this attitude on the part of the Executive of the P.P.P. We were able to read the Hansard Reports of all proceedings of the State Council and the House of Assembly; we obtained a complete series of the Party newspaper Thunder from its start up to the most recent number; and in addition we heard recordings of broadcast speeches by P.P.P. Ministers. Moreover, the boycott of our Commission by the official P.P.P. Executive did not extend to a boycott by all Party members and sympathisers. Many of the witnesses who came forward spoke as members of the Party and made it quite clear that their sympathies were with the Ministers and that they did not believe the criticisms levelled against them. We have, therefore, had an opportunity of reading and hearing so much of what the P.P.P. leaders said that we think it safe to make certain assumptions about the way in which their minds were working, and we have obtained a good understanding of the feelings of the Party rank and file. We set out with no preconceived ideas, and much of our examination of witnesses hostile to the P.P.P. took the form of giving the most generous interpretation possible to P.P.P. Ministerial action, in order to see how they reacted to such versions. On these occasions it must be confessed that some of our witnesses appeared to be most suspicious of us, and of the ideas which we were ostensibly putting forward.
8. By courtesy of the Chief Justice, Sir Peter Bell, excellent office accommodation was made available to us in his Chambers at the Victoria Law Courts, and it was there in the No. 1 Court Room that our public sessions in Georgetown were held. In addition we held meetings to take evidence at Bartica, Winiperu, Lethem, Suddie, Anna Regina, Charity, Christianburg, Mackenzie and New Amsterdam.
9. Before our arrival in British Guiana a notice was issued locally inviting persons or organizations proposing to give evidence to the Commission to submit written memoranda beforehand, but it was made clear that this was in no sense intended to preclude witnesses from tendering oral evidence only if they so desired. Some 220 memoranda were received from individuals and associations, of whom 160 were examined orally upon their submissions. In addition about 80 witnesses, who sent us no memoranda, gave evidence orally. Our meetings were held in public whenever possible, though we acceded to requests for private sittings in some cases in view of the natural hesitation of some to make statements in public. Many well written and sensible memoranda were submitted, and many witnesses had obviously given the whole matter anxious and careful thought. We had also to provide the audience for a number of cranks and seekers of publicity and to listen to a great deal which was not apropos to our enquiry. Perhaps the highlights were a gentleman who claimed that the sun, planets, and stars went round the earth and another who was greatly interested in Pope Joan. On the whole, however, we were impressed by the interest taken in the constitutional problem by all classes of the people, and by the knowledge shown by many who appeared to have little education or political experience. We are submitting to you, Sir, a verbatim record of the evidence received in public session. A list of the names of those who gave oral evidence or submitted written memoranda are given in Appendix IV.
10. During our stay in British Guiana, from the 6th January until the 10th March, we travelled widely in the Colony* in order to obtain as clear an impression as possible of its geography, its economy and its social conditions. Before beginning our hearings we travelled by road to New Amsterdam and visited, a number of sugar estates on the Corentyne coast; we also met members of the local government authorities, inspected the Jute Research Station at Rose Hall, Canje, and generally learned what we could of the conditions and problems of the coastal belt. On a further preliminary visit me saw the Demerara Bauxite Company's mine workings and bauxite processing plant at Ituni and Mackenzie, and were shown the housing, medical and social amenities provided for their workers. Later, during intervals between public sessions in Georgetown, we were able to take advantage of the excellent facilities provided by British Guiana Airways to pay two visits to the Interior. We visited Tumatumari, where the British Guiana Consolidated Goldfields are dredging for alluvial gold, and flew from there to see the impressive and beautiful Kaieteur Falls. At Kamarang Mouth, on the Upper Mazaruni River, me had our first glimpse of the Amerindian peoples and were able to appreciate the difficulties of communication with the Interior. While at Bartica we went to see the latest equipment for timber extraction in use in the forest concession of British Guiana Timbers at Winiperu. Some of us also visited the sawmill operated by Williams Timber and Trading Company on Kaow Island and, later, the large new sawmill of British Guiana Timbers at Houston on the outskirts of Georgetown. We were given facilities to inspect H.M. Penal Settlement on the Mazaruni River opposite Bartica and saw the historical remains at Kijk-over-al of early Dutch settlement of the Colony. During our visit to the Rupununi savannahs we learnt at first hand of the difficulties of cattle ranching and saw more of the Amerindians. While visiting the Essequibo coast to hold public sessions we were able to inspect the Essequibo Boys' School and to see several farms along the banks of the Pomeroon River. Finally, we were given facilities to visit the important Rice Development Scheme at Mahaicony/Abary, where is situated one of the large Government owned rice mills. [* The itinerary of the Commission is given in detail in Appendix V.]
11. It will be apparent that we could not have fitted so comprehensive a series of visits into our programme without the ready co-operation and assistance of many individuals and we are very conscious of the debt of gratitude which we owe. Despite the unhappy circumstances which had occasioned our visit to the Colony, we were received with kindness by all sections of the people and we have derived a warm understanding of them and of the problems which face their country.
12. We left British Guiana by air on the 10th March and after a brief stay in Trinidad, where we had the opportunity of discussions with His Excellency the Governor and with the Colonial Secretary, we continued to Barbados. There we were provided with office accommodation and facilities by the Comptroller for Development and Welfare in the West Indies and began work on our report. On the 3rd April we left Barbados by air for London and, since our return, we have held a number of meetings and completed our report, which we now, Sir, submit for your consideration.
CHAPTER 1. THE GENERAL BACKGROUND
1. The political and constitutional history of British Guiana was described fully and carefully in the Waddington Commission's Report, Chapters I and II, and we need not attempt to improve upon the excellent account given there. It is, however, necessary for us to describe the outstanding characteristics of the country, economic, social and political, as we found them, in order to understand the political events in the light of which the Commission were appointed to report.
I. ECONOMIC FACTORS
Geographical Setting
2. The country, like Caesar's Gaul, can be divided into three parts, the coastal plain, the marshy and thickly forested "backlands" and the savannahs lying behind the north-eastern coastal lands and in the remote south-western interior.
3. It is on the coastal plain, formed of rich alluvial mud and lying four to five feet below sea level, that the sugar and rice crops are grown and the bulk of the people live. The difficulties of securing the land for cultivation and of wresting a livelihood from it are vividly described in the following quotation from Rodway's History of British Guiana:
"Every acre at present under cultivation has been the scene of a struggle with the sea in front and the flood behind. As a result of this arduous labour through two centuries a narrow strip of land along the coast has been rescued from the mangrove swamp, by an elaborate system of dams and dykes. Centred along the rivers and creeks lie a thousand abandoned plantations most of them indistinguishable from the surrounding forest: these represent the failures of the early settlers. At first sight the narrow line of sugar estates seems but a very poor showing for such a long struggle with nature, but when all the circumstances are taken into consideration, it is almost a wonder that the Colony has not been abandoned altogether."
There is no end to this struggle and year by year money must be spent to maintain the elaborate system of sea-defences and the polders which protect the agricultural and residential areas against flooding from inland during periods of extensive rain.
4. Nor is this all, since, after protection against sea and flood has been provided, there are problems of irrigation and drainage to be overcome. The supply of irrigation water comes mainly from large shallow reservoirs, or conservancies, situated behind the cultivated lands, and is brought to these cultivated lands by gravity through systems of canals. The upkeep of these reservoirs is costly, and a very considerable proportion of the water conserved is lost by evaporation and absorption; on this account they are often found to be unreliable in periods of prolonged droughts. The cultivated lands having been irrigated, drainage by gravity into the sea is possible only when the tide is low, and even this is dependent to a large extent on the ever changing levels of the foreshore outside the sea defences; as a result in many areas the far more expensive method of drainage entirely by pumps has to be adopted. It is only in some suitably situated areas, where outlet is obtained into the lower reaches of the rivers, that easy and satisfactory drainage is possible at all times.
5. Behind the alluvial coastal plain lie great stretches of dense forest which cover about four-fifths of the country. These are largely uninhabited and undeveloped except for a few agricultural settlements along the river banks, scattered mining and timber operations and Amerindian settlements.
6. In the Rupununi District of the far south-western interior, and also in Berbice behind the north-eastern coastlands, the equatorial forests give way to fine open savannahs; but here again Nature has been far from prodigal in her gifts. The soil is sandy and deficient in minerals, particularly in the Berbice savannahs; in the Rupununi District there is heavy flooding in the rainy season and drought in the dry weather. Consequently, the pasturage is poor and unsuited to cattle raising on an intensive scale.
Communications
7. The inhospitable and infertile nature of the Rupununi savannahs and the forest areas and the problems of the coastal belt are further accentuated by the special difficulties of transport. The "mighty rivers" of British Guiana, which traverse the country from the interior to the sea, are obstructed by rapids and falls at distances varying from about 30 miles upstream in the Pomeroon River to 110 miles in the Berbice River, and thus cannot provide cheap and easy water transport to the interior. Nature, too, has impeded the passage of large seagoing ships into the rivers by silt bars offshore at their mouths. Roads in the interior are practically non-existent except in the Rupununi, where a good system of communications is being constructed. This system, however, does not link up with the coast and the only speedy form of inter-communication is by costly air services.
8. The coastal belt is cut into four distinct sections by the broad estuaries of the Essequibo, Demerara and Berbice Rivers, which are formidable obstacles to easy movement east and west. There are two short stretches of railway: from Georgetown eastwards for 60 miles to Rosignol on the Berbice River, and from Vreed-en-Hoop on the West Bank of the Demerara opposite Georgetown to Parika on the Essequibo, a distance of 18 miles. Further communication is by ferry and road, and the roads with one or two exceptions can by no means be considered good. The Government, besides running these two stretches of railway, also operates steamer and launch services on the rivers, but all these services are run at a loss [$1,111,987* (231,663 pounds Sterling) in 1952], and are not readily capable of economic performance on account of the natural conditions which render their operation expensive. Real improvements in communications are bound to involve immense initial capital expenditure and considerable annual costs. [* All dollar figures used in this Report are British West Indian dollars. $1 B.W.I. = 4s. 2d.]
Productive Resources:
(i) Agriculture
9. The economy of the country is principally dependent upon agriculture, which provides about two-thirds of the exports and employment for 40 per cent. of the working population. Almost all the land at present cultivated is in the narrow coastal strip.
10. By far the most important crop is sugar which, with its by-products, accounts fox more than half the Colony's exports. All abut 2 per cent. Of the cane is grown on 17 large plantations owned by limited companies, one of which has a controlling interest in the majority of the plantations. The incidence of two dry and two wet seasons in British Guiana gives the industry the advantage of being able to reap twice a year, and cane yield per acre is comparable or superior to that of the estates in other parts of the West Indies which have only one harvest period. But the climate favours growth rather than maturity, so that sucrose content is inferior and it takes 102 to 12 tons of cane to make a ton of sugar in British Guiana, as compared with 7 to 9 tons in other areas. We understand that the cost to the companies of maintaining drainage and irrigation systems amounts, on some estates, to as much as ,1. 15s. for each ton of sugar produced and with this further handicap it is not surprising that production costs are high. The industry is, however, assured of a market at prices fixed under the Commonwealth Sugar Agreement signed in 1951. Under this Agreement, which will remain in force until at least 1961, British Guiana is guaranteed a market for about 75 per cent. of her sugar exports at a price negotiated in 1950 and reviewed annually in the light of changes in production costs. The total production of raw sugar in 1952 was 242,692 tons, of which about 167,000 tons were exported under the Agreement at a negotiated price substantially higher than that prevailing in the world market. The remainder was either sold locally or exported to the United Kingdom and Canada at world market prices plus preference. In their Report on the Economic Development of British Guiana the International Bank Mission endorsed the general view of the sugar producers that expansion of production in the Colony beyond 275,000 tons per annum would, for a number of reasons, be uneconomic.
11. Rice has been grown in British Guiana for over a century and is now second only to sugar in annual cash value. For the most part it is a peasant industry, and holdings average no more than about six acres. Some rice lands are on abandoned sugar estates which were bought up by private individuals and let out in small units to tenants who had in the majority of cases to bear the cost of breaking the land in for rice cultivation. There are other lands in the villages let for rice cultivation. Some owners and lessees of the front lands are allowed to lease from Government the second and third depths which they then sublet, but although these lands require no breaking in they generally have poor drainage and irrigation facilities. Tenancies of rice lands are from year to year and protection against unfair eviction is provided by the Rice Farmers (Security of Tenure) Ordinance, 1945, which also restricts rents. The Ordinance does not, however, solve the problem of the landlord who is unwilling or unable to provide adequate drainage and irrigation for his tenants. This problem of ensuring that the available rice lands are properly maintained and cultivated, and that the landlord and tenant alike have a fair deal, is a difficult and complex one and in September, 1953, a Committee which had been appointed to enquire into the matter presented a. Report which included the draft of a new Ordinance. This Report is now under consideration. The rice mills were at one time wholly in the hands of a large number of small millers, some of whom were also landlords, but there are now three large Government owned mills as well. All milled rice has to be sold to the Rice Marketing Board which fixes buying and selling prices within the Colony and negotiates export contracts with other West Indian territories. There is a strong Rice Producers Association which maintains liaison between the farmers and the Rice Marketing Board.
12. Beef cattle are raised on the Rupununi savannahs by the Rupununi Development Company, which has leased 2,600 square miles, and by a small number of private ranchers. Grazing is so poor that no more than 15 head can be raised to the square mile and transport to the coast is costly and difficult. Some improvements may be possible, both in the herds, by selective breeding and the importation of new stock, and in the pasturage in limited areas, but there would seem to be no scope in this region for the settlement of any number of small farmers. Smallholders would hardly be able to undertake the measures necessary to improve stock or pasturage and would tend inevitably to overgraze their land in an attempt to eke out a living, The dangers of this need no emphasis, and it is clear that except on the basis of large scale ranching the Rupununi savannahs offer little scope for development.
13. Cattle, kept mainly by small farmers for meat or dairying, are grazed on the poorly drained areas in the coast lands and in the rice fields after harvest. The return per acre for animal husbandry is, however, very low and cannot carry the heavy overhead costs of drainage and irrigation. Experience shows in fact that as soon as land is sufficiently drained the farmers prefer to plant rice, of which even a poor yield will bring a far better return.
14. There is great need in the Colony for more land to absorb the growing population and we are glad to see that provision for this is included in the new Development Programme. But it must be emphasized that expansion of the cultivable area in the coastal belt will require initial expenditure on both drainage and water conservation, for all the lands contiguous to existing cultivation are liable at certain periods of the year to flooding by rain water coming down from the interior, and at others to drought unless adequate supplies of water can be stored. Moreover, the maintenance of agricultural lands in the coastal belt needs heavy expenditure, and any produce grown there has, directly or indirectly, to bear its share of the high overhead costs of sea defence, drainage and. irrigation. It may be that soil surveys in the interior will discover areas in which agricultural development is possible, but again the cost of clearing the land and opening up communications will be heavy.
(ii) Forestry
15. The thick equatorial forests grow quantities of fine timber, amongst which are found woods of excellent quality. Again, however, there are snags. Only two or three species have an established local or export market so that the marketable timber is usually widely scattered on any concession area, and extraction, therefore, requires considerable expenditure on tracks and access roads. Transport difficulties and this dispersion of valuable trees among less marketable species have led to a tendency to cut out the best and most accessible timber and move on to new areas. Such "creaming" operations have already seriously denuded forests along the lower river reaches, and the exploitation of the upper reaches involves the negotiation of rapids which increases the capital outlay required for intensive working of forest areas. The value of timber exports in 1952, nearly all greenheart, was about $2 million (416,000 pounds Sterling); but to maintain and promote full use of the Colony's forest resources it is recognised that special efforts will be needed to introduce to the United Kingdom, the Caribbean and the United States markets other useful timber of which a sustained supply can be assured. Since greenheart is the prime export timber there is much to be said for the view that its use locally should be discouraged where other timbers can serve.
(iii) Minerals
16. Bauxite is by far the most important of the minerals at present known to occur in British Guiana. Exports in 1952, totalling 2.3 million tons, were valued at $22.2 million (4.6 million pounds Sterling) one-fifth in volume of world production and nearly 30 per cent. in value of the Colony's exports and the royalties, income tax and export duty payable accounted for 15 per cent. Of the Government's total revenue. Over 90 per cent. of the output is produced by the Demerara Bauxite Company, which operates mines at Mackenzie 65 miles up the Demerara River and at Ituni some 36 miles further south. Ore from the latter mine is conveyed by rail to Mackenzie where the drying and calcining plant is situated. The Company is a subsidiary of the Aluminium Company of Canada to which most of the dried ore is shipped for conversion to aluminium. The remainder of the Colony's output of bauxite is mined at Kwakwani, 100 miles up the Berbice River, by an American company. There is no present indication that production of bauxite will be increased, and there is little likelihood that processing beyond drying or calcining will ever be undertaken in the Colony.
17. The only other minerals in appreciable production are gold and diamonds. The gold is mined by dredging or washing in alluvial sands and over 80 per cent. is produced by the British Guiana Consolidated Goldfields, Limited, which has financial backing from the Colonial Development Corporation. Total production in 1952 was about 24,000 ounces, and this will be substantially increased when the company mentioned brings into operation a new dredge. Diamonds are mined mainly by individual prospectors and production is not expected to increase much beyond the present output of about 40,000 carats.
18. Knowledge of the Colony's mineral resources is very incomplete; but a good deal of prospecting is going on in the interior, and the Government's Geological Survey aims to produce a series of maps and reports which will eventually cover the whole territory. The Survey has concentrated on areas of economic importance to assist the present exploitation of valuable minerals and on the investigation of areas which are virtually unexplored. The Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation of the United States has recently applied for a lease in the North-West District to mine extensive deposits of manganese ore, the existence of which was first reported by the staff of the Survey, and the production of columbite-tantalite on a small scale was begun in 1952. The exploitation of minerals is hampered by the natural difficulties of transport, but experience shows that these can be overcome if deposits are sufficiently valuable to make extraction worthwhile.
(iv) Industry
19. Industry in British Guiana is mainly engaged in processing local agricultural and forest products, and is almost wholly confined to the coastal zone. The local market for manufactured products is limited and skilled labour is scarce. To quote from the Report of the International Bank Mission:
"While there is scope for expansion of secondary industries, it is unlikely that there will be any major industrial development in the foreseeable future. The internal market is too small to give much scope for industries in which efficiency depends upon large-scale production. Moreover, there is a lack of raw materials and power for major industries and, although there are hydroelectric possibilities in the interior, technical, economic and financial factors make their large-scale exploitation in the near future highly problematical."
Appreciation of Economic Factors
20. The general economic picture, therefore, is one of an unremitting and costly struggle against geographical and physical difficulties: of man pitting his energy and strength against unfriendly natural surroundings: of much success and some failure. In our enquiries in British Guiana we have found two very different accounts of the result of this struggle. According to one set of witnesses the present economic and social position shows triumphant success "in the achievement of very real progress in the last 20 years and particularly during the past 10 years";* sea defences have been provided and large-scale drainage and irrigation works undertaken; Georgetown, the capital, has been transformed into a fine city with good roads, some noble streets and buildings, and reasonably high standards of amenity; rural areas have been provided with good potable water supplies through a system of artesian wells; and health conditions have been immensely improved by the complete eradication of malaria. On the other side of the picture many brought to our notice the struggle for livelihood in conditions of unemployment and under-employment: the squalor of much of the housing: the scarcity of agricultural land: and the apparent delays in dealing with these and other problems. [* Sir Frank McDavid in a speech in Legislative Council on 18th March, 1954.]
21. It is, however, clear from its physical make-up that British Guiana can hardly be much more economically than a comparatively poor country (unless, of course, further mineral resources of really important proportions are discovered) and that only by heavy expenditure of capital and by continued hard work by the community as a whole will conditions generally be improved. Surveys designed to discover the true potentialities of the interior must be vigorously pursued, but we believe that the immediate need is for more farm land for the growing population on the coast. It must, however, be repeated that this means undertaking expensive flood protection, drainage and irrigation works, and that these are by their very nature long term and will only make a slow and partial contribution towards solving present economic problems, which impinge so heavily upon the political atmosphere. We are, however, in general convinced that the establishment of a class of peasant proprietors will be well worth while, if it is successful in giving more people the feeling of having a real stake in the country, and the proposals for extending the areas under vegetable and dairy farming on the banks of the rivers seem to us admirably suited for this purpose. When we were in British Guiana we heard that the possibility of gradually converting part of the sugar estates from direct plantation management to co-operative farming on the lines of the Sudan Gezira Scheme was being investigated. We have since learned that a pilot scheme is actually being launched and, provided the discipline necessary to maintain efficient production can be secure, without friction, this policy should turn irresponsible labourers into responsible contented partners.
II. SOCIAL FACTORS
The People
22. At the end of 1952 the population of British Guiana was estimated at about 450,000, of whom 45 per cent. were East Indian, 36 per cent. African, 11 per cent. mixed, 4 per cent. Amerindian and the remainder European or Chinese. Since 1945, when control of malaria by D.D.T. was started, the annual rate of growth of population has increased from 1.5 per cent. To 2.8 per cent., The elimination of malaria has had the greatest effect among the East Indian population, whose natural increment was estimated in 1952 at 5 per cent. per annum.
23. In their Report the Waddington Commission spoke of the people of the country as follows:
"The British Guiana Commission of 1927 found the Colony to be 'a congerie of races from all parts of the world with different instincts, different standards and different interests'. All came to British Guiana while sugar was King; and the human problems of the Colony spring almost exclusively from this root. The European, few in numbers, but economically powerful, is at a political disadvantage as the legatee of the old sugar plantocracy. In his Caribbean environment, the African, who as until recently formed the largest racial group in the country, has absorbed the traditions of a European civilisation., Finally, emancipation, by threatening a shortage of labour on the sugar estates, brought further races to British Guiana, first in small numbers from China and Madeira, and then in a large flow from India. between 1844 and the first world war, some 239,00 Indians came to British Guiana, of whom 65,000 were later repatriated to India under the terms of their indentures. Those who remained to make their permanent home in the Colony decreased in numbers, but under the stimulus of improved conditions of health, the Indian population has recently risen to about 195,000."
"The field workers on the sugar estates are still largely recruited from the Indian population, although many of then have become rice growers or small subsistence farmers. They are a valuable element in the life of the country, but their occupations, the exercises of their religion, which led them to eschew education provided by denominational schools, and for a long time the professedly temporary nature of their residence, and the special protection afforded them by the terms of their indentures, have all reinforced their inclination to resist assimilation. They therefore remained a community within a community with an allegiance to their motherland of India, while, for their part, the Africans have won their way by effort and education to professional and public appointments."
"Indian aloofness has now given place to a realisation of their permanent place in Guianese life and to a demand for equal participation in it. This claim, reinforced by their growing literacy, leads them to compete for positions which they have not hitherto sought. This challenge from an able and energetic people has stimulated the other races into closing their ranks. Race is a patent difference and is a powerful slogan ready to the hand of unscrupulous men who can use it as a stepping stone to political power. Race, too, is easily identifiable with nationalism, which in recent years has been emergent among all colonial peoples."
24. We agree with this description by the Waddington Commission, and confirm from our experience that the Indian element in the population has now shaken off its previous lethargy and is beginning to play a major part in the life of the Colony. Education is now eagerly sought by Indian parents for their children; many Indians have important shares in the economic and commercial life of the Colony; the rice trade is largely in their hands from production to marketing. Their very success in these spheres has begun to awaken the fears of the African section of the population, and it cannot be denied that since India received her independence in 1947 there has been a marked self-assertiveness amongst Indians in British Guiana. Guianese of African extraction were not afraid to tell us that many Indians in British Guiana looked forward to the day when British Guiana would be a part not of the British Commonwealth but of an East Indian Empire. The result has been a tendency for racial tension to increase, and we have reluctantly reached the conclusion that the amity "with which", as the Waddington Report said, "people of all races live side by side in the villages" existed more in the past; today the relationships are strained; they present an outward appearance which masks feelings of suspicion and distrust. We do not altogether share the confidence of the Waddington Commission that a comprehensive loyalty to British Guiana can be stimulated among peoples of such diverse origins. There is little evidence of any coalescing process of inter-marriage between the Indian and African components of the population.
25. To appreciate the attitude of these two groups to their conditions today it must be remembered that in the past both the original slave owners and the employers of indentured labour had, as a matter of economic self interest, if no more, to take responsibility for providing housing, medical care, land for the cultivation of ground provisions and other necessities for their people. The slaves and labourers understood that those in authority would provide these things and no one expected them, nor indeed was it open to them, to take any initiative to improve their lot. It appeared to us that this historical background has left its mark on the subsequent generations. There seems today to be a common almost arrogant presumption that from some fathomless source all things desirable should as of right be provided. People are more ready to demand from Government the living conditions which they think they should have than to set about achieving them for themselves. There is, of course, some justification for this attitude, because large schemes of improvement and economic development are, by the very nature of the country, bound to depend upon the introduction of capital resources which are far beyond the capacity of the people. But we did get the impression that there is a marked lack of self-reliance and of realisation of the part that all must play in the development of their country,
26. The other elements in the community of Portuguese, Chinese and United. Kingdom origin are much smaller in numbers, though their influence is great. Members of the last-named community are anxious at the way in which the Indian and African sections have now obtained virtual domination through universal adult suffrage. In common with the Portuguese and Chinese they have no particular enthusiasm for socialist policies, but many members of all three communities have a real understanding of the aspirations of the poorer people, They realise the folly of trying to resist the trend of the times, but they are not unnaturally fearful of the more extreme policies of the People's Progressive Party. We are convinced that, in a country where leaders are needed, they could play a more valuable part than they do.
Education
27. The educational system, by which primary education is practically entirely in the hands of the Christian churches, requires some description. The churches are justifiably proud of the work that they have done and are still doing in this sphere. But for them most of the schools in use today would not exist. They provided the land and the money to build: theirs was the pioneering effort. Even today the churches are bearing the heaviest burden, and we would refer especially to the responsibility for school management which the priests and clergy undertake as part of this service to the community. The churches have upheld faithfully the trust reposed in them and their record is an outstanding one.
28. There are in the Colony 297 primary schools, with a total enrolment of about 89,000 pupils. Of this total 19 are Government schools and nine Government aided undenominational schools; the remaining 269 are denominational schools controlled by the churches under a system whereby Government pays all teachers' salaries and makes annual grants for the provision of equipment and the maintenance of buildings. Many schools belonging to the churches have been rebuilt or renovated in recent years with the aid of grants from Colonial Development and Welfare funds. Government maintains educational standards by annual inspections and by calling the attention of the governing bodies to deficiencies. In the last resort cuts may be made in the grants, but this is seldom, if ever, done. In fact, the Director assured us, and his assurance was borne out by the churches' representatives, co-operation and co-ordination between the Department and the governing bodies are very good, and there is little friction.
29. Many of the 2,000 teachers in these primary schools are products of a pupil teacher-training scheme. Others were trained at the Government Training College, which provides a two year course and now turns out 30 teachers a year. Entrants to the Training College are either pupil teachers or direct recruits from the secondary schools. Although all teachers are paid for by the Education Department, under the dual control system, appointments and promotions are made by denominational committees with the approval of the Director of Education. Unless there is something known against a teacher's efficiency or moral character the Director does not usually interfere with the proposals of the denominational committee.
30. It is, however, unlikely that this system, whereby the bulk of Government expenditure on education is necessarily disbursed to denominational schools, can continue much longer. With the rapid increase of the school population classes are becoming more crowded, and it is not unknown for some teachers to have 90 or 100 pupils in a class. An increase of educational facilities at the primary level is urgently required and this offers an opportunity of establishing further Government schools in the most populous areas. These would supplement the denominational schools and would also form the nucleus of a state system of primary education.
31. Such a system must inevitably come, but more will be involved than just money to build schools. It did not seen to us that those who most strongly advocated the end of dual control quite realised the effect that their proposal would have. In the absence of suitable local authorities and voluntary associations the effect of this proposal would be to throw an increasingly heavy burden of administration and school management on Government.
32. Primary education has been compulsory since 1876, but the overall illiteracy figure is still estimated at about 20 per cent. of the population by the Director of Education. The highest percentages are to be found in the rural areas and among the Amerindians. Many adult East Indians are illiterate, because when they were children facilities in their areas were scanty or their parents were uninterested in educating them. In. Georgetown the percentage is extremely small, and in general there is less illiteracy among the youth than among the adult population.
33. Children complete their primary education at the age of 14 and may go on to secondary or other post primary education. In practice the great majority are unable to do so, and they leave school at the age of 14. Many go back to the land or to their parents' occupation, but numbers are left unsettled and without congenial employment. Many spend several years looking for work, and we ourselves interviewed a number of young men in their early twenties who had already spent several years in search of work. This gap between the end of primary education and the beginning of a career or even of any sort of employment must have the most damaging effects upon the character and outlook of the adolescent.
34. About 10,000 children are receiving post primary instruction. We had no opportunity of assessing the methods of selection for secondary education or the standards reached. We did, however, get the impression that technical, and especially agricultural, education is behindhand, though efforts are now being made to catch up; too much attention has been paid to academic education and not enough to the training which is more necessary to meet the needs of the country. For this Government is not wholly to blame; though many parents want their children to have an academic education few are willing to keep them at school for technical training even when facilities are offered.
Employment and Wages Generally
35. The difficulties facing young people leaving school in search of employment have already been mentioned, and they raise the whole question of employment in British Guiana. Many of the population are of course engaged in peasant farming of one kind or another, mainly rice. But among those who may be classed as wage earners there is undoubtedly substantial unemployment and under-employment, particularly among sugar workers. Accurate figures are unobtainable and we hesitate to quote estimates which might be misleading. It is, however, safe to say that the total number of unemployed at any one time cannot be less than about 8,000-12,000, and may be more: this apart from under-employment.
36. One of the results of under-employment is that a wage scale which would be adequate for the fully employed worker does not suffice for a worker and his family on half-time employment, unless it is supplemented by other income, from agriculture or elsewhere. The wage indices show that over the last few years there has been an improvement in real wages for all classes of labour. For instance, unskilled male workers in Government employment, in the sugar fields, in the sugar factories and in the bauxite industry have since 1946 obtained increases in real wages of 36 per cent., 26 per cent., 55 per cent. and 21 per cent. respectively. Average figures are of course dangerous; but those given us of the average minimum earnings from piece-work in various fields of employment did not strike us as exceptionally low at 3.38 dollars or 14s. a day in the period of high earnings (i.e., during harvest periods) and 2.39 dollars or 10s. a day in the period of low earnings. It is only when it is remembered that employment may consist of 4 or even fewer days work in the week, and that the above daily wage only means 56s. or 40s. or less a week, that the inadequacy of this for the subsistence of a family is realised, unless there are other sources of livelihood. These are of course minimum averages (and skilled labour is much better paid) but unless full time is worked they are low.
37. The employment position is thus by no means bright even at this time when sugar, rice and the other principal products are finding reasonable markets. There is not sufficient work all the year round for those who seek it and some wages are very low. The poor conditions derive from the basic fact that the country has not the resources to support a high standard of living and the increase in population due to the eradication of malaria will make improvement even more difficult. From 1960 onwards the growing child population will enter the labour market or swell the ranks of those peasant farmers who need more land. As we have said, the drainage and irrigation schemes necessary to provide this are costly and take time, and new opportunities for employment will depend upon development. Prospects for any marked improvement in the employment position or in the level of real wages are, therefore, not encouraging: indeed we believe that the difficulties which lie ahead are even more serious than those which have yet had to be faced.
Conditions of employment on sugar estates
38. Much was said to us about the conditions of labour and housing on the sugar estates, and we tried to get as clear a picture as possible. It is here that the population is thickest and the discontent greatest, but it must be remembered that probably more than one fifth of the population residing on the estates many in rent free ranges and estate houses have no connection whatever with the sugar industry.
39. Employment in the industry is seasonal and is at its peak during harvest time. The average number of days worked per week per person in the field during 1952 was 3.99. Some workers augment their wages by small rice cultivation or vegetable growing, often on land leased either by the estates or by the Crown, but many are definitely under-employed. We gained the impression that often this under-employment was accepted by the management of the sugar estates, out of a desire to spread work amongst a growing population; but it has the unfortunate result that no one is pleased, and few labourers employed on the sugar estates really have continuous profitable employment. The view was put to us that the proper course for the industry would be to try to limit its labour force to the number it can fully employ, perhaps by some kind of registration or "tally" system such as was at one time operated for dock labour in the United Kingdom. The industry would then be in a better position to undertake responsibility for improving conditions for its employees. The practical difficulties of any step of this kind are obviously very great, and it would face Government with the enormous problem of dealing with those who would be surplus to the industry's requirements.
40. Apart from this problem, many of the labour difficulties with which the industry has been beset are implicit in the nature of the work. In the fields the piece-work system is normal and disputes over rates, about the weighing of cane, the provision of punts, and so on, inevitably arise and can readily be exploited to make trouble between, workers and management.
41. Considerable credit is due to the sugar producers for their strenuous efforts in recent years to improve the conditions of their workers. Earnings would of course be much higher if employment was continuous, and much money has been spent by the companies in building new houses for their labour, on the provision of welfare and recreational amenities and, more recently, on medical, dispensary and ambulance services. The Sugar Industry Labour Welfare Fund, which was established in 1947 by a statutory levy of 10s. 0d. per ton on all sugar exported, had by the end of 1953 approved interest free loans totalling $2,200,333 (457,670 pounds Sterling) to 3,755 workers to assist them to build their own houses. During recent years the industry has built at its own expense about 340 houses for junior staff and "key workers". Furthermore, the Sugar Producers' Association agreed in November last, at the suggestion of the Governor, to the diversion to the Welfare Fund of $2.5 million (520,000 pounds Sterling) from the Sugar Industry Price Stabilization Fund in order to expedite the rehousing of sugar workers living in obsolete ranges. The difficulties which the industry has to face are, however, intensified by the incidence of under-employment which has already been mentioned; for this perhaps doubles the number of those to be provided for. Moreover, the very success of the public health measures adopted on the estates in the last few years especially by the spectacular eradication of malaria through the efforts of Dr. Giglioli, Medical Adviser to the Sugar Producers' Association is annually increasing the population, and making the task more insoluble as the years pass.
42. We did not get the impression that the sugar producers, who are the largest employers of labour, are making large profits. In fact, with the heavy expenditure on the upkeep of drainage and irrigation works described earlier, the charges for maintenance of plant and renewals and the assistance now being given to labour and other staff for housing and in other welfare schemes, we were not surprised to learn that additional capital has had to be found, either by passing dividends or by new investment, to keep the industry going on a sound basis; and that over the past ten years the average dividends paid by the sugar companies were no more than about 32 per cent. on the total capital employed. That this is the case is confirmed by the way in which the small private sugar estate has practically disappeared and the number of sugar plantations has fallen so greatly in the last twenty or thirty years. We therefore see no justification for the view, so often expressed in some quarters, that the sugar companies are exploiting their labour and taking vast sums out of the country.
III. POLITICAL FACTORS
Local Government
43. The people of British Guiana live in the towns of Georgetown (population 82,268) and New Amsterdam (population 9,567) and in many village communities and hamlets. Georgetown is a city administered by its own Mayor and Town Council, which is mainly elected. Revenue and expenditure balance at about 390,000 pounds Sterling annually. New Amsterdam too has its autonomous administration with Mayor and Town Council, two-thirds of which is elected. In 1952 its revenue and expenditure were 66,000 pounds Sterling and 65,000 pounds Sterling respectively.
44. The Colony's rural population, amounting to approximately 360,000 "is resident in villages scattered along the coastlands and for some distance up the principal rivers. Here, in the first instance, the freed African slaves settled after emancipation. Forming themselves into companies, they bought, with savings accumulated during slavery and the apprenticeship period, the estates of their former masters who were anxious to quit the Colony, or they purchased the front lands of plantations, the proprietors of which wished to establish a resident population.
These rural communities have since then been greatly enlarged by the settlement of ex-indentured East Indians and their descendants, and they now range in importance from the hamlet with a population of 100 to the large village with 5,000 to 6,000 inhabitants. It should be noted that several of these areas, while called villages are really potential towns from the point of view of both area and population.
The history of these village communities is a record firstly, of unsuccessful efforts of some villagers left to their own devices to manage their affairs, and later of the endeavours of the Government to provide an efficient system of village organisation. Numerous legislative enactments aiming at providing and perfecting the machinery needed for efficient village administration have from time to time been passed. The affairs of these rural districts, i.e., communities declared to be either "village" or "country" districts, under the Local Government Ordinance, are under the immediate direction of local authorities. In the ease of village districts, the village council consists of elected and appointed councillors in the proportion of two to one, and in the case of country districts membership is wholly appointed. In both instances appointment is made by the central authority the Local Government Board. Both these local authorities have powers of rating and borrowing and of appointing officers subject to the approval of the Local Government Board. The chief services local authorities provide are the drainage of the local authority area and the maintenance of roads, bridges and other amenities. At the end of 1952 there were 43 Village Districts and 49 Country Districts under the control of the Local Government Board." * [*British Guiana Annual Report, 1952.]
45. The revenue of these 92 "village" and "country" districts amounted in 1952 to approximately 126,000 pounds Sterling and expenditure to 121,000 pounds Sterling.
46. In contradiction of the impression made upon the Waddington Commission by the system of local government we do not think that local government bodies play an important part in the affairs of British Guiana, and indeed we were not convinced that in local affairs the village and country district councils were popular or influential amongst the people. Their ineffectiveness seems to be mainly due to the facts that local government has little financial power and that its statutory functions are severely limited. A few councils, blessed with Chairmen of personality or energetic overseers, appear to play a part in community life, but in the great majority of cases the councils lack drive and influence; and even had they these qualities, it is doubtful if they could play a great part in affairs. Their only powers amount to their having some (but not all) responsibility for local drainage and irrigation and for maintaining local roads, for which they are authorised to raise local rates. It is true that there is voluntary association of local authorities into "Unions ", but these depend very much on individual enthusiasm and personality, and they lack any formal basis. The whole scope of local government, therefore, appears to be very limited.
Central Administration
47. We were disturbed by the frequent complaints made to us about the dilatoriness of Government machinery generally and, while we can discount some of this as based on personal grievances, we have been forced to the conclusion that the administration in British Guiana has for many years been slow and ill adapted to the needs of the territory. It is not easy to determine all the causes of this, but the most important is perhaps the growing complexity of the functions which have fallen to government within recent times. In the past the administration of colonial territories was very largely a matter of preserving law and order and had little to do positively with securing the development of resources and the improvement of social and economic conditions. In a comparatively short time, however, all this has changed. Governments have assumed more and more responsibility for the provision of medical and welfare services, for housing and education and generally for the economic and social development of the territories. In British Guiana, as elsewhere, this has thrown new and heavy burdens on the administration, and it is perhaps not surprising that without the spur of experienced ministers responsible to the electorate the machine has laboured under the strain. There are of course contributory factors, one of which is that British Guiana, a relatively poor territory, has for many years been unable to offer attractive remuneration to specialist officers recruited from abroad. This has led to good men who have come to the territory leaving as soon as better paid openings altered elsewhere; if the work involved in the Development Programme, which is far the most part specialised, is to be carried through successfully, adequate remuneration must be provided for men possessing the necessary skill.
48. A feature of the administration which we particularly noticed is its centralisation. All authority tends to be concentrated in Georgetown, and little responsibility is delegated to local government bodies or to the departmental representatives in the country districts. As a result, a great deal has to be referred to the centre, and with the serious difficulties in communication this leads to delays and misunderstanding. The District Commissioners to whom we talked appeared to have little real authority, and to be functionaries of very different type from District Commissioners in other Colonial territories. It is, therefore, reassuring to note that some responsibility for development planning in the country districts is being delegated to local development committees appointed by the District Commissioners, and if this policy is extended to cover other governmental responsibilities, it may be possible to interest more people in local government and thereby reduce complaints at the delays and red tape of bureaucracy. Politically this change should also have a beneficial result in lifting much of the burden of government from the civil service to representatives of the people, and training the people in their local councils for the more important field of central government.
Trade Unions
49. There have been trade unions in British Guiana for many years, the first having been started by Mr. Hubert Critchlow in 1921. We were informed that there are now 27 trade unions, whose membership varies from time to time and whose financial membership is often far lower than their reputed total membership. There has been a tendency for unions to grow up, disintegrate, and then reform in the same or other guise. The trade union movement has been too much used by would be politicians as a means for obtaining power, and not as a way of improving the conditions of labour; too many presidents and officials of trade unions even today are mere politicians; many of them are not and never have been "workers". Among the rank and file of the unions there does not seem to be that sense of "belonging" and of owing constant loyalty and support to the organizations which they have formed to protect their interests which is fundamental to the trade unionism and characterises the movement in the United Kingdom.
50. It is therefore easy for unscrupulous individuals to form a rival union and to seek to undermine an established one which is recognised by employers and is doing good work. This has happened in the sugar industry where the Guiana Industrial Workers Union (G.I.W.U.) has been endeavouring, since its first registration as a trade union in 1948, to oust the Man Power Citizens' Association (M.P.C.A.) which negotiated its first agreement with the Sugar Producers' Association (S.P.A.) in 1939 and is the recognised union for general labour on the sugar estates. We describe the course of this dispute in greater detail later in this Report (paragraphs 171 181) and need record here only that the struggle culminated in September, 1953, in the Colony-wide sugar strike, the failure of which was the signal for the introduction by the P.P.P. of a bill to secure the compulsory recognition of trade unions.
51. We believe that if trade unionism in British Guiana is to climb out of the rut in which it now finds itself two things are needed; firstly, for trade unionists to develop a healthy mistrust of the motives behind the patronage of personally ambitious politicians, and secondly, for union executives to pursue their industrial objectives by industrial and not by political means. Frankly we see little immediate prospect of such a revolution, but something might be accomplished if the trade union movement in the United Kingdom could take upon itself to send out someone knowledgeable of trade union practice to be guide and adviser. Only a man who had himself graduated through the trade union mill could hope to gain the confidence and respect of Guianese trade unionists. He could stand closer to the unions than it is possible for the Department of Labour to do, having regard to its statutory duties and its role in arbitration between trade unions and employers.
Political Parties
(i) The People's Progressive Party
52. Up to about 1947 there was little promise in British Guiana of the development of stable political parties. As in the trade union field, individuals would come together to form an organisation, but few organizations continued for long before dissensions and jealous rivalries developed; the process was one of parties springing up, dividing and then either fading away or reforming with other components. It was true, of course, that the constitution offered political parties little incentive to stability. But after the war Her Majesty's Government's policy of constitutional development in the Colonial territories was reaffirmed and by 1947 it was clear enough to those who could look ahead that there would be real opportunities of political empower for a party sufficiently organised to exploit universal adult suffrage.
53. It was about this time that Dr. and Mrs. Jagan began working to build up a left wing party and that the Political Affairs Committee was formed. In 1950 they founded the People's Progressive Party and it was largely by their efforts that it was built up and kept united. Local branches were formed, annual congresses held and the party spirit and discipline fostered by means of the party paper Thunder, edited by Mrs. Jagan and distributed free to all members who paid their annual subscription of 50 cents (2s. 6d.). The Party assured itself of popular support by concentrating upon and excessively simplifying those issues upon which most of the people were agreed the demand for self government, an end to colonialism and improvement of conditions. In this way racial dissension between African and East Indian elements was minimised and by the time of the election campaign in 1953 a useful political instrument had been forged.
54. The represent structure of the P.P,P. consists of a General Council of 22 members of whom 15 are elected annually by the Party Congress to which branches send delegates in the proportion of one delegate to every 12 members. The remaining seven members are the Party Executive. The Executive consists of a Chairman, two Vice Chairmen, a General Secretary and Assistant Secretary, a Treasurer, and the Leader of the Parliamentary Group. These seven with five members elected by the General Council comprise the Executive Committee.
55. The Party Executive, once having been elected, have, therefore, great authority over the direction of the Party. In addition, individual Party leaders occupy important executive positions in a number of trade unions and in other organisations, such as the British Guiana Peace Committee, which are mainly intended as propaganda and recruiting agencies.
(ii) Other Political Parties
56. Other political groups contested the elections the National Democratic Party with 15 candidates, the People's National Party with eight, the United Guiana Party with four, and the United Farmers' and Workers' Party with two. In the various manifestos of their candidates which we have seen, the general appeal for social betterment did not differ greatly from the approach of the People's Progressive Party, but the parties lacked the organisation, cohesion and energy of the P.P.P. On all electoral platforms the appeal was to the newly enfranchised classes and to their desires for better standards of living.
These parties had been rapidly formed for the elections; they did not represent coherent groups, and had little or no party spirit. Since the elections they have combined to form the United Democratic Party but it remains to be seen whether the need to unite forces to fight the P.P.P. for political power will provide the necessary incentive to weld the various units into a single effective organisation.
57. In addition to the party candidates numbering 51 who contested the elections for 24 seats, no fewer than 79 independent candidates were nominated, as many as eight coming forward in one constituency. Some of these were men with previous experience of political work in the old Legislative Council and of standing in the country. Together they polled over 45,000 votes, 30 per cent. of those cast.
Appreciation of Political Factors
58. That British Guiana is "politically precocious" was stated by the British Guiana Commission of 1927, and the Waddington Commission commented "if this is taken to mean that there is a wide interest in political discussion we would agree". At the present time this is undoubtedly even truer than it was in 1951 when the Waddington Report was written, but while we were impressed by the obvious interest displayed by unlikely witnesses in political and constitutional matters we were discouraged by the lack of knowledge and appreciation of the underlying issues. The rise of the People's Progressive Party to power, its career as a Government, and the suspension of the Constitution have greatly increased the awareness of the common man of his political environment. We are however inclined to think that such widespread political consciousness is a recent growth and that the "precocity" noticed in 1927 was largely confined to the better off people, who alone at that time were enfranchised. In 1927 the question was briefly whether the Legislative Council, of which the elected members came from a very restricted section of the community, should be permitted to delay the advancement of the country. In 1954 the question is how to reconcile the popular demand for social and economic improvement with the hard economic facts of the situation.
59. It is for this reason that we have emphasised so particularly the natural physical difficulties of the territory and have tried to show that the improvements demanded almost as a right by the people cannot be achieved by enthusiasm alone but only if it is allied to intelligent planning, and by great expenditure of capital and continued hard work. We feel that a great deal requires to be done to educate the people as a whole to these facts, and that all classes must be ready the richer as well as tie poorer to co-operate in the efforts by which alone better general standards of living can be obtained. We do not believe that there can ever be built up in British Guiana the El Dorado which the masses seem to believe can easily be obtained by a re-distribution of wealth; a country can only reach that standard of living which it can support by its own labour and its own natural resources. British Guiana today is deficient in the latter, and it must therefore depend all the more on hard work. Too many people in British Guiana seem to shy from this prospect, and they content themselves with a belief either that new and fabulous mineral wealth will be found or that the beneficent metropolitan power will provide.
60. This attitude, which lies at the back of political thought in British Guiana at the present day, can only be altered by a long uphill campaign to bring the broad mass of the people to a true understanding of the position of their country. The gradual improvement of economic conditions will also help, but it cannot be expected that the present development Program will effect all the desired changes.
IV. CONCLUSION
61. To sum up, in trying to convey a general picture of the present position in British Guiana, as we have seen it during our enquiries, we cannot but stress as main features the difficult and unpromising nature of the country: the undoubted dissatisfaction and "frustration" of the people generally at their social and economic environment: and their strong desire for speedy changes and improvements. We must couple with this the past attempts, some successful and some unsuccessful, to develop the country and to safeguard its assets. We were impressed by the friendliness and cheerfulness of people we met, but also by their naivete and lack of appreciation of the economic realities of the situation.
62. It is not within our terms of reference to make recommendations about matters other than the Constitution, but, if we are right in thinking that the economic and social environment in which a constitution is to work is of relevance, the observations which we have made on these matters will not be considered out of place.
CHAPTER 2. THE WADDINGTON CONSTITUTION
63. Before we come to our examination of the events which led to the suspension of the 1953 Constitution we propose to describe its main features and to consider whether it might reasonably have been held by the People's Progressive Party, fresh from success at the polls, to place undue restrictions upon the fulfilment of the policies for which it stood.
64. To enable the Waddington Constitution to be seen in proper perspective it is necessary to recall briefly the main features of the previous constitution*. There was a Legislative Council, with a majority of members elected on a restricted franchise, over which the Governor presided. The Executive Council comprised three ex-officio members and one nominated and four elected members of the Legislative Council; the Governor, who presided, was not bound to accept the advice of his Executive Council. There was no Ministerial system, though its absence was in some degree mitigated by the existence of Advisory Committees of the Legislative Council dealing with various aspects of Government, on which elected members sat with the heads of appropriate departments. All legislation was submitted to the Legislative Council, but the Governor had the usual reserved legislative powers and discretionary power of assent or dissent upon all bills. [* For greater detail see Appendix III of the Waddington Commission's Report.]
65. With certain minor exceptions, the recommendations of the Waddington Commission were adopted, and the Secretary of State accepted the proposals in Codicil II of their Report which favoured a bi-cameral legislature. The main provisions of the new Constitution may be summarised as follows:
(1) Universal adult suffrage.
(2) A bi-cameral legislature with a life of four years consisting of:
(a) a House of Assembly composed of 24 elected representatives and three ex-officio members the Chief Secretary, the Attorney-General and the Financial Secretary and presided over by a Speaker appointed by the Governor from outside the Legislature and with neither an original nor a casting vote;
(b) a State Council composed of nine members appointed by the Governor (one of whom must be elected President of the Council); six of these members to be appointed by the Governor in his discretion, two appointed on the recommendations of the six Ministers elected from the House of Assembly and one appointed after consultation with the independent and minority party members of the House of Assembly.
(3) An Executive Council consisting of the Governor as President, with a casting vote only, the three ex-officio members of the House of Assembly, six Ministers chosen by ballot from among the elected members of the House of Assembly and vested by the Governor (on the basis of individual ministerial responsibility) with the charge of Government departments and subjects which fall within their respective portfolios, and a member of the State Council, elected by that Council to be Minister without Portfolio. One of the Ministers with Portfolio to be chosen by his colleagues to be Leader of the House of Assembly.
(4) The Governor to retain the usual reserved powers for use at his discretion in the interests of "public order, public faith or good government ", but to be bound customarily to act in accordance with the advice of the Executive Council.
It was provided that Money Bills passed by the House of Assembly might be delayed by the State Council for a period of three months and other Bills for a period of one year. There was also provision for the Governor, acting in his discretion, to summon a joint sitting of the House of Assembly and the State Council to consider any Bill on which the two Chambers were opposed and which in his opinion was of major concern for the well-being of the Colony; and, if requested by both Chambers, he could at his discretion summon a joint sitting to deliberate and vote on any matter.
66. In the General Election for the House of Assembly following the introduction of the Constitution, the P.P.P. gained 18 of the 24 seats. It thus had a clear majority of the membership of the House of Assembly and, being bound together by a strong party discipline, could exercise to the full the powers available under the Constitution.
67. These powers reposed essentially in the Executive Council which comprised a majority of elected ministers. The Governor was bound, in the normal exercise of his duties, to consult with the Council and to act in accordance with its advice, and the Constitution provided that it should be the "principal instrument of policy". The Council was thus the forum in which policy and all matters of importance in the executive and legislative fields were discussed and settled. The P.P.P., having a clear majority in the House of Assembly, was able to elect six of its number to the ministerial posts in the Council and to dominate its proceedings. The three official members and the Minister without Portfolio chosen by the State Council could, of course, seek to influence matters in discussion, but their advice could be ignored by the elected Ministers who by their voting strength could decide every issue as they wished. In executive matters such decisions were final and, as we shall see, the enactment of any legislative measure decided upon in Council could be checked finally only by the interposition of the Governor's veto after passage through both houses. Thus, unless the Governor used the powers reserved to him, the Ministers were in control of the effective policy-making body and were virtually the Government. Under the Constitution Ministers could be removed from the Executive Council only by resolution of the Council itself upon the proposal of the Governor* or by resolution of the House of Assembly supported by at least two-thirds of the members. The elected ministers were, therefore, in an impregnable position so long as party solidarity continued. [* This is the view upon which Her Majesty's Government acted and to which they adhered in the debate in the House of Commons on the 7th December, 1953, when some Members suggested that under Section 11 of the British Guiana Constitution Order in Council, 1953, the Governor could have removed a Member of the Executive Council at his discretion without the approval of the Council. In any case, even if the Governor had been able to remove a Minister, the House of Assembly acting in accordance with Section 12 of the Order in Council could at once have re-elected him.]
68. The allocation of Portfolios to the Ministers (and their withdrawal) was a matter for the Governor in his discretion, but in fact Dr. Jagan, the Leader of the House, was consulted beforehand. It follows from the previous paragraph that Ministers could secure the endorsement of the Executive Council for such policies as they proposed for the departments under their charge. Their power to secure the observance of any directions they might give to the heads of departments for the execution of their policies was circumscribed only by the provision in the Constitution which laid down that any disagreement between a Minister and a head of department should be considered in Executive Council and disposed of as the Governor might direct. No such disagreement was referred to the Executive Council.
69. It was true that a number of important departments and subjects were the responsibility of the three official members and thus not susceptible to day-to-day control by the elected Ministers. These subjects were not however "reserved" in the constitutional sense; that is to say, they were not the exclusive responsibility of the official members, or subject to special control by the Governor except that control of the Public Service was vested in the Governor, acting in his discretion. It appeared from what happened that matters affecting official members' portfolios could be raised by elected Ministers, discussed and decided as they wished. For example, although immigration and internal security were the responsibility of the Chief Secretary, the P.P.P. Ministers insisted on the removal of the ban on the entry into the Colony of certain well-known West Indian communists.
70. In the Legislature it was provided, as the Waddington Commission had recommended, that the elective chamber the House of Assembly should have the primacy. Here, as we have seen, the P.P.P. had control by virtue of its majority and the elected Ministers could rely on the passage by the House of such legislation as they might introduce in pursuance of decisions reached in Executive Council. The presence in the House of the three ex-officio members, and the appointment by the Governor in his discretion of a Speaker from outside it, were objected to by the Party but cannot properly be said to have constituted an impediment to its will.
71. It was true that the State Council could impose scheme check on measures coming forward from the lower house. This is, however, the normal and proper function of the upper house in any bi-cameral legislature and is not peculiar to colonial constitutions. The delaying powers of the State Council were in fact no greater than those usually accorded to the upper chamber of a bi-cameral legislature in a fully developed democratic community. Moreover, no money bill could be originated in the State Council, and the Council could not proceed upon any measure affecting public funds without the consent of the Governor, who in this matter was constitutionally bound to consult with the Executive Council.
72. The provision in the Constitution whereby the Governor in his discretion could summon joint sessions of both houses to consider measures of major concern which had been passed by one chamber but rejected by the other was not used. It is clear, however, that it could have imposed no check on the P.P.P., so far as votes go, since, with the assistance of its two nominees in the State Council, it would have commanded a majority in joint session. Indeed, the device would have operated to the Party's advantage since in joint session it could have insisted upon the passage of any measure which had been rejected by the State Council and thus have obviated the delay of three months or a year which might otherwise have been imposed. There can be no doubt that the P.P.P. Ministers would have pressed the Governor very strongly to summon a joint session to consider any important Government measure rejected by the State Council, and on crucial issues his refusal to do so would probably have precipitated a constitutional crisis.
73. In the above examination of the Constitution we have not thought it necessary to refer at each point to the powers reserved to the Governor, in both the executive and legislative fields, and the overriding powers of the Crown. These powers, admittedly incompatible with fully responsible self-government, are nevertheless necessary so long as that goal has still to be reached and ultimate responsibility for the welfare of a territory and its people remains with Her Majesty's Government. In point of fact in British Guiana during the period up to the suspension of the Constitution no recourse was made to the Governor's reserved powers and there can, therefore, be no suggestion that the P.P.P. was goaded by their use into extreme paths.
74. On close examination of the Constitution, therefore, we do not find its provisions, taken single or in combination, irksome or such as would in practice render them unworkable. "Checks and balances " a much over-worked phrase in British Guiana were certainly included in, it, but none of these were in themselves so severe as to prevent a party, which was prepared to work the Constitution constructively, from carrying out a programme of radical social reform.
75. The elections for the House of Assembly took place on the 27th April, 1953. As we have noted above (paragraph 57), the 24 seats were contested by 130 candidates: 22 P.P.P., 29 from other parties and 79 independents.
76. As a result of the introduction of universal adult suffrage the electorate had been greatly enlarged. The new electoral roll, prepared with considerable haste, comprised 208,939 persons, about 150,000 of whom were newly enfranchised as a result of the removal of the income, property and literacy qualifications. If the estimate of 20 per cent. for illiteracy was accurate, some 40,000 electors were illiterate and special arrangements had been made to facilitate their voting.
77. The electoral roll had been compiled - in accordance with the recommendations of the Waddington Commission - by enumerators who made house-to-house visits to obtain the names and ages of those who were entitled to be enrolled. We heard complaints that persons below the statutory age had been enrolled, and that others entitled to vote had been omitted. It was said that the enumerators sometimes did not see the householder, but accepted the statements of others about members of the household. On the whole, however, we do not think that the roll was unduly inaccurate, and we believe that in the present circumstances of British Guiana this method of compiling the electoral roll is essential. We do not think that a reasonably full roll could be compiled or maintained merely by inviting those entitled to vote to register. Before the next election it will be essential to revise the present roll, to bring it up to date and to correct previous errors; and for this purpose the method of enumeration by officials should again be employed.
78. We would here note that we were told by the officer who was in charge of the electoral arrangements in April, 1953, that even if revision of the existing roll were based on voluntary registration of those newly entitled, without a fresh house-to-house enumeration, the work involved and printing difficulties would be such that in his opinion no less than two years would have to be allowed before an election could be held. If revision were to be more thorough he thought that three years would be required.
79. As a result of the extension of the franchise and the abolition of any literacy test, it was thought essential to introduce special voting procedure to assist illiterates to exercise their right to vote. For this reason a system of symbols for party groups and independent candidates, and separate ballot boxes for each candidate, were introduced. The procedure was for the voter after confirming his registration with the presiding officer to be given a ballot ticket, torn from a book of tickets, his number on the electoral roll being noted on the stub. He then voted by leaning over a screen in a corner of the polling place. Behind this screen were placed the ballot boxes of the various candidates, marked with their names, photographs and symbols, and the elector voted by placing his ballot ticket in the box of his chosen candidate. The screen was waist high and the boxes were fairly close behind it, and close together. It was intended that the position of the boxes should be changed from time to time during the hours of voting - so that the individual voter's choice of box might not be known from his position when voting. We were told that this was not done in many polling places and that it was, therefore, possible for the officials and party agents at the back of the room to guess by the movement of the voter's arm into which box he placed his ballot paper.
80. We heard a good deal of evidence about this method of voting - and clearly there were grave doubts about the secrecy of the ballot in several districts. We had the advantage of reading the Chief Justice's judgement in the election petition filed against the return of a candidate in one of the Georgetown constituencies, and of considering the various points made therein. It seems dear that before another election is held, this method of voting will have to be reconsidered and the Registration Officer did in fact submit to us a memorandum incorporating a number of recommendations for the improvement and elaboration of the system.
81 We are of the opinion, however, that the elaborate arrangements which were made to facilitate voting by illiterates are unnecessary; certainly we see no reason why the secrecy and reliability of the entire ballot should be jeopardised on their account. In British Guiana it would be wrong to assume that illiteracy is generally associated with less than average intelligence. It does not seem to us unreasonable, therefore, to expect an illiterate voter to be able, with a little effort and perhaps coaching, to recognise the printed name of the candidate for whom he wishes to vote and to mark a cross against it. If it were thought necessary and practicable, some assistance could be given by printing symbols of party groups and candidates against names on the ballot papers. This would, of course, encourage the tendency, noticeable in the last election, for voters to pay more heed to party symbols than to the merits of the individual candidates and we would hope that the use of symbols would be discarded as people became familiar with the voting system and as the percentage of illiteracy decreased. We have therefore no hesitation in suggesting that the system used in the last election should be discarded, and that instead voting should be carried out on broadly the same lines as in the United Kingdom. That is to say, a voter, having received his ballot paper printed with the names of the candidates for the constituency, should retire to a screened booth, there mark a cross in pencil on the paper against the name of the candidate of his choice and then, in the presence of the presiding officer, deposit it in a single ballot box.
82. With regard to the method of election, it was held by many witnesses that the system whereby a party supported by 51 per cent. of those who actually voted, and by only 37 per cent. of the whole electorate, obtained 75 per cent. of the seats in the House of Assembly was far from satisfactory, and it was suggested that some form of proportional representation should be adopted in future. We would not pretend to have studied in any detail the many different electoral systems which exist elsewhere, such as the second ballot, the alternative vote and the various forms of proportional representation. The merits and demerits of these systems may be argued extensively on both theoretical and practical grounds. So far as we are aware, however, until the 1953 elections there was no substantial body of opinion in British Guiana in favour of a change in the present system - of the simple election of a single member for each constituency - on the ground that that system is unsuited to the circumstances of the country; and we ourselves would hesitate to support a proposal based on an assumption of that kind. Certainly no convincing ease for a change can be argued from the results of a single general election and if some system of proportional representation were now introduced it could hardly be represented as other than a device to mitigate the present dominance of the P.P.P. To enshrine in the constitution such a device would in our view be wrong and we, therefore, recommend no change in the present electoral system.
83. For similar reasons we reject various suggestions made to us about the number and demarcation of constituencies which appear to have as their chief purpose the prevention of any party from obtaining a clear majority. The only change which we would suggest is the separation of the Rupununi (Census District No. 27) from the Bartica and Interior constituency. This on grounds of remoteness might reasonably be made a new constituency. It would seem necessary, however, that the boundaries of all constituencies should be more clearly defined than they were at the last election.
84. We should not conclude this chapter without paying tribute to the electoral authorities who had the difficult task of organizing the first general election under universal adult suffrage. We gained the impression that in some respects procedures could be improved next time and we have indicated our views as to the voting system. Nonetheless, in view of the haste in which preparations were made and the elections hurried on, it was a noteworthy achievement to carry them out so successfully. We are satisfied that such deficiencies as there were did not materially affect the results of the elections.
85. For the future, however, we would endorse the suggestion, put to us by the Registration Officer himself, that there should be established an Electoral Commission, with an independent expert Chairman, which would g responsible to the Governor-in-Council for all arrangements for elections. The Commission should, we suggest, supervise the lengthy task of revising the electoral roll, to which we have already referred, and also undertake the demarcation of constituency boundaries and advise as necessary on such matters as the revision of legislation and regulations governing elections.
CHAPTER 4. THE SUSPENSION OF THE CONSTITUTION
I. INTRODUCTION
86. We have now to consider how in this period from late April to early October, 1953, the People's Progressive Party with a substantial majority of the seats in the House of Assembly used its wider opportunities and faced up to its newer responsibilities; to consider if the six of its leaders selected by the P.P.P. to become elected Ministers were collectively capable of performing ministerial duties; and to consider if they were willing to make an honest attempt at least to ascertain the extent to which the new Constitution, despite its (to them) objectionable features, might nevertheless prove capable in practice of working reasonably.
87. It must be remembered that the 1953 Constitution also conferred authority and responsibility upon the ex-officio Ministers and upon the Governor. They and the elected Ministers were all in the full sense of their constitutional duty bound sincerely to endeavour to work amicably with each other and to co-operate in the business of Government. We have, therefore, to consider if there was any reluctance or inability on the part of the Governor and of the official Ministers to face up to their individual and collective responsibilities under the 1953 Constitution.
88. The position of the State Council was rather different. Though the State Council could initiate measures and by the device of a joint sitting of the two legislative chambers be brought into use as a balance, its main purpose was to act, where necessary, as a check on the House of Assembly. The State Council's powers to seek a revision of legislation or to impose a period of delay before the legislation became effective did not necessarily require close co-operation between the State Council on the one hand and either the House of Assembly or the Executive Council or the Governor on the other. Nevertheless, it was to be expected that no one of these elements of government would attempt unreasonably to hamper or to provoke any other. We have, therefore, also to consider if the State Council abused its powers.
II. THE P.P.P. AND THE CONSTITUTION
Evidence to the Waddington Commission
89. All political parties in British Guiana aim at full self-government. The distinctive views of the P.P.P. on the immediate steps to be taken to this end were first set out in a written memorandum submitted by the party to Waddington Commission in February, 1951. In that memorandum the party insisted that the people of British Guiana alone were capable of determining a constitution for British Guiana and proposed that a constituent assembly elected on the basis of universal adult suffrage should be entrusted with the task of drafting an acceptable constitution. Even so, the party had views of its own as to the kind of constitution which would be acceptable to the people of British Guiana and the memorandum went on to propose a wholly elected single chamber legislature and an Executive elected by and wholly and directly responsible to that legislature with the Governor substantially "m the position of a constitutional monarch" possessing reserve powers solely "in relation to defence and external relations ".
90. Five of the leaders of the P.P.P., including its Chairman, Mr. Burnham, and its then Vice-Chairman, Dr. Jagan, appeared before the Waddington Commission to be examined orally on the views set out in the written memorandum. On the plane of generalities the witnesses maintained the view of the Party that all checks and all attempts to ensure a balance were unnecessary and offensive. Under more detailed examination the witnesses were prepared to admit the desirability of some specific provision in the Constitution (other than dependent upon a majority of a wholly elected legislative assembly) to enable or to require a Minister to have a "second thought " i.e. a second opinion. Asked about the constitutional means of providing for a "second thought" the witnesses were vague and uncertain and even ludicrous. One suggestion they made was for an "advisory" committee to be attached to each Minister; another was for a referendum on the insistence of at least one-third (or one-half) of the elected legislature supported by at least one-twentieth of the electors. Having asserted the broad principle that "sovereignty rests with the people" the witnesses then seemed quite incapable of the effort needed to reconcile with that principle any proposal seriously intended to impose some check upon an elected majority.
Attacks on the Waddington Report and Constitution
91. The inability of its witnesses before the Waddington Commission wholly to justify the complete absence of constitutional cheeks or to produce some check acceptable to the Party did not lead to any modification of the Party's attitude towards a new constitution. On the contrary the issue of the Party's official journal Thunder published shortly after the appearance of the Party's witnesses before the Commission described the Waddington Commission as a "camouflage" whose task was "merely to give a new form or appearance to the old reality" and British Governments (the British Government at that time being a. Labour Government) as "most clever in devising forms which serve to keep power in their own hands and at the same time give a semblance of democracy". During 1951 and 1952 the Party and its leaders used even stronger language to condemn the report and the recommendations of the Waddington Commission. For example:
The Chairman of the Party (Mr. Burnham) writing in the November, 1951, issue of Thunder and adapting the language of Karl Marx said that the Waddington Report succeeds "in illustrating that indeed the State is an instrument designed to maintain the dominance and power of the ruling class and that there is no advance to be gained except by relentless and determined struggle".
Of a speech by the Vice-Chairman of the Party (Dr. Jagan) in the Legislative Council in January, 1952, the February, 1952, issue of Thunder said that he had "attacked the Constitution as being merely a fake and a trap and another tactic of British imperialism to perpetuate exploitation and to maintain the old order. He urged the struggle for immediate self-government and the setting up of a People's Government". Thunder went on to say that the praise given to the Constitutional proposals by "the agents of vested interests and their stooges is a real indication of the worthlessness of the Constitution".
In a foreword to a pamphlet in which Dr. Jagan published the text of his speech in the Legislative Council, Mr. Sydney King said "the British will write any constitution for a colony except a free constitution. For a free constitution never descends from an Imperialist overlord into the arms of an exploited people but is won and written by the people themselves in the face of battle. We have seen that it is more likely for a dog to surrender a bone, more likely for a crow to relinquish carrion than for an imperialist power voluntarily