GOVERNOR OF LEEWARDS

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25735, 22 February 1949, Page 5

GOVERNOR OF LEEWARDS

WHITES OBJECT TO EARL BALDWIN REACTION BY NATIVES EXPECTED (Rec. 7.30 p.m.) LONDON, Feb. 21. "If Earl Baldwin does not return as Governor of the Leeward Islands demonstrations and a general sit-down strike by coloured sugar-cane workers are expected,’’ says the Antigua correspondent of the “Daily Mail.” “If he returns he will in effect be sent to Coventry by many of the white colony.

"Earl Baldwin generally has gone out of his way to appeal to the coloured population as a popular democratic Governor, promising muchneeded social improvements, so far without results. However, to most of the whites and to the more intelligent coloured sections, Earl Baldwin is a Governor who refused to swear the oath of allegiance at his inauguration and who, they allege, failed to stand to attention or salute during Remembrance Day ceremonies,” says the correspondent. "They accuse him of too much fraternisation with the native population. “Yet to many of the natives, who make up 90 per cent, of the island’s population, he is ‘Governor Curly Baldwin—a real, sympathetic man who likes to get around and meet ordinary people and see their troubles close up.’ ”