BAHAMAS STRIKE

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28490, 21 January 1958, Page 11

BAHAMAS STRIKE

British Frigate

Arrives

NASSAU (Bahamas), Jan. *l9.

The British frigate Ulster anchored discreetly off an isolated bay in New Providence Island in the Bahamas last night and landed technicians to man the power stations of the strike-bound Caribbean resort.

To avoid inflaming public feeling, news of the frigate’s arrival was kept secret. When her presence became known, officials insisted that she had not been ordered to Nassau from Bermuda for security reasons. The Government Press Office said: “The frigate is not here for security reasons. She is in a position to supply technicians if necessary for the maintenance of essential services.”

It said that since the general strike began last Sunday the essential services on the island had been kept going by a handful of “executive engineers” who were beginning to feel the strain of long hours on duty. This morning the Ulster stood off South-west Bay, a lonely spot about 15 miles from Nassau, out of sight of other shipping berthed at the main docks. In London to-night an Admiralty spokesman said that the 2200-ton frigate had been sent to Nassau because the Governor believed she might provide a steadying influence there. The Ulster had no marines on board, the spokesman said. Hopes of an early end to the general strike which has paralysed the Bahamas in the last week were dashed overnight when a spokesman of a private transport company said he would reject a proposal that a non-Bahamian be appointed chairman of an arbitration tribunal. Observers in Nassau are worried that threats of violence might increase as the strikers’ money dwindles and hunger hits them. It is estimated that the strike is costing Nassau about 120,000 dollars a day. The leading hotels are closed and the famous Nassau beaches are practically deserted. One hotel proprietor said today he thought it would be about three years before the city’s wrecked economy recovered.