PEOPLE OF ST. HELENA

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28766, 11 December 1958, Page 25

PEOPLE OF ST. HELENA

“Callous Neglect” Alleged <A'.Z. Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, December 9. The population of the lonely British island of St. Helena, in the South Atlantic, was suffering extreme privation and had been “callously neglected,” according to a Labour member of Parliament, Mr Cledwyn Hughes. About 95 per cent of the people there did not know what it was to eat meat, butter, eggs, and cheese, or to drink milk, he told the House of Commons yesterday. None of the basic needs of life were available to them, and some old persons were existing on Ss a week. These people (the population was 1568 in 1956) were going through a “critical time of privation and hardship," Mr -Hughes said. The Colonial Under-Secretary (Mr Julian Amery) said the Government was considering subsidising the island’s depressed flax industry. He also spoke of plans for increased food production and better fishing. The Government was also considering whether it would be practicable to subsidise certain meats and cheese as a temporary measure.