SECRET BALLOT

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 125, 23 November 1944, Page 8

SECRET BALLOT

ISSUE IN THE BAHAMAS

NEW YORK, November 21.

The Duke of Windsor, as Governor, prorogued till December 4 the 215----year-old Bahamas Legislature after, the House Assembly rejected the Ballot Bill, says the Nassau correspondent of the -'New York Times."

Since the 1940 riot the people of Nassau have clamoured for the introduction of the secret ballot at elections. The Bahamas is the only place in the democratic world where the open ballot is still used. A commission appointed after the riot recommended the introduction of the secret ballot.

The Duke of Windsor said he doubted whether the House had fully considered its decision, which must have repercussions throughout the colony and also outside it. "Under thess circumstances," he added, "I feel the House would like the opportunity of reconsidering its decision."

He was disappointed, he said, " that the House also did not pass amendments to the Trades Union and Workers' Compensation Acts. The Bahamas labour legislation was so illiberal that the colony was unable to participate in the benefits of the Colonial Development and Welfare Fund, under which the British Government is undertaking large-scale colonial develonments.

The Duke of Windsor predicted that the colony's yearly revenue will reach £660,000 sterling. The correspondent of the "New York Times" says this is the highest since the hey-day of bootlegging to America during prohibition.

The Representative Assembly of the Bahamas consists of 29 members elected" by voters possessing a small property qualification.