A PRO-CONSUL’S STORIES

Greymouth Evening Star, 7 May 1936, Page 12

A PRO-CONSUL’S STORIES

LIFE OF INFINITE VARIETY. “From a Colonial Governor’s Notebook,” Sir Reginald St.-Johnston, KC.MG., is reviewed by J. M. .Bulloch, in the London “Sunday Times” as follows:— , . “It is remarkable how little has been written about everyday life in the Crown colonies; India, the Dominions, and foreign countries* are much more in the public eye. The gap is filled by Sir Reginald St.Johnston in his latest book, in which, with entertaining vivacity and humour, he gives us an immense amount of unusual information, more especially as concerns the West Indies, where he spent the last sixteen years of his administrative life. The man in the street, as . Sir Reginald says, hardly realises, “what a Herculean task the administration of an important part of the Empire has become in recent times.” In the early days of colonisation the Governor s lot was halcyon,-not Herculean. Thus, though the Governors in the West Indies never knew when their islands might be taken by the French, they had the chance of capturing French islands and of making a fortune for themselves at one stroke: — In times of peace their perquisites and fees and other “invisible revenues” made them independent for life after a year or two of office; and, though Yellow Jack and too much Madeira made their lives precarious, they had the compensation of not having all sorts of instructions at all hours of the day raining on to their devoted heads from the ether —and the Colonial Office! .. . The old, careless,- happy-go-lucky methods would nowadays /mean bankruptcy, not only for individuals, but for nations—and for colonies.

As Sir Reginald joined the ranks of pro-consulship in 1907, three-and-twenty years before the official name of “Colonial Service” was adopted, he has seen two phases of the evergrowing difficulties of administrators. He began with 10 years in various judicial, medical, and administrative appointments in Fiji, and, having been Acting-Governoi- of the Falklands for seven months, he went to the Leeward Islands in 1919, ending as Governor in 1935.

SEVEN STAGES FOR GOVERNOR.

As man has seven- stages in his life, Sir Reginald suggests seven stages in the making of a Governor.

Beginning between the ages of 18 gnd' 22 with a course of ethnology at a University,, and with being 'Called to the Bar, the prospective Governor ought to be in t.urn a Private Secretary, a Cadet, a District Commissioner, an Assistant Colonial Secretary, and • a Colonial Secretary, and then, between the age of 45 and 50, he would blossom into a full-blown Governor. Before’ becpinihg a District Commissioner Sir- Reginald says he had rib no of the other experiences except that his etfinology and Bar work had been "self ■tajight.” tie might Jiave added- that his medi-

cine-r-he is a doctor and a doctor’s sen—has been of immense advantage, giving him the power of the diagnostician to examine all the... symptoms df life under his charge, ah equipment illustrated by the fact that he inventories nearly. <3OO differeht Things in hip subject index alone A-ranging from afforestation and 1 ants to xVineless and Yellow Jack. ' ” ■ ' This variety of subject, mirrors the multifariousness of our - methods of colonial governance, which is a standing puzzle to all the logically minded peoples of the continent. if-’is based upon the parish pump and paddle your own canoe idea,yVlirch plays such a large part in our administration at home. ’Some’ folk may wonder

why the West Indies—-to take one set of our colonies—are not a.u’ffit instead of being divided into six, main, groups. What such people, nearly always nontrdyellers, forget, is that West Indies are not contiguous,- that they have different resources aind-different origins, arid ifiiist be ruled fin terms of these differences.. . . j r „ Thus, in Dominica, the early French settlers have left French ideas and a mixed population. A French patois is still used. Indeed, when Sir Reginald went into the mountain villages, he, was often < greeted with a “Bonjour Monsieur le General,” recalling the* fact that 150 years ago the island governor was always a 'military general. The people are . all. Roman ! Catholics, and the women still retain 1 the. distinctive dress of a : Style said ' to be a direct descendant of the cos-

tumes In the days of French occunation. NEVIS AND ST. KITTS. Again, there are strong elements of individual pride in the different islands. For example, Nevis (50 square miles), where Nelson found his wife, which was joined to St. Kitts (60 square miles) in ISS2, can never quite forget that it was once an independent island, and that it was the ’earliest of the West Indian islands to be discovered by us. St. Kitts, on the other hand, does not forget, though the facts are not easy to establish, that hard-up Nevis is said not to be contributing its due share towards the combined cost of administration, and thus the partnership is apt. to rankle* a little on both sides.

In addition to the difference between our own islands, there is the fact that other nations have islands there. For example, in sailing from Anguilla to St. Kitts, Sir Reginald once stepped ashore on St. Martin’s Island, half of which is Dutch and' half French, with solemn sentries at the “frontiers.” The Dutch, however, have been so long settled there that their customary language is now English. In fact, specially imported officials from Holland are the only ones who can speak at all fluently in Dutch.

Again, the Dutch Government at Saba Island pays a subsidy to one of the Bishop of Antigua’s English clergymen to go and reside there. All the black people in the Dutch islands speak English, though they proudly point to the Butch flag as theirs. Although Sir Reginald is fascinated by history—as may be seen by his book on "The Leeward Islands During the French Wars”—he has been interested in everything he has encountered, not least in the little-noticed things of life: Thus, he tells us he has eaterf oysters found growing on mangrove trees in the ?*dklands, and has heard butchers in Antigua, ’(pronounced “Anteega”) shouting turtle at eightpence a pound: some turtles are converted into a superfine shaving soap. When the natives in Antigua first saw a seaplane, fell flat on their laces, crying “De Lard am come!”

Sir Reginald, indeed, can always see the humour of things. For' example, he quotes a letter he once got from a man in Antigua:-— I am band master. I can assure you in my hand. I has one of the most brilliant pianoist of the United States, and the most brilliant trumpeter of the day. My saxaphonest is of the most confidential nature, while the others are most perfect in their parts. Please, Sir, things are slow and I’v got a large family, could' you have my band at your next Social? Sir Reginald is not in love with the complicated life of to-day, which causes “the creation of a huge system of meticulous bookkeeping, of redtape bureaucracy, of irritating tariffs, and of intricate legislation.’’