A BAD BARGAIN

Hokitika Guardian, 4 May 1931, Page 8

A BAD BARGAIN

It is related of a certain British Cabinet Minister that lie was unable to state where the Virgin Islands were situated. Many people are equally ignorant as to their whereabouts; one New Zealand newspaper has referred to Itlnem as the Virginian Islands. Stamp collectors know them well, for the early issues of the group, denoting St. Ursula (the heroine of the 11,000 virgins), are much prized. Like the Samoan group (to which they bear a remarkable resemblance), the Virgin Islands are partly under Brdi-.h •nd partly under American rule. Like Samoa also, the American portion was placed under the control of the Navy Department replaced by mvil mile about two months ago. Preside 1 t Hoover now regrets that AtvcHon. ■>ver bought the islands. BO per cent, of the population (presumably he refers to the negroe*) being paupers. But the Samoans also are “Nature’s gentlemen”—they decline to work for the white man, and a kind Providence supplies all their wards free. This is n, comedown for islands which once enjoyed great prosperin', but is tvpieji 1 of the We«t Indio* in general. During the Napoleonic Wars the West Indies were the richest and most prosperous of the British colon ms; now they are among the poorest. Not many decades ago St. Thomas, the present capital of the American Yu - gin Islands, was a great commercial centre; that was in the old days of sailing ships. The island is'the keystone of the arch formed bv the islands, and possessed a magnificent natural harbour.

Owing to its favourable position, (t became the distributing point for : ’’- most the whole Caribbean. Merchants from Colombia, Venezuela and Panama travelled to St. Thomas to place their orders. Many of the local importers could sell £IO,OOO worth ef goods and never mi*s them—in fact, such an order was looke,] on as a very ordinary one. The capacious harbour was often filled with vessels waiting t 0 he chartered for the sugar crop. Butt with the gradual spread of steam and' telegraphic communication, the various islands began to import direct from Europe, and fit. Thomn* lost its importance as a central entrepot. It was hoped that tinopening of the Panama Canal would bring renewed prosperity, tor the island lies, directly in the route of steamers bound from Europe to Panama. but the hope w«s not justified. Like Samoa, the islands arc subiect to cyclones and earthquakes. In 18G7 the group was visited bv a destructive cyclone, an equally calamaitous earthquake, and an attack of cholera. It was just then that the United States nvide the first attempt to buy the islands from Denmark, to whom they then belonged, but the triple visitation seems to have fri ,r hton n 4 them, and the negotiations fell through. Jn 1901 negotiations were again opened, and almost successful, hut the treaty was lost by a single vote in the Danish Parliament. A third attempt in 1917 -••-is successful, and the United States flag was hoisted over the old fort at St. Thomas ju s t about the time that America entered the war. Tf the American Virgin Islands are poor, the British portion of the group is no richer; it consists of a few small islands without any settlement tnn.t could be called a town, and is inhabited almost entirely by negroes. Yet this insignificant colony gave to the United States two of her foremost statesmen. One of these was Alexander Hamilton, one of the founders of the American nation and perhaps the principal framer of its Constitution; he has, indeed, been celled “the greatest American.” The other was J. P. Benjamin, who, during the Civil War, wa s the ablest member of Jefferson Davis’ Cabinet; his remarkable energy and efficiency caused him to ho known as “tbo brains of the Confederacy.” On the collapse of the Confederate G-ovei nment, lie fled to England, and became a, prominent Queen’s Counsellor, earning a. professional incomo variouslv estimated at £15,000 to £4O 000 a, year. It is curious to note that V>+r, of these great “Americans” were British subjects.—T. D. ,Leckie.