TOUR OF WEST INDIES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 23 October 1941, Page 5

TOUR OF WEST INDIES

COLONIAL UNDER SECRETARY RETURNS Rugby, Oct. 21. “I have just got back from a tour |of some of the West Indian colonies. There was one question they all put to me: ‘What more can we do to help you defeat Hitler?’ ’’ These words were used by (he Parliamentary Undersecretary for the Colonies, Mr Hall. Many of the islands, he said, had contributed large sums for the purchase of aircraft. Outstanding among them was Jamaica, which pioneered the setting up of Spitfire funds. Both Jamaica and Trinidad had given their names to squadrons of the R.A.F.. and in many blitzed towns in Britain were now to be seen mobile canteens bearing the names of West Indian colonies. But the West Indies had done even more—many of their best men had left their homes in the Caribbean to go to help win the war. All were engaged on work of great importance, but none could be prouder than the men who had become members of the finest force in the world—the R.A.F During his visit to the Caribbean, Mr Hall said he saw something of the contribution which the West Indies were making in production and the treatment of essential raw materials for the manufacture of munitions and it was a valuable contribution. He saw also the progress which had been made i in the establishment of American bases in the islands. Happy and friendly relationship already existed between the West Indies and the Americans. These bases, he declared, would not only make for the strengthening of the bond between the two great people, but would also contribute largely to the ultimate defeat of the tyrant menacing the whole world.—B.O.W.