The Wanganui Chronicle THURSDAY, JANUARY 5, 1939. THE WEST INDIES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 3, 5 January 1939, Page 6

The Wanganui Chronicle THURSDAY, JANUARY 5, 1939. THE WEST INDIES

CCONO.MICS play an important part in the affairs of men and even in climes considered Io be favourable to a life of ease the problems of food, clothing and housing still remain the chief concerns of mankind. The West Indies, Britain’s oldest colonies, are no exception to this rule, and because of the overproduction of cocoa and sugar the plantations are finding it difficult, to keep going. T.ow wages are the order of the day because the industries are unable to pay more and to continue in operation. Cocoa, worth 112 s a cwt. in Trinidad in 1919, sells at only 40s to-day. Raw sugar, which sold for 33s 3d a cwt. in 1923, declined steadily until 1935. when it stood at 5s 3d. It has improved very little since. It has been suggested from an American source that the Royal Commission now studying conditions in the West Indies will recommend that all of the colonies shall be brought together in one political group and given Dominion status, but it is by’ no means clear that such action would provide a solution for the economic difficulties which confront the West Indies and from which there appears to be no prospect of escape. A Dominion of the West Indies would be able to face its problems collectively, which might be helpful if the now separate entities were not all in the same sinking ship together. There would certainly be a diminution of administrative costs through the absence of need to refer, as now, so much of the business of the various colonies to the Colonial Office in London, and that would be a helpful gain because small colonies are unable to support the heavy costs of an extensive secretariat, but the costs of a legislature would have to be set-off against such saving, and ultimately legislative costs may be more than the saving effected on the secretariat. The colonics of the West Indies offer an ideal field for people who believe that a country’s prosperity can in some mysterious way be separated from and made independent of the value of the products which it exports. Mr. Savage is always willing to ask the question: “Why should New Zealand’s prosperity depend upon the prices paid in Coleman Street for wool, in Spitalfields for meat, and Tooley Street for butter?” The answer is simple enough, and it is that our prosperity' docs so, and that is all there is to be said on the matter. Insulation, which to-day does not look as attractive as it did a few months ago, would be a splendid doctrine to advance in the West Indies, because there the conditions are so favourable for putting such a doctrine into operation. The rest of the world is helping the West Indies to a condition of isolation by refusing to pay remunerative prices for exports, thereby' relieving the West Indians of the obligation to pay for imports. Strange ot say, it is this enforced insulation which is the cause of the labour troubles in the West Indies. The problem of raising the standard of living in the West Indies will depend on the ability of the businessmen to increase efficiency in plantation management and to increase the range of products. Much has already been done in respect to the former, and some effort is being made to establish a banana export trade. The basic problem, however, may have to be attacked from another angle. The people will have to accept a much slower method of improving their lot than by engaging in export trading: they may be required to revert to a more primitive nay of life, producing as much as possible and living on the products of their own soil. A peasant economy must necessarily be a simple economy, it entails long hours of labour, little money in circulation, much trading by barter process, and few of the luxuries which are made possible by modern industrialism. Such a prospect is not inviting even to the low-paid workers of the Barbadoes, so it can be realised how much less enticing it would be to the workers of New Zealand, with their high standards of living. In the absence of more favourable developments in the export markets, however, the West Indians would have no alternative but a peasant economy. The same is equally true of New Zealand, of course, hence the present plight of the West Indies should provide New Zealand with an example of what to avoid.