Supplement to the Leeward Islands Gazeite
Of Thursday, the 2nd of February, 1956.

 

 

 

ADDRESS by His Excéllency the Governor to the General Legislative
Council—28th January, 1956.

Honourable Members of the General Legislative Council,

T should first like to welcome to this Council
those Honourable Members who have recently
been entrusted with Ministerial portfolios in
Antigua and in St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla. On
behalf of the other members of this Council I
should like to extend to them our warm congratu-
lations on their appointments and our sincere good
wishes for a successful term of office.

The presence of Ministers from Antigua and *

St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla at our meeting to-day
makes this a doubly historic occasion. It is an
historic occasion because we have sitting with us
to-day representative members who can speak
with full authority for their governments. And
it isan historic occasion because this is probabl
the last meeting of this old-established and
Honourable Conncil.

As Honourable Members are aware, complete
plans have been made for the de-federation of the
Colony of the Leeward Islands on the Ist
July. I had hoped that de-federation could have
taken place at the beginning of this year. But
it is still necessary for three steps to be taken in
order to bring this major change to fruition. The
United Kingdom Parliament has to pass the
legislation required to amend the Leeward Islands
Act of 1871; Her Majesty in Council has to
approve the amendment of the constitutional instru-
ments; and comprehensive Regulations have to be
made which will apply, with appropriate modifi-
cations where necessary, the existing Leeward
Islands’ Acts to the four new Colonies of Antigua,
Montserrat, St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, and the
British Virgin Islands. All the preliminary action
hus been taken. The Leeward Islands Act is in
the Committee stage in the House of Commons;
having passed the House of Lords; the first draft
of the new constitutional instruments is in London;
and the draft Adaptation of Laws Regulations
have been circulated to Presidential Governments
for their consideration. So there is every reason
to suppose that our new target date will be
fulfilled.

This is not of course the first time that the
Leeward Islands has de-federated. As long ago as
1674 one of my distinguished predecessors—Sir
William Stapleton—formed a General Assembly
for the Leeward Islands. It was not a popular
move. Nine years later the Council and Assembly
of St. Kitts asked that their island should “be
excused from the General Assembly, and for
St. Christophers to be governed by her own laws”.
They were evidently supported by the other
islands, because in October, 1683, it was reported
that the General Assembly rejected practically
every proposal made by the Governor; while to

the proposal that all the laws should be alike in-
the different islands, the General Assembly
replied—“‘ We do not think that it will be
advantageous, and beg that the individual Acts of
each island may be confirmed”. That first
General Assembly did not then meet for seventy-
five years, but it was not until 1798 that it was

finally abolished.

And so we come to the present General
Legislative Council. As Honourable Members are
aware, it was established by a United Kingdom
Act of Parliament in 1871. And it is interesting
to note that the reason for its establishment was
the same as that which actuated Sir William
Stapleton two hundred years earlier. According
to the old records of the Colony, the Council was
established “with the view to assimilating, as far
as local circumstances would permit, the laws of the
different Presidencies situated close to each other
geographically but widely apart in respect of
laws”.

1 think that it can fairly be said that the
Council of 1871 has been no more popular than the
General Assembly of two hundred years earlier.
For many yeurs it appears to have been a source of
irritation—irritation caused in part by the ever-
increasing cost of the Federal Government, which
reached an all-time “high”? in 1950; in part by
doubts as to whether the cost of the Federal
Government was being equitably shared by the
four Presidencies; and in part by the feeling that
Antigua, as the headquarters of the Federal
Government, was receiving more than its fair share
of attention and was able to exercise undue
influence on policy.

In recent years we have seen resolutions calling
for the abolition of the Federation of the Leeward
Islands coming from the Legislatures of Montserrat
and of St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, and from this
Honourable Council itself. I greatly regret that it
has taken so long to give effect to the resolution of
this Council which was dated the 13th December,
1950; but I take comfort from the fact that we
have been acting in accordance with the spirit of
de-federation throughout the past five years.
Those Honourable Members who were serving on
this Council five years ago will perhaps recall the
clean sweep which has been made of Federal posts
in the technical field; they will be aware that the
cost of the Federal Government has been substan-
tially reduced; and they will know that legislation
in recent years has, whenever possible, been
introduced in Presidential legislatures rather than
in this Council.