The Secretary of State for the Colonies agreed with the English
minority report rather than with the West Indian majority report. The
only concession he made was to appoint the unofficial members for a
limited period and to accept a proposal that the municipal councils
should each recommend three names frcm which he would select one
for their respective districts. He justified this on the following ground :

 "It is not possible to feel equally confident that after the
 introduction of the elective principle into the Constitution the
 quiet and efficient working of the legislative machine could be
 maintained. It might be difficult to resist demands fostered by
 unscrupulous politicians for the extension of the limited franchise
 which would be established in the first instance; and it is un-
 questionable that the uneducated condition of the bulk of the
 people and their ignorance of public affairs, would render it
 dangerous to place the franchise in their hands."

 I am sure, Ladies and Gentlemen, that you fully appreciate the
significance of the Secretary of State's description of Sir Henry Alcazar,
the Langes, the Rostants, the Stollmeyers, the Rapseys, the Guppys,
the Whartons and the Lazares as unscrupulous politicians.

 Is Mr. Broome still here? Or has he already left? Does he still
blame me for setting, as he says, the Negro against the Englishman?
Would Mr. Broome still say that only the Englishman can help the
Negro ? Mr. Rapsey did, all honour to him. I would take that help.
But the imperialism of the Attorney General and the Secretary of State
for the Colonies I reject and will continue to oppose as I have opposed
it in the past. If, as I think we can, we take Mr. Broome as the symbol
of that help in the past, then we don't have too far to look for the cause
of many of our present difficulties in Trinidad. Possibly, however,
Mr. Broome is just another West Indian looking for nomination-a
broom looking for a broomstick. If I may give him some friendly advice,
it is that there is more than one use for a broomstick.

 So there Trinidad and Tobago remained at the dawn of the twentieth
century-a community in which the only form of election was election
to the San Fernando Borough Council, for the Municipality of Port-
of-Spain had by then been taken away and Port-of-Spain's affairs were
being managed by a Town Board nominated by the Governor. The
Governor was everything in one-the Sovereign's representative, the
head of the administration, the speaker of the Legislative Council. The
Legislative Council comprised all principal officials ex officio-the
Colonial Secretary, the Attorney General, the Auditor General, the
Inspector General of Constabulary, the Director of Public Works, the
Solicitor General, the Surgeon General, the Protector of Immigrants,
the Receiver General and the Collector of Customs. What special com-
petence a policeman or.a customs officer had for the task of legislation
is beyond me. In addition the Council comprised unofficial members ;
some represented the principal economic activities, sugar, cocoa, com-
merce; others were outstanding public men, such as Sir Henry Alcazar,
Mr. J. D. Hobson, Mr. Prudhomme David, Dr. S. M. Lawrence, Dr.