§ MR. W. JOHNSTONasked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, Whether it is true, as stated in a Petition of five elected members of the Legislative Assembly of the island of Nevis, dated 24th April 1871, that the inhabitants of Nevis are opposed to the confederation of the island with others; whether the Memorial forwarded to Her Majesty through the Secretary of State for the Colonies has been acknowledged; 1252 whether, on the occasion which brought forth the Memorial, the Governor in Chief, Sir B. C. Pine, took his seat in the Assembly, and, without the presence of a single elected member, passed a Confederation Bill; whether a party of Marines, with fixed bayonets, was stationed on this occasion in the Court Hall; and, whether it is intended to deprive the people of Nevis of their constitutional rights and liberties by giving Imperial sanction to such Bill?
§ MR. KNATCHBULL-HUGESSENSir, full information upon the subject of this Question will be found in the Papers respecting the proposed federation of the Leeward Islands which I presented during the present month. I will state, however, the following facts:—Nevis is one of six islands proposed to be federated. Its population by the last Census was less than 10,000, the population of the whole six islands being 112,000. No doubt there was and is a party in Nevis opposed to confederation, but the owners of the largest portion of the island are favourable to it. The memorial has been acknowledged. The elected members, five in number, voluntarily absented themselves from the meeting of the Assembly, at which, after waiting for them for half-an-hour, the confederation resolutions were passed by a quorum of official and nominated members, and the minutes were afterwards confirmed at a meeting at which the elected members were present. By gross misrepresentations a feeling hostile to the measure had been excited in the island and violence was threatened. At the request of some of the peaceable inhabitants, 17 Marines and one officer were landed as a guard of honour to the Governor, and they were drawn up outside the Court House. It is certainly intended to proceed with the Bill, founded upon resolutions adopted by the Legislatures of all six of the islands concerned, and which Her Majesty's Government are convinced will prove as beneficial to Nevis as the rest.