The Anguilla Case

Ever so often people ask why did Anguilla secede from St. Kitts. The reasons given are always clear. Here now is part of a research document, which should provide an even clearer picture.

1. Anguilla is 35 square miles in size and is about 70 miles from St. Kitts. Its estimated population at the present time is 6,000 persons of whom approximately half would be under the age of 18.
2. Anguilla had been included in the original Carlisle Patent which granted Barbados and much of the Lesser Antilles to the Earl of Carlisle but Anguilla does not seem to have been settled until about 1650. In 1669 it was reported to be so barren as to be “scarce worth the planting.” Sir Alan Burns in his “History of the British West Indies” says: “It is difficult to understand why people should have been prepared to go to such places as Anguilla, Tortola and Crab Island which had few natural attractions and were constantly exposed to raids by pirates and privateers…. The explanation must be that in the larger Islands the poorer whites could not make a living, and they must, moreover, have been a number of men who disliked even the limited order established in the settled Islands, and sought a freer life away from all restrictions either of law or of morality, and perhaps more important, of taxation. It was said indeed that in Anguilla the people lived ‘without government or religion having no minister, no Governor, no magistrates, no law and no property worth keeping’. It was added that ‘they live poorly and we might say miserably if they were not contented’. (Burns at page 350).
3. It would seem that for many years the Anguillan people have been ill served by their Governments. After the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, Burns points out that in the smaller Islands little progress had been made. Some of the inhabitants of Anguilla migrated to Crab Island in 1717 but within a year the Crab Island settlement had been destroyed by the Spaniards. Conditions continued to be bad and it is reported that in 1838 there was great distress in Anguilla and many of the inhabitants were to Trinidad and British Guiana
4. In 1871 against the wishes of the people of Anguilla, the Island was federated with the Leeward Islands under the Leeward Islands Act of that year. This set up the federal colony to comprise the presidencies of Antigua (with Barbuda which had been formally annexed to Antigua in 1860), Dominica, Montserrat, Nevis, St. Kitts (Anguilla), and the Virgin Islands. In 1882, St. Kitts/Nevis/Anguilla were united to form a single presidency, each presidency being administered by an Administrator or Commissioner who is responsible Governor. (Burns at page 658).
5. The arrangements referred to above were generally distasteful to the people of Anguilla as is evidenced by various petitions that were addressed to the Governor or the Colonial Office.
6. On March 10th, 1825 an address from the inhabitants of Anguilla to Governor Maxwell stated that an Act had recently been passed reducing the power of the Anguillan local Council and transferring certain governmental powers to St. Kitts. The inhabitants protested: “Can we indulge a hope that laws enacted particularly for this community, can or will be made with much regard to its interests, when they are to be passed by a body of men living in a distinct and remote Island, possessing no property of any kind here and having no connexion relation whatever?”
7. After the Federation in 1871, the inhabitants of Anguilla submitted a memorandum to the Rt. Hon., the Earl of Kimberley, Her Majesty’s Secretary of State for the Colonies in which they stated that they: “Were all persons having considerable interests at stake in the Island and that they cannot fail to observe with the greatest anxiety that this Government as at present conducted, is most detrimental to their well being,” and “we watch with the greatest apprehension what appears to be the imminent decadence of an Island which for many years past has held a prominent position among the Islands of this Government for prosperity, good order and self reliance. That the Act of Federation however good it may be in itself or in the intention of those from whom it emanated, appears to have attained no other object to the present time than that of promoting the personal interest of a few favoured individuals without regard to the benefit to be secured to the several Islands, though it was one of the chief inducements held out to us with solemn promises that a greater efficiency combined with economy would be obtained by the appointment of a superior class of Public Offices. The facts show, first the mismanagement of our affairs; secondly, increased expenditure and thirdly, that officials of the standard promised have not been appointed.”
8. They concluded: “Your Memorialists further pray Your Lordship that full enquiries be instituted into the grievances complained of and if they are found irremedeable under a Federal system of Government, we may be allowed to revert to our former system namely a Lieut. Governor (whose salary should be defrayed from Local Treasury) with an Administrative Committee a form of Government that gave satisfaction to all classes of the community and under which we enjoyed the greatest amount of prosperity.”
9. On the 23rd day of August 1873, more than 100 Anguillans petitioned the Colonial Office in favour of Crown Colony Government and against being ruled by St. Kitts. The petitioners claimed that Anguillan trade had been curtailed and their duties had become exorbitant under the St. Kitts regime. “The interests of Anguilla, its resources and capabilities of developments are not understood by the legislative body of St. Christopher, who are utter strangers to us, ignorant of our community, careless of their wants and therefore unequal to discharge…. the important duty of legislation for us. This legislative dependency of St. Kitts, can in no sense be called a legislative union as operated and continues to operate most injuriously against us and is mutually disliked.”
10. In 1938, the Anguillians reported to the Royal Commission that visited the West Indies in that year that: “Our Island is one of the poorest in the West Indies due to the fact that there is no regular industry for the population and we hope that the effect of your visit will be to bring about a change for the better to the Island generally”. And they continued: “In spite of the continuous unemployment which prevails here, whenever a chance for employment offers itself, Anguillans are not considered at all. Instead men are sent from St. Kitts to obtain whatever work there is, while men can be found here to do the work equally well if not better. This we consider very unjust to the natives who have to pay their taxes as well as Kittitians..”
11. When the West Indies Federation came into existence in 1958 without reference to the views of the people of Anguilla, Anguilla joined the Federation as an appendage of St. Kitts. After the dissolution of the West Indies Federation in 1962 Anguilla continued to be administered from St. Kitts.
12. In 1967 the Secretary of State for the Colonies was addressed by the people of Anguilla who informed him: “The majority of the inhabitants of Anguilla object strongly to be in any way connected with the future Government for St. Kitts/Nevis/Anguilla. We feel that when these Islands assume the responsibilities of an independent state, Anguilla will not derive any benefits from this but rather suffer setbacks. We will be taxed more and strangled with law which will not be suitable for our Island.”
13. “The majority of inhabitants strongly objects to the way the meeting held on 23rd December, 1966 by the Committee appointed to discuss and make recommendations for a system of local government whereby no representative of Anguilla was present to share in its discussions.”
14. “The majority of the inhabitants are of the opinion that their Island’s future is best assured by having a status such as Tortola, Montserrat and the other Islands, which have not assumed independent status, in other words, to be governed by the home government in England and having a proper local government or representative.”
15. Despite these representations, despite the submission of a programme for local government for the people of Anguilla, the Anguillans were forced, against their wishes, to join the unitary state of St.Kitts/Nevis/Anguilla. From this decision, and from this compulsion has flowed the troubles which have beset Anguilla since May 1967 and which have created the constitutional crisis in the State. Before Statehood was declared, the Government of St. Kitts neglected to set up the local Councils in Nevis and Anguilla for which provision is made in Article 109 of the Constitution.
16. Conditions in Anguilla at the time of State in 1967 were as bad as they had ever been:-
(1) There was no general electricity supply;
(2) There was no telephone service;
(3) The airstrip was in a very unsatisfactory condition;
(4) There was no telegraphic communication with the outside world;
(5) The vast majority of roads were unpaved;
(6) There was no pier or jetty and ships had to be unloaded at sea;
(7) Kittitian labour was continually being brought into Anguilla to do work which would have been done by local people;
(8) The Anguillan representative in the State Parliament was an opposition member and was not kept informed of the Government’s plans for Anguilla or of the manner in which the monies in Anguilla by taxes were being spent.The Anguillans believed that they were not receiving their proper share of grant-in-aid money provided by Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom;
(9) There was no system of local government operating in Anguilla;
(10) Insufficient scholarships for higher education were made available for Anguillans.
17. As a result of the matters set out above, Anguilla declared its secession from St. Kitts/Nevis on the 30th day of May, 1967. Whatever may be the legalistic position, the facts are that since the 30th day of May, 1967:- (a) Anguilla had been administered separate and apart from the unitary states of St. Kitts/Nevis;
(b) No Anguillan representative has sat in the Parliament in St.Kitts;
(c) No taxes have been paid by Anguillians in Anguilla to the Treasury in St. Kitts;
(d) Anguilla has issued its own stamps, collected its own taxes and administered the Island through the Anguilla council;
(e) After the British invasion of Anguilla, a resident Commissioner has represented Her Majesty’s Government in Anguilla;
(f) Grants from the British Government have been made directly to Anguilla;
(g) Anguilla has continued to issue stamps, collect taxes and prepare a Budget completely separate and apart from that of St. Kitts/Nevis;
(h) Neither the Law Courts nor the Police Force of the unitary state of St. Kitts/Nevis have functioned in Anguilla;
(i) Pensions due to Anguillans were stopped by the Government of St.Kitts/Nevis but paid by the Anguillan Council;
(j) Additional staff in the Civil service, the Police, School Teachers etc., have been employed by the Anguillan Council;
(k) For two years a lay Magistrate administered Justice;
(l) Certificates have been issued by the Commission for sale of land to aliens.
18. It is submitted that as a result of these facts the British Government has given de facto recognition to the secession of Anguilla from the unitary State of St. Kitts/Nevis.
19. The Actions of the Government of St. Kitts/Nevis during 19967 and 1968 strengthened the determination of the Anguilla people not to be associated in any way whatsoever with that Government.
20. The Government of St. Kitts/Nevis acted in the most arbitrary and highhanded manner. It imprisoned its political opponents on spurious charges. It flouted the Rule of Law and gained for itself the condemnation of the Chief Justice of the State, the Bar Associations of the Commonwealth Caribbean and the International Commission of Jurists.
A copy of a report in the March 199968 issue of the Bulletin of the International Commission of Jurists is attached hereto as Appendix A.
The statement by the Chief Justice of the Associated States is attached hereto as Appendix
21. It deported, with questionable legality, Commonwealth citizens who had long resided in the islands of St. Kitts and Nevis. The persons so deported were persons of good character against whom no charges were preferred and who were in most cases given short notice to quit the State.
22 Of such a Government Dictatorial in St. Kitts and Nevis, neglectful and incompetent in Anguilla, the people of Anguilla want no part, in any shape or fashion whatsoever.

The late Lt. Colonel Robert Bradshaw of St. Kiitts