smallpox, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus and poliomyelitis is given at these clinics, and is a requrement for primary school entry. The public health department also has health inspectors to advise on hygiene and sanitation. Curative needs are met by Princess Margaret Hospital on New Providence Island which has 457 beds, full supporting services and full-time consultant specialists in medicine, surgery, anaesthesia, paediatrics, chest diseases, pathology, radiology, obstetrics, gynaecology and ophthalmology. Serious cases from the Out- Islands are brought into this hospital by air. A mental hospital and rehabilitation unit of 230 beds, and a geriatric hospital of 140 beds are also situated on New Providence. Altogether there are 8 medical officers on the Out-Islands and 49 clinics where there is not a resident doctor; doctors from New Providence visit the clinics regularly on a Flying Doctor Service. On five Out-Islands there are government run cottage hospitals, and on Grand Bahama there is a privately run hospital.

Under the Bahamas Education Act of 1968, education is compulsory and free between the ages of 5 and 14. There are 141 secondary schools or secondary sections of all-age rural schools, a teacher-training college and technical school. There is a Department of Extra-mural Studies of the University of the West Indies in Nassau. A substantial number of Government scholarships for higher education overseas is awarded annually. There is one reformatory school for boys under the Industrial School Act and one for girls. Literacy is estimated to be 90 per cent. There are 5 public libraries in Nassau and 34 village libraries on the Out-Islands.

The main seaports are Freeport (Grand Bahama Island), Matthew Town (Inagua Island) and Nassau (New Providence Island); the net tonnage figure for ships entering the Bahamas in 1967 was 6,800,549 and 1968 6,229,171; the tonnage of vessels cleared was, 1967 6,383,338 and 1968 6,260,813. The country is served by Saguenay Shipping Ltd, the Royal Mail Line, the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, the Royal Netherlands Line and the United Fruit Steamship Company.

The principal airports in the Bahamas are situated at Nassau, 12 miles from the town (runway 11,000 feet) from which international air services are operated; Freeport, Grand Bahama (runway 8,300 feet); and at West End, Grand Bahama (runway 8,000 feet). There are 52 smaller airports and landing strips designed to facilitate services between the Out-Islands. This service is operated by Bahamas Airways Ltd. and Out-Island Airways. There are 204 miles of roads on New Providence maintained by the Ministry of Works, 120 miles of asphalt roads on Eleuthera, and 102 on Grand Bahama. Roads are under construction on Andros Island and on most of the smaller islands where previously only rough tracks existed. At present there is a total of 534 miles of paved roads in other Out-Islands. There is a considerable mileage of privately owned and maintained roads, mainly on New Providence. There are no railways in the territory.

The Government-owned broadcasting station, operated by the Bahamas Broadcasting and Television Commission, is located in Nassau. The power of its transmitter is 10 kW, frequency 1,540 kc/s and call sign ZNS. Commercial operation began in 1950, although a broadcasting station has existed since 1936. The Commission took over in January 1957. In August 1962 a second channel opened transmission on a frequency of 1,240 kc/s with a power of 1,000 watts, serving the island of New Providence only. However, it can be heard in some of the nearer Out-Islands. There is no direct television in the Bahamas but a re-diffusion

service from Florida is operated by Greater Freeport Services Ltd on Grand Bahama. New Providence viewers are able to receive television direct from Florida. The principal crops of the Bahamas include fresh vegetables, tomatoes, pineapples, bananas, citrus fruits, avocados, mangos, egg-plant, squash and sisal. The quality of local stocks of pigs and sheep is being improved by the importation of pure-bred animals, and the Government is encouraging the establishment of beef and dairy herds. The estimated livestock population in 1966 was: sheep 22,900; goats 14,100; pigs 10,700; cattle 3,400; horses 3,600; poultry 650,000. Crawfish, turtle and edible conch are exported, mainly to the United States, while other marine products include sponges, turtle shell, beach shells and marine curios. Sponge to the value of B$32,414 was exported in 1968. Salt is extracted by solar radiation on Inagua and Long Island, and substantial quantities are exported. Cement is a principal manufacture and B$7,719,107 worth was exported in 1968. Other exports in 1968 included crawfish to the value of B$703,369. Salt to the value of B$2,647,582; pulpwood valued at B$3,629,076 and rum valued at B$4,644,530, were exported in 1968. There are four canning plants in the Bahamas, mainly engaged in canning tomatoes and pineapple. Most of the output is consumed locally. The exploitation of forest products is confined to the yellow pine* forests on Andros and Abaco. Straw products are manufactured as cottage industries and the raw material for this work is chiefly obtained from palm fronds and sisal fibre.

Electricity production in recent years was (million kWh): 1963, 113; 1964, 123; 1965, 137; 1966, 155; 1967, 175; 1968, 215.

Nearly all the territory's requirements are imported and include provisions, hardware, fresh beef, furniture, lumber, clothing, motor vehicles and fuel oil. The c.i.f. value of imports in 1968 was B$179,987,851. Sterling figures for previous years were: 1962, £24-4m.; 1963, £28.3m.; 1964, £35.9m.; 1965, £38m. Apart from a tax on real property of 12·5 per cent of assessed rental value, there is no direct taxation in the Bahamas. Government revenue is derived chiefly from import duties and other fees. In 1968 Government revenue was B$65,000,000 and expenditure was estimated at B$64,000,000.

Tourism continues to be the main industry of the Bahamas and has expanded greatly in recent years, as the following figures show:

Nassau Harbour Development Scheme is an important project for deepening the harbour's main channel and turning basin, the construction of an artificial island linked to New Providence, and the construction of two breakwaters, a new pier and a terminal building. The cost of the scheme has been estimated at pinus caribaea.

U.S. $20 million. A further scheme to develop the Island's telecommunication system over the next six years, also costing U.S. $20 million, is under way.

There are Tomato Growers' Associations on Eleuthera and Cat Islands and active Farmers' Associations are situated throughout the Bahamas; these are assisted by the Ministry of Agriculture, which advances seed and fertilizer for the crops and after marketing them deducts advances from the proceeds of each consignor. The Bahamas Produce Exchange in Nassau assists the farmers in the disposal of their produce in order to avoid glutting the market and depressing prices unnecessarily.

HISTORY

San Salvador, so called by Columbus, or Watling's Island, the Amerindian name being Guanahani, one of the islands composing the Bahama chain, was the first land discovered by him on his voyage in 1492. A few years later all the Carib inhabitants were transported to work in the Cuba mines. It does not appear that the Spaniards had any settlements on any of the islands of this group at any time. Early in the 17th century the islands were well known to the settlers of Bermuda and the Carolinas. They were included in the Royal Grant of Sir Robert Heath, the Attorney-General of England, of the 30th of October 1629. By 1640 the islands had become a well-known place of resort by the inhabitants of Bermuda, and on the 9th July 1647 the Company of Eleutherian Adventurers was formed in London for the purpose of making an organised attempt at a systematic colonisation and development of the islands. William Sayle, a former Governor of Bermuda, was the moving spirit of this venture, and associated with him were a number of influential city merchants and Members of Parliament. On the 31st August 1649, on the petition of Sayle and others, Parliament passed 'An Act for the Adventurers for the Eleutherian Islands' which constituted Sayle and his associates the 'Proprietors of the Islands'. Notwithstanding the Royal Grant to Heath in 1629 and the Cromwellian Act of 1649, Charles II, on 1st November 1670, granted the islands to six of the Lords Proprietors of Carolina, namely, the Duke of Albermarle, the Earl of Craven, Lord Berkley, Lord Ashley, Sir George Carteret and Sir Peter Colleton. Before the Royal Grant of 1670 the inhabitants of the islands had organised the settlement, instituted a form of government which included an elective House of Assembly, and chosen Captain John Wentworth as their Governor. Wentworth applied to and received commissions from the Governors of Jamaica. The Lords Proprietors appointed Hugh Wentworth as their first Governor on 24th April 1671, but he did not take up the appointment. They then confirmed in office John Wentworth, the popularly elected Governor, on the 26th December 1671. A regular system of government was established including a parliament, the lower house of which was elective, and this was continued with several breaks until the civil and military government of the islands was resumed by the Crown on the surrender of their rights by the Lords Proprietors on the 28th October 1717. Thirteen Proprietary Governors were appointed between 1671 and 1715. The settlement on New Providence was sacked by the Spaniards on several occasions between 1680 and 1684. In 1684 nearly all the inhabitants were driven away, and it was not until 1688 that the settlement was re-formed by their return, principally from Jamaica, under the leadership of Thomas Bridges. Bridges was recognised as Governor by the Lords Proprietors on the 12th July 1688, and the settlement had reached some importance when it was practically

annihilated by the French and Spaniards in 1703. However, a year or so after this the dispersed inhabitants returned to New Providence and another Proprietary Governor was appointed in 1707. But the islands became a regular rendezvous for pirates, and this finally determined the Crown to resume the civil and military government of the place, thus acceding to the numerous petitions which the inhabitants had been making for several years and also carrying out the express wishes of Parliament. Since 1717 there has been a continuous line of Royal Governors. The islands were surrendered to a fleet of the American rebels in 1776 and again to the Spaniards in 1781, but they had been re-taken by a British force under Colonel Deveaux before the conclusion of the war in 1783, when British possession was confirmed.

A significant event in Bahamian history was the influx of Loyalists who had asked to remain under British rule after the Treaty of Versailles. In 1783-84, when the islands' population was 4,058, the Loyalists started to arrive with their families and slaves. By 1789 the population had risen to more than 11,000. The names of some 630 Loyalist families are to be found widely distributed throughout all sections of the community today. The Loyalists received substantial assistance from England, and on the 19th March 1787 the Lords Proprietors surrendered all their proprietary rights to the King for the sum of £12,000, provided by Parliament.

The final abolition of slavery in 1838 caused an economic and social change in the Bahamas. The outbreak of civil war in the United States led to a period of considerable prosperity: between the years 1861 and 1865 they became a depot for vessels running the blockade imposed against the Confederate States. However, the boom years were followed by a period of slump during which occurred one of the worst hurricanes in the islands' history. The hurricane struck New Providence on 1st October 1866, causing widespread damage. In the latter part of the nineteenth century efforts were made to exploit a number of commercial products, such as sisal, conch shells for cameo brooch-making, and pineapples. The sponge industry was also established and at its height in 1901 employed nearly 6,000 men or roughly one-third of the available labour force. The early 1900s were nonetheless lean years and it was not until 1920, when Nassau became an entrepôt for the American bootlegging trade that some degree of prosperity returned, and remained until the end of the prohibition era. In 1939 the sponge industry collapsed as the result of a fungus disease and the islands' furtunes again appeared to be on a downward trend but since World War II the Bahama Islands have experienced phenomenal growth, based almost entirely on the success of the tourist industry. Taxation advantages, economic and political stability have encouraged foreign investments; and millions of pounds have poured into the Bahamas during the last two decades. Up to January 1964, representative but not responsible government existed in the Bahamas. The executive government was in the hands of a Governor, appointed by the Crown, who had the power of veto and was advised by an Executive Council of not more than nine members of whom six were unofficials. Various executive powers and the right to enact certain subsidiary legislation were vested by law in the Governor in Council. A Legislative Council was created as a separate Council by Royal Letters Patent in 1841; and in 1963 it consisted of eleven members nominated by the Crown, of whom nine were unofficials.

The Turks and Caicos Islands (q.v.) which are a geographical part of the Bahamas chain and which had often in their early history been claimed both by Bermuda and the Bahamas, were separated from the Bahamas in 1848.

CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

At the Bahamas Constitutional Conference held in London in May 1963, constitutional changes were agreed. These were embodied in a new constitution which came into effect on 7th January 1964, giving the territory internal selfgovernment. The bi-cameral Legislature was reconstituted to consist of an Upper House called the Senate and a Lower House called the House of Assembly. The Senate then consisted of fifteen members of whom eight were appointed by the Governor after consultation with the Premier and such other persons as he may in his discretion have decided to consult, five by the Governor on the advice of the Premier, and two by the Governor on the advice of the Leader of the Opposition. Following the general election of 10th January 1967 the House of Assembly consisted of 38 members elected under universal adult franchise, 21 representing Out-Island constituencies and 17 from New Providence. The Cabinet consists of a Premier and not less than eight other Ministers. The Governor appoints as Premier the person who appears to him to be best able to command a majority in the House of Assembly. The remaining Ministers are appointed by the Governor on the advice of the Premier.

On 20th December 1967 a seven-man committee was appointed to make recommendations for constitutional advance to full internal self-government. A majority report recommended that the Premier should in future be consulted about the selection of a new Governor; that the Senate should consist of 15 members, 10 appointed by the Governor on the advice of the Premier and five on the advice of the Leader of the Opposition; that the functions of the Advisory Committee on the prerogative of mercy should be transferred to the Cabinet; that in the conduct of Bahamian external affairs and defence matters the Government of the Bahamas should be consulted in advance; and that there should be single member constituencies.

At a General Election held on 10th April 1968, the Progressive Liberal Party won 29 seats in the House of Assembly and the United Bahamian Party won seven seats. One representative of the Labour Party and one Independent (the Speaker of the House) were returned as before.

The formal proposals of the Bahamas Government and the comments of the Opposition parties were received in London in August 1968, and these were the basic working documents for a Constitutional Conference held in London in September 1968 when the following constitutional changes were formulated.

It was agreed that the territory should in future be known as 'The Commonwealth of the Bahama Islands', and the Premier should be called the 'Prime Minister.' The British Government retained the ultimate responsibility for appointing the Governor but would consult the Government of the Bahamas informally to ensure that the needs of the territory were fully, fairly and satisfactorily met. The conference also agreed that there should be a new post of Deputy Governor, the holder of which would act for the Governor whenever necessary and assist him in the exercise of special responsibilities.

It was agreed that the Senate should in future be composed of 16 members, of whom 9 would be appointed by the Governor on the advice of the Prime Minister, 4 on the advice of the Leader of the Opposition, and 3 after consultation