The prisoners of St Kitts
LETTERS
From Derek E. F. Baldock, Mrs M. Daniels, David Morris, S. C. Butler, Frank MacDermot, M. Hepper, Sir Stanley Unwin, C. M. Goulden, S. Abdul.
Sir: I refer to Mr James Milnes Gaskell's letter in your issue of 10 November which makes allegations in respect of Indelco which are against the facts, as follows: (1) I cannot see the relevance of the company having a capital of £1,000. Over £30,000 has been invested in preparing plans, studies, research, and other matters.
(2) Indelco has never said that it would invest £20 million in Frigate Bay but only that the total cost of fully developing the scheme over a twenty- year period would amount to that figure.
(3) Details of the proposed agreement were given in a press conference at the Piccadilly Hotel on 1 June 1966.
(4) Full details were announced at the public signing of the agreement at the St Kitts Legislative Chamber on 23 June 1966. The press and many local citizens attended and I enclose a photograph showing the Chief Minister at that time, the Hon C. A. P. Southwell, signing the agreement.
(5) It is not our duty to publish an agreement which is available for inspection as a public docu- ment and details have been given to the leading commercial enterprises in St Kitts.
(6) In an interview in my office on 15 Decem- ber 1966 Mr Gaskell asked for details of the agreement, which were given to him.
(7) On 14 June 1967 I broadcasted details of the agreement over St Kitts radio—za..
(8) On 9 May 1967 Dr Herbert asked me at St Kitts whether Indelco would stand by the agree- ment if an alternative government was elected, to which the answer was `yes,' as the agreement is with the state and not with a political party.
(9) The present government did not seek our permission before mentioning the agreement in its election manifesto, but it seems to me that as the agreement was concluded in its immediately previous period of office, it was entitled to draw attention to this fact. The manifesto does not say that Indelco would invest £20 million but merely that that was the total cost of the scheme and it also does not say that the scheme would not go ahead if the government failed-to be re-elected.
Indelco has not abandoned the scheme, although the present difficulties in St Kitts inhibit certain aspects from proceeding, although others are well advanced, as is known to various business houses in Basseterre. As our agreement is being argued in reference to 'pressures' by the government, it seems to me essential that the facts concerning it should be made available to your readers so that they may judge the relevance for themselves.
Derek E. F. Baldock Vice-Chairman, Indelco 1 Duke Street, Manchester Square, London WI
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