3 DECEMBER 1870, Page 2

There is a rumour about that the Colonial Office has

an idea of federalizing the West India Islands under a single Governor- General, a plan which would, we doubt not, find hearty support in Parliament. No Act of Union could make of the Islands a strong state, but a federal system would greatly simplify and. strengthen their administration, which is just now preposterously pompous. What does Turk's Head Island, for instance, with. 6,000 people, want with a Government all to itself, a separate- Attorney-General, and so on ? The Union would lighten taxation, relieve the central power of local influences, and raise altogether the political tone of the islands, which is often at present paro- chial in the worst sense.