5 APRIL 1924, Page 9

Sir Arthur Shipley, the chairman of the governing body of

the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture, has been contributing an interesting series of articles to the Times on his recent tour to the Caribbean Sea, and in recording his impressions of his few weeks' visi t he says that had he stayed longer and seen more he would certainly have lacked the courage to write about it. One point Sir Arthur Shipley does well to emphasize, and that is the present deplorable state of inter-com- munication between the islands, which is in many ways worse than it was twenty-five years ago. Till better communication exists between the British West Indian Islands and with the outside world, it is difficult to see how much headway can be made with the task of federation. * * * *