COST OF LIVING IN JAMAICA
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] Sra,—I have recently returned from an eleven years' residence in Kingston, Jamaica. It is emphatically not true that , a married white man could live there for £350 per annum in a style that would cost over £2,000 per annum in England. House rent, for instance, would swallow up most of the first kroo. Naturally, some things are cheaper than in England, but most imported articles arc dearer, and even home-grown sugar is nearly twice the price. My judgement is that the cost of living is about equal, with perhaps a slight balance in favour of the man who stays in England.
As for the shilling a day of the Jamaican agricultural labourer comparing favourably with the 35s. a week of the English farmhand, my own observation convinces me that the standard of life in Jamaica, with its effects on health, education and happi- ness, is appreciably lower.
Major-General H. Lethbridge Alexander is right in drawing attention to the fact that some West Indians are highly educated and cultured, holding good positions. It is greatly to the credit of one of them, Mr. Norman Manley, K.C., that he is now playing. such an important part in the effort to improve the conditions of the large majority of his fellow-countrymen.-
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