Correspondence
A LETTER FROM THE BAHAMAS. [To the Editor of the SpEarArou.] SIR,—Like Cornish watering-places some 3,000 miles away, the climate of the Bahamas is rendered equable and pleasant by the Gulf Stream which flows between them and the coast of Florida at an approximate speed of three miles per hour. Columbus on his famous voyage made his first landfall in the New World at the island of San Salvador, one of the Bahamas group ; and did not discover North America as the man in the street loosely supposes. Within recent years the Bahamas have been rediscovered, this time by America.
So far as trade is concerned, there is a danger of the Bahama
Islands becoming Americanized, due largely to apathy at home. Until recently the world-news received in the Colony was derived from American sources, and often had a bias against the Old Country. Since the War, American manu- facturers of all commodities have been trying to establish a supremacy for American goods. Only in textiles has the British manufacturer held his own ; but it is pleasing to note that in the motor-car industry the manufacturer of a well- known English light car is now successfully selling his product so near the American mainland.
A powerful British hotel syndicate has shown itself alive to the possibilities of investing capital in Nassau ; and should pending negotiations with the Bahamas Government prove successful, some £800,000 will be spent on a British-controlled hotel with golf links, polo fields and cricket grounds. The hotel will be supplemented by a steamship service direct from England as well as from New York ; and thus English winter tourists will have the opportunity of spending the cold months in the " Isles of June," as the Bahama Islands have been so aptly characterized.
If the 5,000 islands and cays were placed with Grand
Bahama, the beginning of the archipelago, at Land's End. Cornwall, the island of Inagua at the other end would be situated approximately in the latitude of Lisbon. Within this scope the yachtsman finds hundreds of miles of turquoise waters sheltered from the full force of the Atlantic by reefs and cays, ideal for sailing and for fishing expeditions. The Royal Nassau Sailing Club, of which the Patron is His Majesty the King, has for its Commodore Admiral Sir Francis Bridgeman, and is Anglo-American in membership. Some notable events have been held by the Club this season, including races for the Gold Cup presented by His Majesty and the cups given by the Royal Yacht Squadron and the New York Yacht Club.
Nassau has recently celebrated the arrival of the new
Governor, Major C. W. J. Orr, C.M.G., late Colonial Secretary of Gibraltar, who succeeds Major Sir H. S. Cordeaux. The Governor-designate landed at Rawson Square, and in accord- ance with ancient tradition proceeded on foot to the two- century-old Legislature, where he took the oath.
Although geographically subject to American influences
the people .of the Bahamas are intensely loyal to the Empire; and their unvoiced grievance is the fact that since 1861, in which year Prince Alfred visited Nassau, no member of the Royal Family has landed in this " forgotten Colony," which, notwithstanding, is-one of the oldest possessions of the British Empire.—I am, Sir, Bee.,
YOUR. CORRESPONDENT IN THE BAHAMAS.
Previous page
