ABSTRACT
The stagnation and frustrations of the inter-war years came to a head at the end of the 1930s in dissatisfaction and recrimination. No longer was it possible to veil with glib platitudes the fact that conditions in many parts of the colonial empire were deplorably low. Research in Kenya revealed that of 650 individuals examined 570 had anaemia, 546 had haemic murmurs, 425 had malnutrition, just over 300 had malaria, and 159 had tuberculosis. Each of the Africans was an ‘ambulant pathological museum’.1 In July 1939 a report on nutrition made its appearance.2 Colonial diets were shown to be insufficient in both quantity and quality; malnutrition was responsible for many preventable diseases and for ‘deficiency states’ which prevented the full enjoyment of health. But by far the greatest trauma came from the West Indies. A series of riots and disturbances in the Caribbean islands during the second half of the decade severely shocked those in Britain who took an interest in colonial affairs. In 1935 and 1937 alone 39 people were killed and 175 injured there.3 Subsequent investigations gave publicity to the poor conditions which had caused the trouble. Malcolm MacDonald, Secretary of State for the Colonies, set up a Royal Commission under Lord Moyne to enquire into the social and economic state of the West Indies. In the House of Commons criticisms of Britain’s record were extensive and outspoken. Lloyd George was ‘perfectly appalled at the conditions’ and felt ashamed that this ‘slummy empire’ had been tolerated so long. Arthur Creech Jones argued that the riots had ‘rudely shocked’
British complacency. Aneurin Bevan asserted that the boast about Britain being a good colonizer was baseless: ‘We are obviously incompetent… This House of Commons…is entirely not to be trusted with the stewardship of these areas.’4
