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day when J had the honor to attend the ceremony of the opening of the dam in this town, at which time the Chairman of the Municipal Committee laid stress on the word unity, and the Despatching Seeretary said then that the time for quibbling and bickering was over and the time for united action had come. I en- dorse those sentiment and I hope to live to see the day when unity shall reign amoog us. In order to get help from our Government we should stand to- gether and ask for what we want; but if one says he want this and the other says he wants that, it will be said that we don’t know what we are talking about. Regarding this Resolution I don’t agree with it in toto as there are some things in it that I regard as superflurus and there are things that should be included that are omitted;: however, now is not the tims for bickering, I advocate that the resolution as preseated be adopted. (To be concluded.) EDITORIAL. With reference to the matter of fore- station which is every now and then made the subject of newspaper writings, this paper has information that the re- purts circulated to the effect that the trees of the island are being cut down and used for fuel, and as alleged, rch- bing the soil of its moisture, are un- founded or founded on inaccurzte know- ledge of facts. It is learned on good au- thority that the West Indian Sugar Fac- tory has employees whose duty it is to kill worms which destroy trees, and that the St. Croix Sugar Factory also gives its attention to the preservation of its treas from destruction by worms. This being the case it would be idioey to ex- pend effort to save trees which were destined to fall by the axe. The mate- rial which has been seen carted to the furnace is ‘‘bushwood’’ which groas without being planted and spreads to snch an extent that in certain places such as Est. Pearl, Blessing, Jerusalem and parts of Constitution Hill it is utter- ly impossible to find even a footpath. Bush of this sort is mainly maran, sage, and other useless trees which abound to no purpose and often reach suffiicontly stout proportions to serve as zood fire- wood. Unless land is cleared of bush it cannot be used for planting grass or anything else. The east end estate Cot- ton Grove is an example of bushland which is N. G. with the so-called trees on it beecause there is no room to plant anything. St. Peter’s recently purchas- ed by Mr. Cornelius Pentheny is being cleared of its hush in order that it may be turned to profitable account. Look at Mr. Bromley Nelthropp’s estate Boeiz- berg, one of the model stock estates of the island; it is cleared of its bush and is therefore available for planting grass. The trees on that estate are uatouched 5T L% .X 2 and they are laid out in the right way. Nobody is cutting down mihogany trees, or Thibet trees; that would be madness, apart from the fact that the logs of such trees would be much too large for burn- ing unless they wW¥re chopped up, and that would be too exp2nsive. It is ascer- tained that only in places where two trees grow so closely together as toim- pair the dsvelopment and foliage of each other is cutting down of grown trees un dertaken., The St. Croix Sugar Factory has uvn hand alarge supply of coal which accounts for the non-imnortation of this article of fuel of late and it is assured that the use of wood or trees as circulat- ed is confined to bush catd )wn from land being cleared. S»o far it is under- stood that the Factory lands are without any of thiy copse. LOCAL The s. s. {*'Parima’’ from New York is due at Frederiksted at 2 o’clock this afternoon, having 46 bags mail and 393 packages for this island. SECRETARY OF THE NAVY DENBY RESIGNS, Washington, Feb 18th—Mr. Deunby has resigned as Secretary of the Navy, and his resignation has been accepted. After repeatedly declaring he never would quit the Cabinet under the fire of those who have criticized his part in the oil leasing programme, the Secretary notified the President this morning that he w.s ready Lo step out, TELEGRAMS. ST. CROIX STATION. Lendon, Feb. 17th —After a number of mass meetings today the executiv> of the Amalgamated Union recommendeda poli- cy of “‘stay in strike’’. which would mean strict adherence to the official port hours going slow un piece work and refusal of any overtime The idea of the execu- tive seems to be that this poli- cy would force recognitionsef the Union. Mr. Buark Seccretary of this union, which is colloguially dubbed the Blue Ticket Union, addressing a meeting today, asked why they should punish themselves, their wives and chil- dren by a strike during a severe winter. It was their unofficial strikes last year, he asserted, which forced the Dock Wor- kers Union, of which Mr. Edwid Bevin is Secretary, to take action. Mr. Buark advocated an experiment with “‘stay in strike for the three days, which he believ- ed would suffice to bring about import- ant developments. Another speaker. at the same meeting, refused to be dragged by the heels of Mr. Bevin. or pull chest- nuts out of the fire for somebody else, adding ‘'our message to Mr. Beuin is, ‘*hands off London and keep to the prov- inces with your strike action.”’ In speech -es made by the strike leaders at meet- ings in Glasgow, Bristol and elsewhere today, there appeared to be confidence that the Prewier would immediately take up the question on his return to London tomorrow. Mr. Tillett, labour member of Parliament and ex-General Seec- retary of the Dockers Union, speaking at Bristol declared there were 50,060 dock- ersin the Kingdom working only three days a week with average earningsof under two por'nds weekly This was proof of the casuzltiess of dock labour and gave them an unchallengeable caste for re- form. Sir Percy States Deputy Chair- man of the Cunard Steamship Company in a statement to the press tonight on responsibility, revealed that the Ministry of Labour at the final conference on Saturday made a proposzl, the nature of which he practically was not at liberty to disclose. The employers asked time to consider and discuss this wi h their constituents, but the representa- tives of the Dock Workers refused to allow time for consultation and the con- ference broke up. The Employers Associztion at Liverpool, Newcastle and other ports are making the same offer as made by the London employers, which was increase of one shilling daily, besides restoration of the piece work rates in June 1922. Secretary Bevin, ad- dressing a dockers meeting in East [on- don tonight referred to this offer by the employers and to the ac.ionof the Blue Ticket Union. He characterized the offer of a shililng advance as a shilling for Judas and hoped that nobody would take this blood moneyv. He declared that the employers kaew a fortnight ago that the Bilue Union would not strike and the emploser by offering this Judas money were hoping to shattertke Nation- al A reement. London thus far has been the bugbear ind the cause of all the trouble. Eighty percent of the pro- vincial ports were willing to concede the full two shilling advance. Effective picketing of the London ports he <aid would be inaugurated tomorrow. London, FKeb. 16th.—The ‘‘Qutlook”’ independent weekly journal declares that the MacDonald Government is likely to get into difficulties over the Imperizal Conference resolations. As has been indi- cated aiready, these resolutions are to ke left by the Government to a free vote of the members of the House of Commons. The Liberais, the ‘‘Outlook’’ says, will presumable vote against the resoiutions and the Conservatives for them. What then will the Labour Government do, the journal asks. Erith, Kent, Feb. 18th.—Eleven wo- men and one man were Killed here :today in an explosion, which followed the out- break of fire in a cartridge filling factory Paris, Feb. 18th. —Dr. Leopeld Hoesch was formally received as the new QGer- man Ambassador to France by President Millerand en Saturday.