USVI Public Records

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Croix in its investigation of the cost of production of sugar. The Act of March 3, 1517, places a flat eight doilar tax per short ton of sugar exported from the Virgin Islands, in lieu of the Export duty which ebtzined prier to the change of sovereignty. The Presi- dent of the United States has authority under the Tariff Law to set, within cer- tain limits, the import duty on sugar from foreign covuntries into the United States, and the important factor in this, determination, is the cost of pro- duction of sucar within the United States, both Continental and Insular. It is the impression that this flat raie ol eight dollars per short ton is tos high and places St. Creix at a disadvantage with its comvetiturs, and therefore an ivestigition by the Tariff Commission would b advisable as a means of ¢ither determining that this tax is not unduly high, or, if the contrary is frund to be the case. it could lead to new ilegis'ation designedc to lower or remove it. (6) That the Congress be request- ed to define the citizenship staius of the inhabitants of the Virgin [slands. The Treaty of Cession whereby the United States ucquned the Virgin Is- lands from Denmark contain the feliow- ing provision: “*Article 6. Danish citizers residing in said Islands may remain there:n or may remove therefrom at will, retain- ing in either event all their righis of preperty, inciuding the right to seli or dispose of such property orits pro- ceeds: in case they remain 'n the Is- lands, they shall continue urtil other- wise provided, to enjoy all the private, municipal and religious rights and liberties secured to them by the laws now in force. If the present laws are altered, the said inhabitants shall not thereby be placed in a less favorahle position in respect to the above men- tioned rights and liberties ihan they now enjoy. Those who iemain in the islands may preserve their citizenship in Denmark by making before a court of record, withinone year from the date of the exchange of ratifications of this convention, a declaration of their de- cision to preserve such citizenship; in default of which declaration they shall be held to have renounced it and to have accepted citizenship in the Uni- ted States; for children under eig” een vears the said declaration may be made by their parents oc¢ guard ans. Such election of Danish citizenship <hail however not, after a lapse o the caid term of one year, be a bar to their renunciation of their preserved Danish citizenship and their election of citizenship in the United States and admiss:on to the rationality taerecf on the same terms as may be provided sccording to the laws ofthe United Gtates, for other inhabitants of the islands. The civil rights and the poli- £ 1. . U1X AN 15 tical status of the inhabitants of the | islands shall be determined by the Congress, subiect to the stipulations | contained in ®he present convention. | Danish citizers net residing in the is- | lands but owning property therein at | the time of the session, shall retain | their rights of property, including tle | right to sell er dizpose of such pro- l perty, being placed in this regard on | the same basis as the Danish citizens | residing in the isiands and remainir g | ther2in or removing therefrom, to | whom the first paragrapun of this ard- | cle relates.” The foregoing provision of the Treaty | was generally understood by the inhabi- tants of the Virgin Islands, as intended | to confer full United States citizenship | rights upoa those who did not exercise | their right to retain their Danish eciti- zenship Subsequently, the Departinent of State held that, as in the case of Porto Rico, a spercific declaration of | the intent of Congress was necessary to confer full eitizenship upoa the inhab- itants of the Virgin Islands, so that, as the matter now stands, they are citizens of neither Denmark or the United States This situation causes mueh annoyance to the people of the Virgin is ands when they desire to travel either to the United States or to foreign countries by reassn of the uncertainty, generally, as to their individual civil siatus with reldation to the United State:, and turthermore, they feel that they’are diseriminated against through the fact that, while they were full eitizens of Dermamk prior to tne transfer, they are not now full citizens of the United States. To be continied. LOCAL The s.s. ‘"Guiana’’ for New Yo'k is due at Frederiksted on Tuesday at7 a. m. instead of Monday morning. | ; ! The s. s. *‘Catherine’’ is due today on | schedule time, having 4 tcns of eargo | for this island. | [t is advised that a mail for New York | will be closed for the s. s. Guiana on | Monday 18ih instant at 4 p. m. | As regards the closing of registered | mail tomorrow morning, itis requested made known that this refers only to registered mail for St. Thomas and Porto | Rico as the registered mail for New ; York will be cl sed tolay at 400 p. m. | since the mail by the s. s. Guiana will | reach New York about the same time as that via San Juan. | TSLEGRAMS. ; ST. CROIX STATION. | London, Feb. 12th. —The difficuliy of J l obtaining ar adequate supply of officers, for army is lincreasing. The causes which appzar to have operated in dimiu- ishing the number of candidates are set forth by the committee appointed to con- sider the education and training of army officers in their report just issued. These include frequent moves of regiments un- popularity of service in India, recent cuts in establishments involving compulsory retirement of officers, reduction of vay to be effective in 1924 Ihe reaction after the war, heavy fees at the military colleges and the fact that some teachers are defiritely anti-mlitarist end recom- mend their best bays not to take up a milit:ry career, London, Feb. 12th—The next four dayvs will see an inte se struegle to pre- vent the most disastrous strike which has threatened Britain for many years past. The Government is certainly doing its utiost to bring about peace in a s tu- ation which, however, has grown sud- denly more serious sinee the definite ard uncompromising refusal of the deockers to azcept the offer made by the employ- ers. The Government realizes that there is considerable justice in the claim of the employers that an increase of two shill- ings in the daily waige of the deckers would mean that British worts will be un- able to complete with those of the Con- tinent, where the cost of handling car- goes is very low. [Kvery possible pressure is being brought to bear to get the two pai ties together. when it will be possible to formulate other proposals which in tuin may be submitted to the Minister of i.abour, Labour elaims that the trouble has arisen largely through tie fact that shipping comvanies paid dividensof nine percent on their share capital§last vear and they further ciaim that this should be increased in as much as a large amount it was paidon watered stock. The companies on the other hand maintain that these fizures are misleading and that the actual dividend were at least twe points lower than the fizure claim- | by the strikers. Rome, Feb. 13th.-Count Giovanni Mas- nomi, the newly appointed Ambassador to represent ltaly at Moscow, left for the Capital last nmight. He is a trained diplomat, and entzred the diplomatie ser- vice in 1913, : Paris, Feb. 13th—A new airplane ser- vice between Toulouse, France and Dak- ar, West Africa, is to be started in April Working in eonjunction with the steam- ship lines, it will shorten the time for transmission of mails between Europe, South Africa and South America by nine days. The service will be carried out by sixty planes, a like number being held in reserve. London, Feb, 13th.—A football referee was lynched at Luganoe, Italy, according to a Central News despatch from Geneva, for giving a decision unfavourable to the League team. lhe despatch staies that the erowd rushed on to the field, seized the referee and did him to death.