British Ride 
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, 
Aug. 30 (AP) — To the beat of 
steel drums and the lilt of 
calypso lyrics, the isles of 
Trinidad and Tobago tonight 
danced off 165 years of Brit- 
ish rule. 
The midnight ceremony of 
lowering the Union Jack and 
hoisting the new nation’s red, 
black and white flag made 
way for Trinidad-Tobago to 
join as a full and free partner 
in the British Commonwealth. 
Queen Elizabeth’s aunt 
Mary, the Princess Royal, and 
representatives of 35 other 
countries, including the Unit- 
ed States, Cuba and the So- 
viet Union, were on hand for 
the gay ceremonies. 
The 830,000 multiracial is- 
landers, whose living stand- 
ards are high by Latin Ameri- 
can standards, put aside for 
the moment problems of rela- 
tions with other nations that 
already loom around the Car- 
ibbean horizon and beyond. 
The Prime Minister, Eric j 
Williams, Oxford - educated 
nationalist who led Trinidad 
and its small ward, Tobago, 
to independence, has pledged 
his lush Caribbean land would 
“remain unequivocally west 
of the Iron Curtain.” | 
Trinidad has prosperous | 
oil, sugar and rum industries! 
but the new nation starts out| 
with its budget of nearly $80 1 
million showing a deficit. It. 
must import 80 per cent of| 
its food. ! 
Williams, a 51-year-old eco-l 
nomist, has said he is seek-: 
ing money from the United | 
States, Britain and anyone' 
else willing to lend it. 
The Prime Minister has 
made plain his hopes of work- 
ing out new terms of the 
lease for the U. S. naval base 
at Chaguaramas, on the north- 
west coast of Trinidad. The 
base was acquired in the 
AVorld War II Roosevelt- 
Churchill destroyers-for-bases 
deal. 
Cuba’s Ambassador Guil- 
lerno Leon Antioch and Soviet 
Ambassador Seminon Bazarov 
from Mexico were among the 
special envoys who called on 
Williams. 
(Soviet Premier Nikita S. 
Khrushchev tonight an- 
nounced recognition of Trini- 
dad-Tobago and readiness to 
establish diplomatic relations, 
Tass reported). 
