In early 1947 the Colonial Office dispatched an official to the West Indies to dispel rumours that there were thousands of job vacancies in Britain.3 One glaring problem with this strategy was that the newsagents of the islands stocked copies of British newspapers like the South London Daily Press, and West Indians were able to see for themselves the pages of classified advertisements for positions in British firms. Incredulous local governors and journalists were informed that these were not real openings but ‘paper vacancies’. That June, an official from the Ministry of Labour rightly warned
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