mpts to use the productive factors more effectively. Plantation machinery and techniques were improved significantly" (Thomas 35).
In 1877, Grenada officially became a British colony, and remained under British control until its independence in 1974. The first ten years after independence were characterized by political instability. Sir Paul Scoon, a Grenadian knighted by Britain, represented the queen in the largely ceremonial post of governor-general. The island's first prime minister after independence was Eric Gairy, the head of Grenada's United Labour party. Despite his early support for the workers, Gairy's administration was not a triumph of democracy. His opponents claimed that he went into political office bankrupt, owing money to many, but within three years he had enough to buy several buildings: "Historically, the plantocracy dominated the three statutory agricultural export-marketing organisations which had the exclusive right to purchase the entire nutmeg, cocoa, and banana crops . . . Under Eric Gairy's rule,
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