So solemn was the occasion last week that even in the birthplace of the steel bands their sonorous sounds were banned from the streets for a night and rollick some calypso singers were allowed to perform only indoors. A new red, white and black flag went up, the Union Jack came down, and Trinidad-Tobago became the eleventh British possession granted independence since World War II. The islands' 825,000 Africans, East Indians, Arabs, Chinese and British began a nine-day independence party designed to top the birth-of-a-nation celebration in nearby Jamaica 26 days earlier.
Trinidad has more to celebrate. A 1,863-sq.-mi. chunk...