§ 7. Miss RATHBONEasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware that a number of women in Bermuda have for several successive years resorted to the method of tax resistance as a protest against their exclusion from the franchise and from eligibility for the legislature; and whether steps will be taken to secure the revision in this and other respects of the constitution oil the Colony, in view of the facts that the present constitution has undergone very little alteration for three centuries and that the electorate is less than six: per cent. of the population?
§ Sir P. CUNLIFFE-LISTERI have no information to the effect that women in Bermuda have resorted to tax resistance as a method of furthering their claim to the franchise. As regards the second part of the question, I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given by Dr. Drummond Shiels on the 27th of January, 1931, to which I cannot usefully add anything.
§ Miss RATHBONEWill not the right hon. Gentleman consider whether, as many years have elapsed since then, some steps cannot be taken to bring the influence of the Colonial Office upon the Government of the Colony, which has a constitution completely out of accord with the wishes of the inhabitants?
§ Sir P. CUNLIFFE-LISTERI think that on the constitutional and on all other aspects of this question, the considered judgment of the Labour Government was a very wise one.
§ Sir P. HARRISWhy does the right hon. Gentleman always take cover behind the decisions of the Labour Government?
§ Sir P. CUNLIFFE-LISTERI always seek to support every continuity of policy when it is right.