HC Deb 21 July 1936 vol 315 cc406-14

Motion made, and Question proposed, "That this House do now adjourn."—[Sir G. Penny.]

11.4 p.m.

Mr. T. JOHNSTON

I desire for a few minutes to raise a question which concerns the Secretary of State for the Dominions and which was raised in this House about a fortnight ago. I refer to the right hon. Gentleman's assent to, and the endorsement which he gave to the Natives Registration Bill sent to him by the Government of Southern Rhodesia. This Measure to which the right hon. Gentleman has assented provides for the licensing of native women in the compounds and locations in Southern Rhodesia. There is now only one part of the British Empire where anything in the nature of sex regulation or Contagious Diseases Act business operates and that I am sorry to say is in the State of Queensland. In recent years elsewhere those infamous Acts have been abandoned. They were abolished in Hong Kong and the Straits Settlements between 1930 and 1933 but now, after all these years and the agitation raised by the late Josephine Butler we have the same infamous system being introduced in a British Dominion and assented to by the Secretary of State for the Dominions. In 1923 when Southern Rhodesia got its Constitution, it was provided that any legislation discriminating between the European and African population must be submitted for approval to the Secretary of State for the Dominions. Under the Native Registration Bill which has recently passed the legislature of Southern Rhodesia and particularly under Clauses 12 and 14, Africans imported for work in the gold mines from Nyasaland and elsewhere, are to be provided with what are called licensed concubines. These Africans are brought many miles from their homes, they are separated from their wives and families and they are employed on contract for periods which may extend to eleven months or may be as short as four months. When this Measure was being passed the Minister for Native Affairs, Dr. Huggins, who is also the Prime Minister, used these words: There are a large number of women who have to reside on these locations and who have no business there in a certain sense and they will be, at the discretion of the location superintendent, given these passes. It is still hoped that we may be able to get rid of the majority of the real prostitutes in the locations but it is not proposed that there should be any interference with the concubines. As hon. Members know, the state of affairs in native life produced by white civilisation is really shocking. The bulk of these native boys in the locations are not legitimately married either under their marriage customs or under Christian rites. Listen to this: It is quite impossible to keep these natives in the proximity of our towns unless certain facilities are provided. Here is the Contagious Diseases Act coming in again. There is compulsory medical examination, there is the licence, there is the certificate to natives to be enabled to keep concubines. When a native gets his concubine for four, five, or six months, or whatever his contract may be, and then goes away back to Nyasaland or wherever his home is, his concubine is passed on to some other native in turn, and you have in effect a system growing up, now receiving legislative endorsement, which is a shame and a scandal under the British flag. The late Cecil Rhodes said, and proudly said, that he hoped to see the day when there would be equal rights for all civilised men South of the Zambesi, and here we get the segregation principle again, homes broken up, and the licensing of these women. I regret to say that when this Measure was submitted to the Secretary of State for the Dominions, it received his endorsement. We did not know—we have no means of knowing—in time about this kind of legislation. It does not appear in the Library. It is only by accident that we learn of it, and when we learn of it the mischief is done; it is too late.

I think the House is entitled to learn from the Secretary of State for the Dominions what are the reasons why he appended his signature to the Native Registration Act of Southern Rhodesia, and why he committed this House and the honour of this country regarding a system not far removed from licensed prostitution and which indeed opens the door to it. I trust that we have heard the last of this kind of thing and that the right hon. Gentleman may yet see his way to send a message to Southern Rhodesia asking that his signature shall be annulled, as he has power to do within 12 months from the date that he signed this Order, and asking that the Order, being in direct conflict with the ideals of the men and women of this country, shall not be operated. I trust that we shall set out on another road altogether, the road of endeavouring to create native settlements, enabling the 25,000 Nyasaland labourers who are there to take their wives and children with them, to build up a home life. I trust that we shall bring these Africans into a British civilisation, give them place, and pride in our common confederation within the British Empire, and stop this segregation policy. At any rate let us have no more responsibility on the part of a Minister of the Crown in London for concubinage or prostitution.

11.14 p.m.

The SECRETARY of STATE for DOMINION AFFAIRS (Mr. Malcolm MacDonald)

I make no complaint that the right hon. Gentleman has raised this question this evening. It is a matter which must be of concern to hon. Members in this House. We are considering certain conditions which exist in what are called the native locations in Southern Rhodesia. There are a number of European townships there where natives come in considerable numbers to work. Often there is not living accommodation for the natives in the offices or buildings where they are employed, and, therefore, the municipalities have set apart certain areas or locations where those natives live. I am inclined to think that the right hon. Gentleman is not quite familiar with the conditions in these locations. They are not similar to the mines compounds which exist in some parts of Africa, which are occupied only by male natives who are recruited to work. In these locations it is possible for natives to settle with their wives and families. They are perfectly free to do so and in very many cases where natives are married they bring their wives and children to settle in the locations. So far as this Natives Registration Act is concerned, it makes special provision by which wives and children may remain in the locations. Therefore, it is the settlement system which is being encouraged, and the system of concubinage to which the right hon. Gentleman referred is not due to any prohibition by the municipalities or the Government which prevents wives and families from going and living with the natives in these places.

The fact is, as the right hon. Gentleman has said, that considerable numbers of natives who come to work in the townships and to live in these locations are married and do not bring their wives. Hon. Members will understand that the coming of the white man to Africa and the coming of his civilisation and the growth, for instance, in certain areas of industrialism, have produced great disturbances in native life. Some of the results, we all admit, are very unfortunate. It would appear that they are inevitable, at any rate for a time, until we can get a satisfactory solution to the difficulties. I admit that one of the unfortunate results is this system. The fact is that many of the natives coming to the locations do not bring their wives with them. They come from great distances, and come to stay for considerable periods. They do not bring their wives with them, not because of any prohibition by authority, but because in many cases the kinsmen of these wives in their native villages prevent the wives from journeying with their husbands. These men come down to the locations. By nature they are polygamous. They have been accustomed to form irregular unions with women living in these locations. So long as they stay in the locations these couples live permanently together. I am giving a perfectly honest statement of the position. They regard themselves as man and wife, and they are regarded by their fellow natives as man and wife. Their union is perfectly public, and although they are not legally married in the eyes of the natives, they are perfectly respectable. It is these women who are partners in this type of union who have been referred to by the Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia as concubines as distinct from regular prostitutes.

That is the existing situation which the Southern Rhodesian Government have to face. They cannot avoid facing it, and they have to do something about it. The right hon. Gentleman said we are re-creating this system. We are doing nothing of the kind. This state of affairs has been in existence in the locations for years past. It was in existence when hon. Members opposite sat on this side of the House and were responsible for conducting affairs in the Dominions Office. According to the law of Southern Rhodesia, these women who have these unions had to have passes, had to have permits, from the authorities in the locations, and it is a long-existing practice which the Southern Rhodesia Government has to face to-day. I admit that many objections can be raised to it. No doubt, ideally, it would be a good thing to break up the system altogether at once, but we ourselves have had to face a somewhat similar situation in those Colonies where we are solely responsible for administration. Take, for instance, Hong Kong and the question of mui-tsai.

Mr. JOHNSTON

You have stopped it.

Mr. MacDONALD

Hon. Members opposite when sitting on this side did not stop it.

Mr. MATHERS

Did anyone do more than the last Labour Government to stop it?

Mr. MacDONALD

I am not denying that. I am merely stating the facts. There was not a single man or woman in this House who did not object to the system of mui-tsai. There was not a single Member in any quarter of the House who would not have liked to see that system abolished at once, by a stroke of the pen, but for a very long time successive Governments, including the Labour Government, whose efforts towards abolishing it were, I agree, very great, had to admit that it would be a mistake to wipe it out at once. They had to make provision for continuing it, for regulating it, for controlling it, for trying to minimise it as time went on; and in facing this existing situation, which is deeply rooted in modern native life in the locations, the Southern Rhodesia authorities are taking up a very similar attitude.

Mr. MATHERS

Are you providing for its abolition, as the late Labour Government provided for the abolition of mui-tsai?

Mr. MacDONALD

If the hon. Member will allow me to continue I shall be able to deal with that point. I say the authorities are facing the existing situation very much in the same spirit as that evil and unfortunate situation was faced by successive Governments in this country. The Government of Southern Rhodesia are going to make a great effort to improve conditions in the locations. At present there are a great many prostitutes in the locations. In the speech which the right hon. Gentleman has quoted, the Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia announced that they were going to endeavour to clear those women out of the locations. They will not be given permits under the administration of this Act. That will be in the spirit of the Labour Government's work of moving towards abolishing this undesirable state of affairs. The right hon. Gentleman asked, Where do you draw the line? If a woman lives with a man for four, five or six months, is she a concubine or a prostitute? That is a matter of administration on which I am consulting the Southern Rhodesia Government at the present time. As I said in answer to the question of the right hon. Gentleman last week, I am taking—I have already taken—this matter up with the authorities in Southern Rhodesia. I certainly hope and believe that it will be administered in such a way that prostitution does not remain in the locations.

If the suggestion is that these concubines should also be cleared out by a stroke of the pen, I am bound to say, however reluctantly, but honestly, that one hesitates. That would be to put many of these natives into exactly the position of natives in those compounds to which the right hon. Gentleman himself has objected. One is bound to feel considerable sympathy with the Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia when he suggests that, if drastic action were taken, the last state, not only in the locations but in the European townships, would be worse than the first. I admit that I do not like the system, and that there are many objections which can properly be raised to it, but I would suggest that the wisest manner in which to deal with it is by an attempt to eradicate it by a process of gradual reform. Let us endeavour, and let the Government of Southern Rhodesia endeavour, to reduce it to a minimum by that process. For instance, it might be possible for more to be done by encouraging the wives to come with their husbands into these locations, or if there are cases in which men intend to live permanently with these women, I can see no good reason why a marriage should not be arranged between them. At any rate, it is by a process of gradual reform that, I believe, we shall reach the most satisfactory solution of this extremely difficult existing situation. It is a matter in which I have already been in touch with the Southern Rhodesian authorities. I assure the House that I shall not lose sight of this matter, and I believe that that is the spirit in which the Government of Southern Rhodesia intend that the Act shall be administered.

11.28 p.m.

Mr. CREECH JONES

I regret that the explanation offered by the Minister is not as satisfactory as one would have wished. He certainly had the opportunity of withholding his signature. The Bill is not merely a Consolidation Bill; there are many new proposals in it, and, for the first time, women are brought under pass laws. Consequently, a situation is created deliberately by the Rhodesian Prime Minister, because of the very large number of men who come into these locations from territories at a considerable distance away. These men are brought together under contracts, and there is established for them under this Bill an arrangement which virtually amounts to legalised prostitution.

Under the Bill, for the first time, a number of special arrangements are definitely made. Medical inspection is provided, certain regulations are laid down in regard to contagious diseases, and, further, the women are subjected to exemption passes in order that this particular practice shall be allowed. Therefore, what we are witnessing to-day is an introduction of State recognition of a piece of legalised prostitution which, for the moment, has the name of concubinage; but it is concubinage whereby the woman, when she is left by the man, who returns to the territory from which he came, can live only in so far as she is able to sell herself to another native; and it is on these grounds that we object to the Bill.

It being Half-past Eleven of the Clock, Mr. SPEAKER adjourned the House, without Question put, pursuant to the Standing Order.