§ Question proposed, "That the Clause stand part of the Bill."
§ 10.10 p.m.
Mr. Creech JonesI wish to raise a point on Sub-section (2). The right hon. Gentleman has from time to time pointed out the difficulty experienced in certain Crown Colonies in getting measures through the local legislatures. Under this Sub-section an Order in Council may 2208 be made setting out the type of government which should be established under the new arrangement. When the right hon. Gentleman was asked during the Second Reading Debate, what was likely to be done in the matter of government, we were informed that, virtually, government under the old arrangement would continue to be operative under the new arrangement. I referred at the time to the suggestion that there should be established an unofficial majority in the legislative council and that the number of elected unofficial members should be increased. I was informed that those changes had taken place and that the new constitution would make provision for a majority of unofficial members. I have looked into the matter, and while it is true that, under the new arrangement, unofficial members are in a majority of eight to three the elected members are in a minority of five to six.
The point I tried to make on Second Reading was that there had been an agitation that the number of elected members should be increased and that the elected unofficial members should be in a majority in the legislature. The existing arrangement, I gather, does not provide for that majority. I ask that an assurance be given in respect of this Sub-section that, in the making of the new constitution, some regard will be had to the operating principle of self-government. A further point emerges on this Clause in regard to the franchise. In many of these West Indian Islands only a small proportion of the population enjoy the franchise and a very high standard of qualification is necessary for membership of the legislature. With a view to making more operative the principle of representative Government, I should like to ask what is the proportion of persons enfranchised in the island and what are the qualifications necessary for membership of the legislature.
The danger in these Crown Colonies is that when you have a form of representavite Government, that Government tends to pass into the hands not only of the official section but of a small oligarchy, and I would like to see operative here a wider measure of self-government. Moreover, if social reform and labour legislation are to get through these Chambers, obviously there should be a more progressive element represented in the legislature, which often is not the case when 2209 the franchise is limited and a high qualification for membership of the House is called for. I would therefore like to ask the right hon. Gentleman whether he can give me an assurance in respect to these two points, because I am sure he is just as anxious as we are that fuller representative Government should be operative in the West Indies now that the occasion of framing a constitution for Dominica has arisen.
§ Mr. RileyWill the right hon. Gentleman inform us how many of the five elected members are coloured people and whether any of the three nominated members also are coloured?
§ 10.16 p.m.
§ The Secretary of State for the Colonies (Mr. Ormsby-Gore)As I said on the former occasion, there is no proposal in this Bill to make any further alteration either in the franchise or the constitution which Dominica has enjoyed since the recommendations of the Commission which went out from here in 1932 were put into effect. They went fully into the question of the franchise and established for the first time an unofficial majority in this island. No change is made in this Bill, and, as I said before, I have no intention at present, certainly not without further representation and inquiry from Dominica, of making any changes whatsoever in regard to franchise and representation. To the best of my knowledge, all the elected members are coloured, and of the nominated unofficials I am not quite sure, but certainly one is coloured. Dominica has a very small white population, and to the best of my knowledge that white population is declining. According to the last report, the white population in Dominica represents just under 1½ per cent. of the total, so that, taking the population at 47,000, it means that there are about 700 whites, which I think is a full estimate. The number of persons estimated to be qualified for the franchise is somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000.
I do not think Dominica is the kind of place where they are likely to require much labour legislation. There are no large employers of labour, and there is no industry. It is, as I said before, probably more than any other of these islands essentially a peasant island, and, as I say, under this Bill no further changes in the constitution are contemplated. 2210 All this rather legal language is merely for the purpose of re-enacting what has to be re-enacted when you have a community part of whose laws are the laws of the existing Federation and part of whose laws are their own local laws. In future they will not be part of the Federation, and therefore it is necessary to re-enact the laws and make them into one body of law. This is a Bill to de-federate Dominica and make it a separate Colony, joining with three other Windward Islands in paying the salary of a common Governor. His main powers are in regard to public safety and so on, and he has special powers, and also, as long as any one of these islands is in receipt of grants-in-aid from the Treasury here, he, of course, has to have certain special financial powers. I wish to make it clear that the object of this Bill is not to make changes, but to carry out the wishes of everyone, white and coloured, to be out of the Leeward Federation and to have a constitution of their own associated with the Windward Federation. It has no other implication, no other object, and no other purpose.
§ Clause 2 ordered to stand part of the Bill.
§ Bill reported, without Amendment.
§ Motion made, and Question proposed, "That the Bill be now read the Third time."
§ Mr. Ormsby-GoreI understand I made a mistake when I said that all the elected representatives were coloured. I understand that three out of the five are coloured, and that one of the nominated unofficials is coloured.
§ The remaining Orders were read, and postponed.