HC Deb 28 June 1939 vol 349 cc407-9
51. Mr. de Rothschild

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he has yet had an opportunity of studying the texts of the Deportation, Sedition, and Undesirable Literature Bills and of the Trade Union and Trade Disputes Bill, which have been under discussion in the legislative council of Sierra Leone; and whether, before coming to a decision, he will take steps to ascertain the views of those who oppose these Measures?

Mr. M. MacDonald

I have not yet received copies of each of the Bills as passed by the Legislative Council. Copies of the Sedition Ordinance, and of the Undesirable Publications Ordinance, have reached me and are being placed in the Library of the House. I am asking the Governor to inform me of the particular points on which the Measures have been opposed, and will consider these in the course of my examination of the ordinances when they arrive.

Mr. Sorensen

When is the right hon. Gentleman likely to make some decision regarding the features of these ordinances, and is he not aware that there is in West Africa considerable resistance to and resentment at the ordinances?

Mr. MacDonald

I shall have to await the arrival in this country of the ordinances before I can make any statement. I am not certain when they will arrive. I am aware of the situation which the hon. Member described, but I am satisfied that a great deal of the agitation is due to a misapprehension as to what is contained in the ordinances.

Mr. Paling

Does the Minister think that the adoption of repressive legislation is the best way of considering the interests of the people of this Colony?

Mr. MacDonald

I could not agree that it is repressive legislation. Examination of the ordinances, which will be placed in the Library of the House as soon as they arrive, will convince every Member of the House that that is so.

Mr. Maxton

Why does the right hon. Gentleman say that he must await the arrival of these ordinances, when they were sent out by the Colonial Office earlier on? The right hon. Gentleman sent them out.

Mr. MacDonald

That is not the position. In some cases we did send them out as model ordinances, but the Bills which were introduced in the Colony differed somewhat from them. I have been in communication with the Governor since, regarding this matter, but I do not know in what form the ordinances were finally passed.

Mr. Maxton

Does the right hon. Gentleman know that I have read in the most recent issue of a Sierra Leone newspaper a verbatim report of the Governor's speech in which the Governor said that these matters were sent out to him by the right hon. Gentleman?

Mr. MacDonald

I said that there was some misunderstanding. Some of the ordinances referred to were based on model ordinances which we sent out some time ago. The Bills, as introduced, differ in some respects. In other cases they are not based on the model ordinances sent out from the Colonial Office. I have been in communication with the Governor on certain details of the Bills as introduced, and I made certain suggestions, but because I am not certain of the final form in which they were passed I cannot make any further statement now.

Mr. Stephen

Will the right hon. Gentleman issue a White Paper?

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