HC Deb 23 November 1943 vol 393 c1452
66. Mr. Mathers

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he will make a statement regarding efforts to check the increasing cost of living in Cyprus, and the treatment of persons who demonstrated publicly against the Government's failure effectively to prevent hardship arising from this cause?

The Secretary of State for the Colonies (Colonel Oliver Stanley)

I have nothing to add to the statements made by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Dominions on 13th October and by myself on 3rd November in reply to similar Questions by the hon. Member.

Mr. Mathers

Does not the right hon. and gallant Gentleman realise that an instrument passed a number of years ago for an entirely different purpose is hardly one to use in what is quite a constitutional effort to have attention drawn to a serious grievance in the island?

Colonel Stanley

It is true that the Measure has been in force for some time, but even had such a Measure not been in force before, it would have been necessary in the war-time conditions of Cyprus to introduce it.