HC Deb 05 May 1948 vol 450 cc1242-3
7. Mr. Thomas Reid

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what local State managed schemes, pilot schemes or otherwise, have recently been initiated in the Colonies to increase the production of wealth therein in respect to food or raw materials.

Mr. Rees-Williams

In almost every Colony, Government Departments and research stations are busy on schemes of different kinds to increase supplies of food and raw materials, and I fear it would be impossible to deal adequately with the subject within the limits of this reply. The subject will be covered in the Annual Report on the Colonial Empire which the Secretary of State hopes to make available to the House later in the Session, and I would ask my hon. Friend to be good enough to wait for that.

Mr. H. D. Hughes

Will my hon. Friend see that under these schemes, when they are initiated, there will be adequate representation of Colonial opinion on any bodies or corporations that may be set up?

Mr. Rees-Williams

Normally these schemes are in the development plans for the Colonial territories, and these are passed through the Colonial legislatures; and, in every case, the opinions of the various races in the territory are represented on the legislature, so that there is full opportunity for those views to be known.