§ 8. Sir Edward Keelingasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies why £47,000 is being spent this year on additional bases in the Falkland Islands Dependencies to support any claims to sovereignty.
§ Mr. LytteltonHer Majesty's Government consider it essential to maintain British sovereignty in the Falkland Islands Dependencies. Local revenues are insufficient to support the bases necessary for this purpose.
§ Sir E. KeelingI quite agree, but considering that we have been in possession of these dependencies for very many years, would it not have been better for the Estimates to speak of defending our rights or resisting other people's claims.
§ Mr. LytteltonI think perhaps that is a good point.
§ Mr. YoungerWill the right hon. Gentleman agree that this method of obtaining our just claims in these dependencies is a very much more successful way of doing it than some of the old fashioned strong-arm methods recommended to us by his hon. Friends when they were on this side of the House and we were the Government?
§ Mr. LytteltonThat is a hypothetical question.
§ Mr. Patrick MaitlandWill my right hon. Friend bear in mind the extreme 451 strategic importance of maintaining a passage between the Atlantic and the Pacific in the event of the Panama Canal ever being blocked?