COMMONWEALTH AND COLONIES (Hansard, 27 November 1952)

§ Mr. M. Follick (Loughborough)
I am very lucky, after waiting so long, still to have the opportunity of making use of the lucky result of the Ballot which gave me this Adjournment, because I wish to speak about the Commonwealth and the Colonies on the very day—it is still Thursday—that the conference of the Commonwealth Prime Ministers starts its discussions. I want to put before the House some suggestions which, I think, are constructive, and although I know that they are very contentious I would point out that what may seem contentious today may, in a very short time, appear to the world at large to be very constructive.
The United Kingdom, with nearly 51 million inhabitants, has no chance whatever of existing on its own, and we shall have to see in what way we can tighten the bonds that bind us all together in the Commonwealth and the Colonial Empire. I remember that shortly after Dr. Malan became Prime Minister in South Africa, I was, I think, the first politician from this country to visit him. I went with Sir Evelyn Baring, and I asked Dr. Malan whether South Africa 953 intended to go out of the Commonwealth; because we were then very afraid of what might happen. He replied, definitely, "No," but said that what he wanted to see was a different sort of relationship; that he no longer wanted the Mother country relation with the Dominions, but to have all sister nations in the Commonwealth.
When I returned to this country I reported that in this House, and ever since then the Leader of the Opposition, at least, has called these countries the sister nations of the Commonwealth. The United Kingdom is now also a sister nation of the Commonwealth. But the threads which bind us together are like gossamer, and unless we do something to strengthen them there may be a gradual dissolution of the Commonwealth.
We see that Canada is not only appointing her diplomatic missions with Ministers, but actually embassies; and not only in the most important centres of the world, in minor posts like in Mexico City, in Caracas and in Ankara. We see a definite trend away from the Empire and Commonwealth. In the Pacific we see Australia and New Zealand being drawn into the Pacific Treaty, in which we were not included. These are disturbing trends, and we have to see how we can knit ourselves together and mingle our affairs so as to find common interests. We have to make ourselves dependent on each other rather than upon ourselves.
In the first place I would like to see the Colonial Empire taken out of the hands of Whitehall and made a responsibility of the whole Commonwealth, so that every sister nation would have a mutual interest with all the other sister nations in the functions of the Colonial Empire. This is not a new question. It has already been raised in the Canadian Parliament. Mr. Neil McLean raised it on 16th March last. He suggested that Bermuda and the West Indies should be handed over to Canada for responsible functions as Colonies. I would rather have seen that than what has happened recently in the handing over of responsibility for Bermuda's defence to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
If the Colonial Empire became the responsibility of all the sister nations, so that all had some voice in decisions affecting the Colonial Empire, they would 954 have to come together to debate and decide upon matters. I would like to see fewer Governors drawn from this country. This has been done almost monotonously. Governors could be drawn from eminent citizens from all parts of the Commonwealth. I do not see why there could not be an outstanding Canadian as Governor of Australia, for instance, or an eminent South African as Governor of New Zealand.
I should also like to see prominent British negroes given high functions of this description. I do not see why we could not have a British negro Governor of Uganda or of the Gold Coast. We have these people in Jamaica and Trinidad capable of fulfilling those functions. In the New York State Assembly and Senate there are two British-born negroes as representatives. One is from Trinidad, the other from St. Kitts. It is true they have become United States citizens, but they must be eminent negroes to have achieved such distinction in a land which they have only adopted as their own.
The one from St. Kitts is Bertram Baker and is in the New York State Assembly; the other, in the Senate, is Julius Archibald. If the Americans can make use of British-born negroes in the highest positions of Government, why cannot we do so? Is there any reason why we cannot appoint a Jamaican or a Trinidadian, or someone from any other part of the British Empire, to take over these high functions? It would bind us to the Empire.
We must remember that the French were doing this before the war. They were appointing their own coloured people. In fact, in the Chad Territory, in 1940, if it had not been for the negro Governor, we might have lost the war before the Battle of Britain. His name was Félix Eboué, and he was a negro from French Guiana. When every other territory of France went over to Petain, the only territory that remained loyal to the British Treaty with France was the Chad Territory. If it had not been for the decision of that Governor to remain loyal to the Treaty, we might not have been able to send our aircraft from West Africa via the Chad Territory to Egypt.
Then there is the case of Dr. Bunche, a man who succeeded in a diplomatic mission in which white diplomats had failed. Why not treat British citizens as 955 such, irrespective of any other race or face or anything else? I do not see why we should not have an eminent Pakistani as Governor of Zanzibar. I do not see why we could not use fully our different races of citizens. There are sister nations of the Commonwealth who rely on United Kingdom embassies or legations. Why should we not have Australians or Canadians as ambassadors in those places?
After all, the present Prime Minister, during the war, made use of Mr. Casey in this way. There is no reason why we cannot extend that practice and make it part of the function of the Commonwealth and Empire. There is no reason why we should not appoint negro ambassadors, important British citizens, to republics like Liberia and Haiti and Abyssinia. Also, although it is a difficult subject to bring up, we might have tried, in the case of the East African problem, to negotiate with an eminent negro there, whether a Jamaican or Trinidadian. He could have gone to the Kikuyu and explained, "We have achieved all this without violence. You follow our example and you will achieve the same. In Jamaica whites and blacks live uniformly and comfortably together and there is no reason why, with proper negotiations and behaviour, the same cannot happen in East Africa."
Let us see if we cannot mingle the different ways and new ideas, bringing the whole Commonwealth together as partners; and not only members of the Commonwealth, but people whose interests are bound up together. In that way we should consolidate the Commonwealth and Empire. I am quite sure that we can find in our Empire the people we need. I do not see why a Singalese should not be Governor of Hong Kong, or Singapore or an Indian British Ambassador to China. Why always somebody from the United Kingdom, making the United Kingdom still the Mother country of this Commonwealth?
I should like to quote from a newspaper in New Zealand—one of our most loyal parts of the Commonwealth, decrying the way we make use of the Commonwealth Relations Office; not giving it proper treatment, and thinking of it as something of a toy. This news- 956 paper the "New Zealand Herald" stated as recently as 25th November of this year that today the British Commonwealth Relations Office looked like developing into a sort of hitching-post of British politics. Ministers were tethered to it for short periods, but soon made way for newcomers. Lord Swinton will be the sixth Commonwealth Relations Secretary in seven years. Here is a comment from one of our most loyal parts of the Commonwealth, and unless we do get down to this fact and bind ourselves together, we shall see a gradual dissolution and drifting away. In this House there are six hon. Members who are Canadians. I am not protesting against that; it is the right procedure. What I protest against is that we do not get such treatment right through the Commonwealth. British citizens should be accepted right through the Commonwealth, just as we have mixed Canadians with us here in this House.
In different parts of the Commonwealth I imagine that there are nearly 100 million negroes, but we have not got one here in the House of Commons. In the past, we have had an Indian—the only one so far as I know. This House is not representative as part of the Commonwealth; nor are the other sister nations. If we go on in this way, we shall drift apart. Members of the Commonwealth and Empire must be accepted all over the Commonwealth as equal citizens. Unless we do that, we shall not be fair to the Commonwealth and Empire. If we could only have one or two negroes in this House, what a difference it would make in those new territories where we are building up and proceeding towards self-government.
I want to give the Minister time to reply to these very difficult questions, although I do not want to give him too much time because these are questions he cannot really answer. The answer must come from the feeling in the country, and the development of the whole idea. If only we could develop this so that we really belonged to each other, with all our interests mutual, and realised that the Colonial Empire is a responsibility for each one of us! Then we should build up something the world has never seen. We should have built from settlement to Colony, to self-governing Colony, to Dominion, and then to sister nation. Now the crown needs to be set on the whole 957 thing. Build us up together, jumble us up together; make our interests interwoven. Then we shall have an Empire second to none; greater than the world has ever seen before.

§ The Under-Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations (Mr. John Foster)
The hon. Member for Loughborough (Mr. Follick) counted himself fortunate in having this Adjournment Motion on the occasion of the Commonwealth Prime Ministers' conference and I think he is indeed fortunate to have the opportunity of putting forward these interesting suggestions. He made his observations from the point of view—with which I venture to disagree a little—that the Commonwealth links are disintegrating.

§ Mr. Follick
Dissolving.

§ Mr. Foster
Well, dissolving, as the hon. Member says. I beg to differ from that. The Commonwealth is not disintegrating or dissolving in any sense whatever and I do not think that the instances the hon. Member quoted showed that at all.
He said that the Canadian Government had inaugurated some new representative posts in Latin-America and gave an instance of the Canadian Government starting an embassy. The Commonwealth countries are independent countries and have their diplomatic representation where they wish. In some countries where there is no need in their view for separate diplomatic posts they agree that one or other of the Commonwealth countries should make their diplomatic representations for them. I do not think that the fact that the Canadian Government may have set up an embassy in any particular country shows in the slightest that the Commonwealth links are dissolving.

§ Mr. Gordon Walker (Smethwick)
The hon. and learned Gentleman will remember that Canada appointed its first Minister as long ago as 1920.

§ Mr. Foster
I am much obliged to the right hon. Member. I think it is important that it should not go out from this House that we really consider appointing a diplomatic representative indicates in any way a lessening of the Commonwealth ties.
958 When the hon. Member was mentioning Mr. Casey it occurred to me what a happy experience it was that he was appointed Governor of Bengal during the war and we had the advantages of a great and experienced Australian in that post. As the hon. Member said, his questions are not questions I can answer today, but Her Majesty's Government will note with interest what the hon. Member has said and the suggestions he made. My right hon. Friends the Secretary of State for the Colonies and the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, who are both concerned with some of the suggestions, will have them drawn to their attention. I also feel that, on the occasion of the Prime Ministers being gathered together in London in conference, the hon. Member's Adjournment debate will no doubt be brought to their notice. I conclude by again saying how fortunate he has been and how interested we have been in his suggestions. They will be carefully noted by all concerned.

§ Mr. Harold Davies (Leek)
I should like to congratulate my hon. Friend on having raised this debate at this important juncture. I should like it to be put on record that, on the eve of this conference, we in this House, whatever our political party, do not forget our indebtedness to the Colonies.
I will not go into the political cut and thrust of debate, but by the sale of raw materials this country is in debt to many under-developed peoples in our Empire. It is the bounden duty of an advanced country like ours to find a way, as soon as possible, to repay those unrequited exports. We hope that at the Commonwealth conference we shall do our utmost to repay the debts we owe the people struggling for a standard of life which we should all be happy to see them attain.

§ Mr. Gordon Walker (Smethwick)
Might I press upon the hon. and learned Gentleman one matter which my hon. Friend the Member for Loughborough (Mr. Follick) raised and which I think is most important now? I should like him to pay attention to the possibility of appointing Canadians, Australians, and so on, to the governorships of some of the important Colonies. That would 959 be an important step forward. We were giving some thought to this matter when we were in office. I hope that careful attention will be given to the question.

§ Mr. J. Foster
The Minister of State for Colonial Affairs is present and has carefully noted the remarks of the right hon. Gentleman and his hon. Friends. I am glad that the hon. Member for Loughborough persisted in his Adjournment. 960 There was no suggestion by us that he should abandon it. It is good that at the end of a long day's work it should go out from this House that we are prepared to discuss the Commonwealth and Colonies and to hear interesting suggestions about them in this House.