HC Deb 21 October 1953 vol 518 cc1952-7
15. Mr. Hale

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies for what reasons the Constitution of British Guiana has been summarily suspended and British troops sent to the Colony.

23. Mr. J. Johnson

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will make a statement upon the constitutional position in British Guiana.

22. Mr. G. M. Thomson

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will make a statement on the situation in British Guiana.

Mr. Lyttelton

I would refer the hon. Members to the White Paper which was published yesterday.

Mr. Hale

I am much obliged to the right hon. Gentleman, but I asked for some reasons and the White Paper does not contain any reasons. May I draw the right hon. Gentleman's attention to one point? There are headlines in today's papers about a plot to set fire to Georgetown. The Minister says that he knows of that on reliable information. What is the information?

Mr. Speaker

We are to have a debate on this matter tomorrow. I do not think that we can anticipate it.

Mr. Hale

On a point of order. Am I entitled to have your assurance, Mr. Speaker, that I shall catch your eye tomorrow?

Mr. Speaker

I am afraid that I cannot commit myself to the future as far as that.

Mr. Hale

I put what appeared to me to be a perfectly proper supplementary question. I asked for information which in my view is material for the debate tomorrow and for information for which, apart from tomorrow's debate, I am entitled to ask. I respectfully submit that to be cut out by the Chair before the right hon. Gentleman had an opportunity to reply was unprecedented.

Mr. Speaker

It was a general warning that we should not pursue British Guiana too far in the interests of other hon. Members who have Questions on other topics on which they have no debate to come, but I have no objection if the right hon. Gentleman desires to answer the question.

Mr. Hale

I am much obliged and will heed the warning.

Mr. Lyttelton

I hope that the hon. Member will agree with me that to answer questions about the reasons would take me 30 or 40 minutes. I am not prepared at this moment to answer questions in detail.

Mr. Johnson

Will the right hon. Gentleman not agree that this Constitution is almost identical with those of Barbados and Jamaica and that these are working well under a similar educational level and similar economic conditions? What is unique in British Guiana to warrant going back on the Constitution as such?

Mr. Lyttelton

I think that the hon. Member had better read the White Paper and then he will understand.

Mr. Brockway

On a point of order. I have a Question in identical terms to the Questions which have now been answered. The right hon. Gentleman has not referred to that Question. Am I to understand that he is answering my Question as well and, if so, can I put a supplementary question?

Mr. Speaker

I did not hear the right hon. Gentleman refer to Question No. 51, but if we get as far as that I shall call the hon. Member.

34. Mr. Sorensen

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what representations he has received from commercial and industrial interests in British Guiana in respect of the policy of the deposed Government; and what was the nature of their representations.

Mr. Lyttelton

Representatives of business interests in British Guiana have expressed to my Department, and once to me in person, the concern felt in the Colony at the deterioration in its administration and economic life.

Mr. Sorensen

Might I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether, included in that, was any advice or representations conveyed by these business interests? If so, approximately what was the last date on which he received such representations?

Mr. Lyttelton

I have had only one interview with a British personality in British Guiana. That was on 23rd September. He merely stated his views, to which I was in duty bound to listen, about the situation in the Colony. He made no representation whatever.

Mr. J. Johnson

Has the Minister studied the editorials of the "Daily Argus" of Georgetown? If he does, he will discover that the business interests there are as disturbed about his actions in sending gun boats and the like as we are in this House. Would he make some comment on that?

Mr. Lyttelton

I would ask the hon. Member to read two articles in the "Daily Herald" in a contrary sense.

36. Mr. Sorensen

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what evidence has been discovered of any communication between the deposed Government of British Guiana and any foreign Government; if he is satisfied that a plot existed to overthrow the British Guiana Constitution; and at what date the Governor conveyed to him the gravity of circumstances which he considered warranted the dismissal of the Ministers and the landing of troops.

Mr. Lyttelton

The answer to the first part is none so far as I am aware. As regards the second and third parts, I would invite the hon. Member's attention to the White Paper published yesterday. The series of actions of Ministers which led to the decision to send troops and suspend the Constitution were reported as they occurred over a period.

Mr. Sorensen

While assuring the right hon. Gentleman that I have read this very grave report, may I ask him again whether there is any evidence at all respecting the suggestion made in certain quarters that there has been communication between the deposed Government and some foreign Government?

Mr. Lyttelton

As I have said, there is no evidence of that.

Mr. McGovern

If there is evidence as stated in the Press that an attempt was being encouraged to burn down the town, surely that was such a criminal act—if it is true—that the people responsible should be put on trial.

Mr. Lyttelton

That is another question. Whether this plan would ever have been carried out is a matter of conjecture.

Mr. Hale

Is the right hon. Gentleman telling the House that the Attorney-General of British Guiana has considered these documents and has decided not to prosecute because there is not enough evidence or that he has not reached a decision and that the matter is still sub judice; or what is he trying to say?

Mr. Lyttelton

I have said already that the decision as to whether certain persons should be prosecuted or not is in the hands of the Attorney-General of British Guiana. I am not informed at the moment whether he intends to institute any prosecutions or not.

39. Mr. Awbery

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will take steps to set up a committee representative of all sides of this House to inquire into the circumstances which led up to the present position in Guiana.

Mr. Lyttelton

No, Sir.

Mr. Awbery

Is the Minister aware that the White Paper published yesterday and any statement he may make tomorrow will be regarded by the half-million in Guiana as an ex parte state- ment, and that if we are to restore the confidence of those people nothing will do it except an impartial inquiry by a committee of this House?

Mr. Lyttelton

I entirely dissent both from the premise and from the conclusions of the hon. Member's supplementary. It is not in the least true to say that the 450,000 inhabitants of British Guiana are against Her Majesty's Government, and I shall produce proof of that fact tomorrow.

Mr. Nicholson

Is not the best way to gain and retain confidence in that Colony to make sure of the safety of the lives and properties of the inhabitants?

Mr. Benn

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that if the revelations made by the Government were not sufficient to lead the Attorney-General to bring any charge or prosecute any offence against anyone in British Guiana, it is unlikely that those revelations will convince this House or the world that they called for the suspension of the Constitution?

Mr. Lyttelton

As usual, the hon. Member has taken a very poor point. Many things which are not criminal bring the Government into inefficiency and decay.

51. Mr. Brockway

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will make a statement on the situation in British Guiana.

Mr. Lyttelton

The hon. Member will have seen the statement published by Her Majesty's Government on 9th October. A White Paper was published yesterday and copies are available in the Vote Office. There will be a debate on Thursday, and I propose to defer any further statement until then.

Mr. Brockway

We have, of course, read that White Paper, but could the right hon. Gentleman inform us why, if the statements in that White Paper are accurate, no charges have been made against individuals, the reserve powers of the Governor have not been used, and why there was not an inquiry before the grave course of suspending the Constitution was applied?

Mr. Lyttelton

I would not deprive the hon. Member or myself of the opportunity of developing these matters which will be afforded tomorrow.

Mr. Donnelly

Is it not a fact that the Secretary of State said a few minutes ago that the question of whether the town of Georgetown would be burned down, whether a plan to burn it down would be executed, was a matter of conjecture? Will he make it a little clearer whether or not a good many of these bits of evidence are matters of conjecture, because the whole answer he gave just now throws doubt on the evidence in the White Paper and on whether the White Paper itself is not a matter of conjecture?

Mr. Lyttelton

I think there is no doubt in anybody's mind. The only doubt is whether the hon. Member has understood what I said. That is a quite different matter. What I said was that a plan had been formed. That is a fact. Whether the plan would have been carried out if the troops had not been landed and security measures taken is a matter of conjecture.