Second Schedule.—(AMENDMENTS NOT AFFECTING LAW OF GHANA.) (Hansard, 18 December 1956)

§ Mr. Maclay

I beg to move, in page 6, line 23, at the end to insert: and, during any period falling on or after the appointed day during which there is in force as part of the law of Ghana any instrument passed or made before that day which makes provision corresponding to the undertaking required to be given by the Government of a Dominion under paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section one of that Act, paragraphs (a) and (b) of the said subsection (1) shall be deemed to have been complied with in the case of Ghana. Before the appointed day, the Gold Coast Legislative Assembly will be asked to pass legislation to come into effect on the appointed day to preserve continuously the trustee status of existing Gold Coast stock and to enable future loans raised in London by Ghana to be accorded trustee status. The Amendment is necessary to ensure that such 1211 legislation passed before the appointed day will have the same effect as the legislation required by the Colonial Stock Act, 1934, which relates to the application of trustee status to loans raised by Dominions as defined in the Statutes of Westminster.

The intention of the Amendment is that legislation passed by the Gold Coast Legislative Assembly with provisions corresponding to those which would satisfy the requirements of the Colonial Stock Act, 1934, will be deemed to be an Act of the Ghana National Assembly and to satisfy the requirements of the Colonial Stock Act, 1934, in respect of the stocks of Ghana. The Gold Coast Legislative Assembly and the Ghana National Assembly, though different in name and constitutional status, will be composed of the same persons, elected by universal suffrage in 1956, and the independence Order in Council will state that the Legislative Assembly will continue as the National Assembly after the appointed date. The other conditions of the Colonial Stock Acts have been and can continue to be satisfied.