HC Deb 13 March 1957 vol 566 cc1137-8
53. Mr. Royle

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will make a statement on the Government's intentions arising from the Report of the British Caribbean Federal Capital Commission (Colonial 328), with particular reference to paragraphs 45, 47 and 53.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

The British Caribbean Federal Capital Commission was an independent body appointed in accordance with the recommendations of the 1956 Conference on British Caribbean Federation, to provide the Standing Federation Committee with impartial advice and information that would assist them in reaching a decision on the choice of a Federal Capital. As I said in reply to the hon. Member for Aberdeen, South (Lady Tweedsmuir) on 20th February, that choice has now, by the decision of the Committee, come to rest on Trinidad. It is not one in which Her Majesty's Government would have wished to intervene.

The paragraphs of the Report to which the Question refers were written at a time when a general election was pending in Trinidad; they are an expression of the personal views of the three members of the Commission; and they relate specifically to the choice of a Federal Capital. Consideration of them in any other context is primarily a matter for the people and Government of Trinidad.

Mr. Royle

Will the right hon. Gentleman take it that I am quite familiar with all that he has said in the course of his Answer, but will he be a little more forthcoming and make it quite plain that the implied criticism of Dr. Eric Williams, his party, and his Government is, in the right hon. Gentleman's view, quite unjustified in all the circumstances, and that Dr. Eric Williams and his people are not Communist, they are not corrupt, and they are not colour-prejudiced? Will he say that he believes that to be the position?

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

I certainly agree that they are not Communist, corrupt, or colour-prejudiced; but I would remind the House that the members of the Commission happened to visit Trinidad at the height of election fever, when local animosities and divisions of opinion were rather emphasised, which, no doubt, might apply elsewhere in similar circumstances.

Lady Tweedsmuir

Will my right hon. Friend say whether the capital site has yet been chosen, and what were the considerations which led the Commission to choose Trinidad?

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

I am quite prepared to circulate a fuller answer on that matter in the OFFICIAL REPORT. The precise location in Trinidad has not yet been fully settled.