HC Deb 15 April 1958 vol 586 cc9-10
12. Mr. Braine

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies when the Constitutional Commission now at work in the Somaliland Protectorate will report.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

The Governor has told me that he hopes that the Commission will be able to report to him within approximately two months.

Mr. Braine

Can my right hon. Friend say whether the work of the Commission has been delayed and, if there has been a delay, would he consider at least two reasons for making an entirely new approach to the whole question; the first being the impossibility of holding elections, as we understand them here, in a country where half the population spends half the year outside, in Ethiopia; and the second, the impending changes in Somalia, for which the Somalis cannot be——

Mr. Speaker

Order. That supplementary question seems to me to go much beyond the Question on the Order Paper. The hon. Member only asked for an approximate date.

Mr. Braine

With respect, Mr. Speaker, as my right hon. Friend well knows, these questions are relevant to the Question on the Order Paper.

Mr. Speaker

I am afraid I am the judge of that and that the hon. Member must accept my decision.

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