RACE DISCRIMINATION (No. 2) (Hansard, 8 July 1958)

§ Mr. John Baird (Wolverhampton, North-East)

I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to make it illegal to refuse admission to lodging houses, restaurants, dance halls, and similar establishments on the grounds of colour, race or religion. I am sorry to take up even a short time of the House when there is such an important debate to follow, but I would point out that the issue that I am raising is also a very important and grave problem which now faces the country. I want to relate this matter to what has happened in my own division. In Wolverhampton, we have a large number of coloured people, who were brought in a short time ago because we were short of labour. A new dance hall has recently been built in Wolverhampton, and the management of the dance hall is blatantly operating a colour bar. It has a notice in the foyer saying: No coloured person will be admitted here. Recently, the dance hall had to apply for a new licence. Together with the secretary of the Free Church Council and other prominent citizens of the town, I argued before the magistrates that a licence should not be granted. We admitted that it was only right that a licensee of a lodging house, restaurant or dance hall should have the right to refuse entry to any person if it were thought that he might commit a misdemeanour, and that indeed there was no need for any reason to be given, but pointed out that in this case the management was refusing admittance not to an individual, but to a whole group of individuals—a whole race of people—on the basis of their colour, and that that was an entirely different matter.

We also argued that if the magistrates granted the licence in this case it would be the beginning of a very dangerous process, and that, with a growing coloured population, it might not be long before public houses, hotels and other dance halls tried to introduce the same type of colour bar.

The magistrates were sympathetic to this appeal they said so, when they came to their decision. Nevertheless, they decided to grant the licence. I do not 206 know whether it is true, but I am informed that they were told that they could take no other course; the law was such that they had to grant a licence. I have been speaking to some of my learned hon. Friends in the House, however, and they tell me that the magistrates had the right to use their discretion in the matter. They could have granted or refused the licence without giving a reason. Therefore, there seems to be some ambiguity about the law in this matter, and if the House agrees to give my proposed Bill a First Reading, and it is eventually passed into law, it will certainly clear up that ambiguity.

However, it is not enough that magistrates should be able to use their discretion in these matters. Where a colour bar is involved the magistrates must be given guidance when granting a licence. They should be under a legal obligation to refuse a licence to any public place operating a colour bar. In passing, I would point out that the State of New York has such legislation at present.

This problem has become much more serious over the last few years, and it applies not only in Wolverhampton. Since the dance hall there operated a colour bar a large dance hall in Birmingham has introduced a modified colour bar. Every hon. Member has heard of and would, I am sure, deplore the action of the Goring Hotel, in London, in turning away three coloured American ladies who had reserved rooms in that hotel some time ago. If any member of the management of the Goring Hotel reads the debate and thinks that the Bill does not refer to that hotel, I would say now that, although the Goring Hotel is visited by bishops and royalty, it is still a common lodging house as far as our law is concerned, and the Bill would refer to it as well as to dance halls and restaurants.

But I should be the first to admit that this is not an easy problem. There is also much prejudice among ordinary people. When two groups of people with different social habits live in close proximity there is bound to be friction, and in my division that friction exists among working-class people. In the Midlands at present there is already some under-employment. Many men working in the factories are worried by the fear of redundancy. This is leading to friction between the two races.

207 At some time in the near future it may be necessary to pass legislation restricting immigration to this country, but if we make such legislation it must not be on the basis of colour. But even restricted immigration will not solve the problem, and we certainly will not solve it by segregation. In the long run, the only way to solve it will be by education among both races, and by seeing that much more welfare work is carried out among coloured people. Some people argue that we shall not do anything by legislation; that we can solve this problem only by education. That may have been true some time ago, but there are so many cases of this kind arising now that I say that legislation and education must go hand-in-hand. That is why I am moving this Motion.

Most of these coloured people, 90 per cent. or more, are members of the British Commonwealth of Nations. Many of them fought on our side during the war. Nearly all of them came to this country because of bad economic conditions in their own country which were not brought about by them, but for which we have some responsibility. Let us not ostracise these members of our British Commonwealth of Nations, but offer them the hand of friendship.