§ 41. Mr. Rankinasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what agreement was reached during the discussions with the Singapore delegation on the provisions in the proposed constitution requiring British consent before the colony of Singapore could open trade negotiations with any other country.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydThe arrangements in paragraph 36 of the report of last year's Constitutional Conference (Cmd. No. 147) and the terms of the dispatch delegating authority to the Singapore Government, which is printed as Appendix B to Cmd. No. 147, were confirmed without alteration.
§ Mr. RankinMay I take it from that Answer that Singapore will not be in a worse condition under the new constitution than it was when Mr. David Marshall was able to head a delegation of fifty business men from Singapore to Peking to conduct trading negotiations?
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydIt would be very rash of me to answer such a sweeping question of that kind without any knowledge of the precise point which the hon. Member has in mind.