NYASALAND (STATE OF EMERGENCY) (Hansard, 3 March 1959)

§ The Secretary of State for the Colonies (Mr. Alan Lennox-Boyd)
Since the statement of my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations, on Friday, 27th February, the situation in Nyasaland has continued tense. The airstrip at Fort Hill was recovered with the aid of a detachment of Tanganyika police; it is now in use again for light aircraft.
The presence of the reinforcements from other parts of the Federation had the effect of preventing major disturbances in the last few days; but the situation continued to be so dangerous and there was such clear indication of the intention of the Congress to stir up further disturbances, involving widespread violence and murder of European, Asian, and moderate African leaders, that the Governor was compelled this morning to declare a state of emergency.
Leading members of the Congress, including Dr. Banda, have been detained and removed out of the Protectorate to Southern Rhodesia, where they will be held as long as the Governor of Nyasaland thinks it necessary. It would be clearly impracticable, in present circumstances, to detain them in Nyasaland.
I am now awaiting a full report from the Governor, and will give the House further information as soon as it is available.
I am sure that this action was necessary in the interests of people of all races in Nyasaland, including the great majority of peaceful and law-abiding Africans whose lives and property have been threatened by the violence instigated by the Nyasaland African Congress.
When order has been restored, Her Majesty's Government will certainly resume with the Governor consideration of what constitutional reforms may be appropriate.

§ Mr. Callaghan
Did the Colonial Secretary see in The Times this morning that the Governor of Nyasaland said at his Press conference yesterday afternoon—that is, barely 24 hours ago—that … no state of emergency was needed in Nyasaland to act against dissidents."? Is not this the most extraordinary state of emergency that has ever been declared? Have we ever had such a categorical statement made by a Governor about the absence of a need for a state of emergency so soon before one has been declared? Is not the reality of the position that the Governor is not acting freely, that the Colonial Secretary has to support what is done, whether he agrees or not, because he is abdicating his responsibilities to the Central Government?
Is not this exactly what was asked by the Federal authorities a week ago, and refused by the Governor of Nyasaland at that time, and is not the Colonial Secretary ashamed to come here and camouflage the real position in Nyasaland, which is that a few panic-stricken people are now precipitating trouble, and that all the poison gas of propaganda against the Africans, all the smears, all the denigrations, will now be used to justify an act that has no responsibility behind it and will merely foment further trouble in this territory?

§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd
At his Press conference yesterday the Governor said he was not prepared to make any statement about the state of emergency—[HON. MEMBERS: "No."]—about the imposition of a state of emergency, and what his intentions were in that matter. The general action has certainly not been taken because of outside pressure. It has been taken freely by the Governor of Nyasaland with the full support of Her Majesty's Government.

§ Mr. Callaghan
Is the Colonial Secretary saying, then, that the report in The Times this morning from Blantyre, dated 2nd March, is inaccurate, and that the Governor did not say what he is reported in that newspaper to have said? If that is so, surely there is something radically wrong either with the reporting from there or the information that has reached the Colonial Secretary.

§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd
As the hon. Gentleman read that quotation, it was to the 218 effect that a state of emergency might make it necessary to take one particular action that the Governor has taken in Nyasaland. As far as I can make out from the quotation which the hon. Gentleman read, the Governor has to take other actions as well as the deportadons consequent on the state of emergency. The Governor, when asked whether he intended to declare a state of emergency, refused, for natural reasons, to be drawn on this matter.

§ Mr. Callaghan
I will read the quotation again: Sir Robert Armitage, the Governor of Nyasaland, said at his Press conference this afternoon that no state of emergency was needed in Nyasaland to act against dissidents. Is not this in line with the whole attitude of the Governor of Nyasaland throughout the past week? Have not all his expressions of opinion, as they have came here in the Press, been against the state of emergency which has now been declared, and is not the Colonial Secretary aware that we shall need far more than his assurance before we believe that the Federal authorities have not been responsible for this?

Hon. Members
Answer.

§ Mr. Brockway
May I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether it is not a fact that up to three days ago any disturbances in Nyasaland were of a minor character; that if they have become more serious it has been since the Federal Government have sent troops into the territory? Is it not also the fact that the Governor of Nyasaland has resisted up to the last moment the extreme courses which have been pressed upon him by the Federal Government?
Is this not a disgraceful surrender on the part of our Government to the conspiracy of the Prime Minister of the Federation—[Hon MEMBERS: "Oh."]£a conspiracy on the part of the Prime Minister of the Federation and of Southern Rhodesia to have a showdown with the African population before Labour is returned to office in this country?

§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd
The statements made by the hon. Gentleman are quite untrue from first to last. The Governor of Nyasaland was himself anxious, naturally, to avoid having to establish a state of emergency and he delayed quite 219 a time before doing so. It was certainly not the arrival of troops from Southern Rhodesia which worsened the situation. The troops came at the request of the Governor of Nyasaland, who asked for that support to maintain law and order.
May I point out a curious fact, that there was an announcement that my noble Friend, Lord Perth, the Minister of State for the Colonies, was going out to Nyasaland merely to help to bring to a head the constitutional talks that have been going on for some time. The Chief Secretary told Dr. Banda this and pointed out the utmost need for those talks to be carried on in a state of tranquillity. Despite this appeal violence rose to a high pitch, and I cannot refrain from thinking that there may have been some friction between the two, and a desire not to allow the constitutional talks to take place in a calm atmosphere.

§ Mr. Gaitskell
rose—

§ Sir J. Duncan
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. You will have heard the hon. Member for Eton and Slough (Mr. Brockway) say that there was a conspiracy on the part of the Prime Minister of a friendly State. Is it in order to make such allegations against the head of a friendly State, and if it is not in order, should not the hon. Gentleman be asked to withdraw that statement?

§ Mr. Speaker
I did not think that the word in itself, though not agreeable, was out of order. I put the most favourable construction I can upon the utterances of hon. Members, which is sometimes not very easy. I took it in the sense that it was some sort of compact or agreement. I did not think that it carried with it any sinister significance.

§ Sir J. Duncan
Further to that point of order, Sir. The hon. gentleman specifically referred to the Prime Minister, not to the Governor or to any particular party, but to the head of the Federation. If it is not in order, is it not right that the hon. Gentleman should be asked to withdraw that accusation?

§ Mr. Speaker
Mr. Gaitskell.

§ Mr. Gaitskell
May I ask the Colonial Secretary for a reply to the question put to him by my hon. Friend: why the Governor of Nyasaland changed his mind within 24 hours, between making a state- 220 ment in which he said that, in his opinion, there was no need for a state of emergency—[HON. MEMBERS: "No."] Yes, the quotation was read—to deal with dissidents, and the declaration of a state of emergency? Will the Colonial Secretary say whether he agrees that the Governor made the statement, or does he say that he denies it? If he made it, why has he changed his mind. Will the Colonial Secretary say whether, during the last few days, any representations have been received from the Federal Government urging upon Her Majesty's Government that a state of emergency should be proclaimed in Nyasaland?

§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd
The Governor certainly did not change his mind. Up to almost the last moment he hoped, as we all did, that the state of emergency could be avoided. He came to the conclusion yesterday that it could not be avoided and it was imposed early this morning. [HON. MEMBERS: "Why?"] It was imposed solely by the act of the Governor, with the full authority of Her Majesty's Government.

§ Mr. Gaitskell
Will the right hon. Gentleman answer my second question? Was any representation received from the Federation urging Her Majesty's Government to impose a state of emergency in Nyasaland?

§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd
Approaches were made by the territorial Government to the Federal Government for military help. That was the nature of the representations made.

§ Mr. F. M. Bennett
Does not my right hon. Friend agree from his reading of The Times—if he has read it, as I have—that there seems to be some misunderstanding? Does he not agree that the Governor said something quite different from what has been suggested, that a state of emergency was not necessary to take a certain action of the sort he described, to deal with dissidents, that he did not say that a state of emergency was not needed and would not be needed, but that he merely said that it would not be needed in a certain context?

§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd
That is what I said earlier.

§ Mr. Gaitskell
Will the right hon. Gentleman answer my question? Were 221 any representations received from the Federal Government urging Her Majesty's Government and the Governor to impose a state of emergency in Nyasaland? Is not that a straight question?

§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd
It is not for me, as Colonial Secretary, to give information as to what may pass between Governments for which Her Majesty's Government are not responsible. All I can say, speaking for the Governor, for whom I am responsible, is that the representations concerned the dispatch of troops. Needless to say, the declaration of a state of emergency is regarded by the Government of the Federation as a wise move, just as we regard it as a wise move.

§ Mr. Callaghan
Can we not take it that the Federal Government did make representations and that it was those representations which caused the Governor of Nyasaland to change his mind?

§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd
The hon. Member can take no such thing.

§ Mrs. Castle
Is not evidence now accumulating to show that the Colonial Office has brought pressure to bear on the Nyasaland Government, overruling the judgment of the Governor on the spot, to take action in obedience to pressure from the Federal Government?
Is the Colonial Secretary aware that in his report in The Times of yesterday, its correspondent, referring to the introduction of Tanganyika police into the Fort Hill area of Nyasaland, said that he understood that the Tanganyika Government had insisted that their police should go in and were backed in their demand by the Federal Government and that they were concerned at the indecision of the Nyasaland Government in curbing the rioters?
Can the Colonial Secretary say on whose instructions the Tanganyika Government insisted on sending police into Nyasaland, apparently not at the invitation of the Governor of Nyasaland? Was it on his invitation?

§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd
The assumptions and innuendos in the hon. Lady's question are not true. What is in a newspaper cannot be regarded invariably as gospel, as the hon. Lady has herself pointed out from time to time. The 222 movement of troops to Fort Hill was at the request of the Government of Nyasaland. There was no pressure from outside.

§ Mr. Gower
Is my right hon. Friend aware that the Opposition would be the first to complain if an ugly situation developed in Nyasaland without proper steps being taken?

§ Mr. Paget
Are not Dr. Banda and his colleagues British-protected persons? Is it not a breach of our moral obligations, our treaty obligations, and our constitutional obligations to move them out of our protection into an area where we have no jurisdiction?

§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd
I regard the duty of the protecting Power as being far more applicable in the case of our responsibilities to the vast number of Africans who want to live in peace.

§ Sir L. Ungoed-Thomas
Does the Colonial Secretary consider, then, that he has no duty towards protected persons of whom he disapproves, and that he can disregard their individual rights in favour of his conception of the general interest?

§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd
No, Sir. I believe no such thing, but I think that the protecting Power, apart from its duty to individuals, also has a very great duty to the country which it protects. That is all I say. The reason for moving them out of Nyasaland was that it would clearly be impracticable, in present circumstances, to detain them in Nyasaland. I remind the House of a number of recent incidents when members of the Nyasaland Congress, which is Dr. Banda's party, attacked gaols in Nyasaland to try to release prisoners. I am satisfied that the action taken by the Nyasaland Government is right.

§ Mr. Gaitskell
The right hon. Gentleman has not explained why, if it was impracticable to keep them in Nyasaland, it was necessary to move them to Southern Rhodesia, a territory over which we have no jurisdiction. Why were they not moved to Northern Rhodesia, Tanganyika, or some other British Colony?

§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd
This is a matter in which local judgment must obviously play a large part. I remind the right hon. Gentleman that prisons and the running of prisons are a Federal responsibility. Whether they have been 223 imprisoned in Nyasaland, Northern Rhodesia, or Southern Rhodesia it would equally have been a Federal prison.

§ Mr. Callaghan
In view of the most unsatisfactory explanation which we have just heard, I beg to ask leave to move, under Standing Order No. 9, the Adjournment of the House for the purpose of discussing a definite matter of urgent public importance, namely, the declaration of a state of emergency in Nyasaland.

§ Mr. Speaker
The hon. Member asks leave to move, under Standing Order No. 9, the Adjournment of the House for the purpose of discussing a definite matter of urgent public importance, namely, the declaration of a state of emergency in Nyasaland. Does the hon. Member have the support of the House?