HC Deb 19 July 1960 vol 627 cc421-5

Motion made, and question proposed, That the Clause stand part of the Bill.

Mr. Stonehouse

A number of points were not cleared up in the explanation given on Second Reading. I refer, in particular, to those parts of the Clause referring to the laws of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. We on this side should like to know why special reference is made to the laws of the Federal Legislature of Rhodesia and Nyasaland and why these are specifically excluded in this way. Are we to understand that it is because of some agreement reached with the Federal Prime Minister in 1957? Is this an understanding with him? Why are the Federal laws specifically excluded?

Mr. J. Amery

The point raised by the hon. Member for Wednesbury (Mr. Stonehouse) is an easy one to deal with and relates to subsection (6). The subsection does three things. First, defines what is meant by "existing law". The Clause is aimed at dealing with the operation of the existing law of the United Kingdom so far as it applies to Cyprus. The general principle at which the Clause aims is that the existing United Kingdom law applying to the Colony of Cyprus should continue to apply to the Republic of Cyprus, subject to certain qualifications.

One qualification is that the United Kingdom Government and other competent authorities can revise or revoke the laws in question. Another is that, where the existing law distinguishes, as it does in many cases—for instance, the Army and Air Force Acts—between de pendent and independent members of the Commonwealth, Cyprus should be treated as if it were an independent member of the Commonwealth. A third qualification is set out in the Schedule, which lists a number of Acts whose adaptation is necessary because they would not be caught by the general provision in subsection (1).

The subsection also applies the provisions of subsection (1)—that is to say, those which make existing United Kingdom law as it applies to the Colony applicable to the Republic—to the laws of the Colonies, Protectorates and Trust Territories under the United Kingdom. Do I carry the hon. Gentleman with me so far?

Mr. Stonehouse

Not completely.

Mr. Amery

I will try to explain it again. The object of the Clause is to apply to the Republic, subject to the qualifications I explained a moment ago, the existing law of the United Kingdom as it applies to the Colony, in such matters as the Army and Air Force Acts, Imperial Preference, import duties, exchange control and other such matters. We are concerned with applying not only existing United Kingdom law to the Republic, but also existing law in the Colonies, Protectorates and Trust Territories. Do I carry the hon. Gentleman with me now?

Mr. Stonehouse

Yes.

Mr. Amery

Two of the Federal Territories are Protectorates. It has been for some time a convention of Parliament that Parliament does not legislate in the United Kingdom for Southern Rhodesia or for the Federation or for any of the territories in the Federation in matters which are within the legislative competence of the Federation or of Southern Rhodesia.

At the risk of anticipating a point the hon. Gentleman may raise, I will tell the Committee that I realise that there are certain matters which remain within the competence of the United Kingdom and over which we could legislate in respect both of Southern Rhodesia and of the Federation, but in all those matters which are within the legislative competence of Southern Rhodesia and the Federation, and accepted as within their competence, it has become the convention that we do not legislate for them.

Therefore, when in this Clause and in subsection (6) we say that the existing law in the United Kingdom shall apply in respect of the Republic as it has in respect of the Colony of Cyprus and that this shall be the case for Colonies, Protectorates and Trust Territories we have to go on, if we are to keep faith with that convention, to exempt from this Clause those matters which come within the legislative purview of Southern Rhodesia and the Federation.

Mr. Callaghan

I think that we are following the argument, but I wish to ask the hon. Gentleman to give me a practical and concrete example of what this means. I am not trying to trip him up.

Mr. Amery

The hon. Gentleman may have succeeded in tripping me up. Whether he intended to is another question.

I cannot give him all the provisions. There are certain matters accepted as being within the legislative purview of either the Federal Legislature or the Southern Rhodesian Legislature. Where any such matters arise it would be wrong for us to seek to dictate what pattern Southern Rhodesia or the Federation should pursue in their application regarding the Republic of Cyprus. That is all we are trying to say.

Mr. Callaghan

I follow the point, but this is not a long established convention. It was part of the bargain with the Prime Minister of the Federal Republic in April or May of 1957. I may be wrong, but this is the first time I have seen any reference to it in a Statute. That is why my hon. Friend the Member for Wednesbury (Mr. Stonehouse) was right to raise it in this way. It is in fact altering the status of the Central African Federation and, as I understand the explanation of the hon. Gentleman, putting it more nearly in the position of, say, Australia or Canada than any protectorate. Am I right in thinking that?

Mr. Amery

The hon. Gentleman's memory is sometimes strained a little. There is a similar provision in Section 2 (4) of the Federation of Malaya Independence Act of 1957.

Mr. Callaghan

I am right in thinking that this is the 1957 Convention that we are discussing?

Mr. Amery

The hon. Member is wrong in thinking that this is the first time it has appeared in a Statute.

Mr. Callaghan

I will concede that to the hon. Gentleman. I cannot remember all the Statutes. It would not be in the Ghana Independence Act because that was in 1956 and this convention did not come into force or was not announced until 1957.

I am sorry to be dull about this but I do not understand how legislation in the Federation has an effect on the Republic of Cyprus. The hon. Gentleman has done his best to explain and I am sorry that I am not clear. It is not his fault, it is probably mine. At the time we felt that this was a backdoor way of giving Dominion status to the Central African Federation. Since then, when the Federation seemed to be well on its way to getting dominion status and the Federation Prime Minister was pressing for it, there has been a backward move and now we are not discussing in 1960 the question of Dominion status as it was thought that we should be.

I regret that this should be in the Bill. It seems to me that, a Conservative Government having announced that they had invented the convention and in fact that is all they did—conventions grow up and this convention was suddenly born—having announced that this convention had grown up, they put it in the Malaya legislation which I did not notice, and now it is here. I hope that it will not be adduced that we on this side of the Committee would be agreeable to Dominion status being conceded to the Federation of Rhodesia and Nysaland in 1960.

Mr. Stonehouse

Would not my hon. Friend agree that ever since this convention became known it has been continuously opposed by the Opposition?

12.30 a.m.

Mr. J. Amery

I would only add that the extent of the hon. Gentleman's suspicions rivals anything that I found in the Eastern Mediterranean. There really is no need to see anything so sinister in all this.

A number of laws are passed in different parts of the Commonwealth by different competent authorities which can have a bearing on other parts of the Commonwealth. Some of them seem to me to be very improbable. The Act covering the hunting of seals in the North Pacific has an application to Cyprus, but I am bound to say that it defeated me when I first discovered it. The Whaling Industry (Regulation) Act, 1934, also could have an application to Cyprus, although it is many years since whales have been seen in the vicinity. There are laws passed in Southern Rhodesia or the Federation which could have application to Cyprus. Therefore, it is important to cover these things.

As I say, there is no sinister motive or intention behind this, and I would beg the hon. Gentleman to accept for once that this is a case of things being what they seem.

Mr. Callaghan

For once, I will accept that.

Question put and agreed to.

Clause ordered to stand part of the Bill.