HC Deb 24 June 1960 vol 625 cc921-3

3.52 p.m.

Mr. A. P. Costain (Folkestone and Hythe)

I beg to move, That this House, realising that the beneficial influence of this nation in world affairs depends on a united Commonwealth, urges Her Majesty's Government to stimulate by every possible means, including teaching in schools and colleges, a widespread knowledge in the United Kingdom of the dependent and independent countries of the Commonwealth and of its political, economic and cultural development. Because of the diversity of climate, creed and culture in the Commonwealth, it is almost an insult to this Motion to try to explain in the eight minutes which remain to me, but I should like to make one or two points.

Those right hon. and hon. Members who have been to the Commonwealth, and those who have relatives there who come over here, all realise how appalled people are at the ignorance in this country of Commonwealth affairs. There was a Gallup poll quite recently—not that I believe very much in Gallup polls, but they do give some indication of what people think—and I understand that as a result it was found that only half of the people who were questioned could name a single member of the British Commonwealth. Of the remainder, 2 per cent. thought that the United States was a member of the British Commonwealth.

Of course, ignorance has decreased a good deal because of the interchanges during the war and compulsory military service after the war, and because of improved communications, and discussions in this House. The Press is also doing its best, but I fear that it is more on the sensational than the educational side. Some educational progress is, however, being made. Business houses have set up schools for educating their own staffs. The educational conference which my right hon. Friend the Minister of Education attended quite recently produced a scheme, and particular attention should be drawn to the circular which my right hon. Friend sent out in May, 1959, drawing the attention of the schools in this country to the necessity for getting to know the Commonwealth better.

Obviously, in the time that is available, it is not possible for the Minister to reply to me today, but I should like to make one or two points as one who has spent a great deal of time in the British Commonwealth. I do not think that the great distances in the Commonwealth are fully appreciated in this country, or that we appreciate the vast areas of Africa or the fact that the Sahara Desert separates Africa just as the Panama Canal separates North and South America. I do not think that it is appreciated, for instance, that the cool areas and the highlands of Northern Rhodesia are places where Europeans want to live because of the cold nights in winter, while the natives do not want to live there because of those cold nights, unless there is European housing available and there are European-based industries there to attract them.

Too often the sensational is given too much priority. Any tragic news is generally exaggerated, because the Press has to rely on sensation. Africa is so diversified that almost anything that the Press says about it is true. We cannot deny that women are murdered in the streets in this country. The Press makes a sensation of the news, but we have so much knowledge of matters in our own country that that news is seen in its proper perspective. One of my main aims in moving this Motion is to try, through the House, to get that point across to the public. I fear that the enemies of democracy are using these half-truths and the freedom of the Press to work their own ends. Too often the sentational is given too much priority.

I do not think that the scale on which developments take place in areas to which we hope to bring democracy is generally realised. I remember seeing, many years ago, the film "A Yank at the Court of King Arthur". It made an amusing picture because it contrasted the modern-day American with King Arthur's court, but modern travel has made that kind of contrast a reality. The education provided in this country should be such as to enable people to realise that. A great deal more should be done in the schools. We should not make a party matter of a serious subject like this, but the Conservative Party has two documents on the subject and I have already referred to the appeal made by my right hon. Friend the Minister of Education. Generally, however, education possibilities and the curricula depend on the local authorities. I wonder whether sufficient use is made of visual aid in this type of education and whether sufficient information is obtained from the representatives in this country of these Commonwealth Territories.

The British Empire was built by men who had a desire for adventure and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. The British Empire has now become the British Commonwealth, and the Commonwealth is going through an adolescent stage. It is during the stage of adolescence that here is the greatest need for knowledge. This is true of human beings. All of us who have children know how essential it is to understand them during adolescence. The British Commonwealth in this adolescent stage is a human problem. Its whole structure depends on human understanding, and it is so that we may secure that human understanding that I urge the importance of providing this type of education.

I hope that from the very few minutes of this debate some realisation of this may go out to the country and that we may be able to say to our cousins overseas that we are trying to understand their problems and that we want to be with them. A united British Commonwealth has much to add to the peace, prosperity and moral leadership of the world—