GOA (Hansard, 19 December 1961)

§ Q2. Mr. Wyatt
asked the Prime Minister what reply he has sent to the official representations he has received from Mr. Nehru concerning the situation in Goa.

§ The Prime Minister
We have naturally exchanged messages with the Indian Government, but I do not intend to publish them.

§ Mr. Wyatt
Will the Prime Minister restrain his delight because he thinks that he has caught out somebody much more virtuous than himself at doing something naughty, and ask himself and the Government to consider the facts? Does not he know that a Portuguese census in 1950 showed only 800 Europeans as living in Goa, who were transient Portuguese administrators, and 316 people of mixed descent, the rest of the 650,000 being officially described as Indians? Does not the Prime Minister know that for fourteen years the Indians have tried to get Portugal to negotiate on this matter. [HON. MEMBERS: "Speech."] I must ask for your protection, Mr. Speaker. I believe that I am the only person in the House of Commons who thinks that India is right in this matter.

§ Mr. Speaker
The hon. Member will have my protection, but I hope that he will bear in mind our rule, whereby questions designed to give information are out of order.

§ Mr. Wyatt
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I was trying to extract information from the Prime Minister, and I was asking whether or not he knew that for fourteen years the Indian Government have tried without success to negotiate on this matter with Portugal, during which time 800 European administrators have been sitting on the heads of 650,000 Indians? Does not the Prime Minister also know that resolution after resolution at the United Nations has called upon the Portuguese to give information about Goa, which they have refused. Why does he think that it would have been any good if India had taken this matter to the United Nations, as Portugal refused to allow—

§ Mr. Kershaw
On a point of order. Is it not intolerable that an hon. Member who has ample opportunity to make his views known on other media than Question Time in the House should take up so much of our time making speeches now?

§ Mr. Speaker
That is not a point of order. The requirement is that supplementary questions should be related to the Answer previously given, which was that the reply was confidential. We seem to be getting a long way from the Question.

§ Mr. Wyatt
I apologise for the interruptions, Mr. Speaker. I believe that it has been a tradition of the House, for at least as long as the occupation of Goa by Portugal, that a Member may put an unpopular point and not be shouted down. I ask the Prime Minister why he thinks that India would have been successful in putting this issue at United Nations, since Portugal refused to allow a United Nations Commission even to enter Angola to investigate the situation there. Finally—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. The hon. Member has had repeated opportunities to get into order. I regard his supplementary question now as wholly out of order. Mr. Allaun. Question No. Q3.

§ Mr. Wyatt
On a point of order. You may not like my Question, Mr. Speaker, but surely I am entitled to an answer. You have called somebody else, thus protecting the Prime Minister from answering on this very important question.

§ Mr. Speaker
If the hon. Member desires to assert that what the Chair rules is in some way related to the Chair's likes or dislikes, or to assert that the Chair is misconducting itself in some way, he must put himself in order. He cannot say these things now.

§ Mr. Wyatt
I apologise if I have seemed to be rude to you, Mr. Speaker. May I respectfully say that I am surely entitled to an answer from the Prime Minister on this very important matter. Surely it is reasonable for him to give an answer to those supplementary questions that I have been allowed to put, before you move to the next Question.

§ Mr. Speaker
I tried hard to get the hon. Member to put himself in order, but he would not, and I was finally compelled to rule his question out of order. There is no entitlement to an answer to a question which is out of order. Mr. Allaun.

§ Mr. Wyatt
On a point of order. I think that the Prime Minister wishes to give some answer—because this is a very serious matter. Finally, I should like to ask him—

§ Mr. Speaker
I must ask the hon. Member to remember the circumstances in which we are. Mr. Allaun.

§ Sir T. Moore
On a point of order, and on the subject of Goa—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. The present position is that I have called the next Question.

§ Sir T. Moore
Would you consider, in your capacity as Speaker and as our spokesman, conveying to the Speaker of the Indian Assembly our utter abhorrence of the action that has been taken by Mr. Nehru and his Government—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. The position is that I am the servant of the House. I would convey messages on behalf of the House to other people only if so instructed by the House.

§ Sir T. Moore
May I ask whether the House will support me?

§ Mr. Speaker
I expect that the House would require the hon. Member to table an appropriate Motion.