§ 2. Mr. G. M. Thomsonasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he is aware that the annual colonial reports in respect of St. Vincent, Basutoland and Bechuanaland for the year 1959 were published in January 1962; and what steps he is taking to ensure that colonial reports are published more expeditiously.
§ Mr. MaudlingEvery effort is made to publish these reports as soon as possible after the period to which they refer. We depend of course on the Governments concerned for the timely dispatch of their reports to Britain.
The first of the reports in question was printed in this country; the other two were printed locally and sent to Britain by sea for binding. Given the pressure on exiguous staffs and no less exiguous printing facilities in the territories concerned, I should prefer not to interfere with present arrangements.
§ Mr. ThomsonWould the right hon. Gentleman do something to try to close this very long gap? Does he not agree that in these days when events move so quickly in independent territories, particularly in High Commission Territories, these reports are rather useless by the time they reach us? Can he do something to speed them up?
§ Mr. MaudlingI am rather disturbed about the time taken and I will look into the possibility of speeding this up.
§ Sir J. Vaughan-MorganIs my right hon. Friend aware that these reports often contain matter which is repeated from one edition to the next? Would he consider embodying this in the annual report of the independent territories and merely issuing a sort of interim report of what has happened since the last annual report? I think that he would then find publication considerably speeded.
§ Mr. MaudlingI am grateful for that helpful suggestion.