§ 3.3 p.m.
§ Order for Second Reading read.
§ The Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations and for the Colonies (Mr. Duncan Sandys)I rise to inform the House that I have it in Command from the Queen to acquaint the House that Her Majesty, having been informed of the purport of the Bill, has consented to place Her prerogative and interest, so far as they are affected by the Bill, at the disposal of Parliament for the purposes of the Bill.
§ 3.4 p.m.
§ The Under-Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations and for the Colonies (Mr. Nigel Fisher)I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.
The object of the Bill is to provide for a new Constitution for the Bahama Islands. I am sure that right hon. and hon. Members on both sides of the House will welcome this and will be glad to see the Bahamas adopting a form of Constitution which is in line with modern practice. I cannot say that that has been the case up to now.
The present Constitution, frankly, is somewhat archaic. It is very much the same as the Constitutions of the North American Colonies before the War of Independence. A Charter of 1670 provided for an elected House of Assembly and the Constitution, much as it exists today, was finally enacted as long ago as 1729. So it was, perhaps, time that we made a change.
The present Constitution is very complicated and partly unwritten and there is no single comprehensive documentin existence to cover it; so it was agreed by the Constitutional Conference which we held in London in May that the best way to establish a new Constitution, as we are now doing, would be to embody it in an Order in Council. The Bill authorises the Orderin Council. If and when the Bill is passed, a draft Order will be presented to Her Majesty in Council and then laid before Parliament. The Order will embody the constitution as agreed at the conference. I need not 1411 trouble the House with a detailed description of the provisions that we propose to include in the Order in Council. It will provide for a modern form of government with a Premier and Cabinet responsible to the elected legislature.
I should add that the decision to move forward to internal self-government was the result of a combined approach by all parties to my right hon. Friend when he visited the Bahamas at the end of last year. As hon. Members will remember this followed a general election in the islands in 1962 when both the major parties had advocated a measure of constitutional advance. With that in mind, my right hon. Friend readily agreed to convene a conference for this purpose. It took place in London in May of this year and I had the pleasure of taking the chair at it.
I should like to pay tribute to the very statesmanlike way in which the representatives of the Bahamas from all the political parties there approached the quite difficult problems involved at that conference. Of course, there were differences between the parties, as there always are at constitutional conferences, but everyone was willing to compromise and everyone agreed on the main features of the constitution as it emerged at the end of our three weeks' conference. The whole conference was conducted in a very friendly and constructive way which augured well for the future of the new constitution in these islands.
I know that hon. Members on both sides of the House will want to send a message of good wishes to the Bahamas for the success of the new Constitution, and I hope that in the light of what I have said the House will be prepared to give this Bill a speedy and unanimous Second Reading.
§ 3.8 p.m.
§ Mr. A. G. Bottomley (Middlesbrough, East)To most of us, the Bahamas are a long way away, and we seldom remember that, altogether, there are 29 islands spread over a distance of 600 miles.
Living in our small islands, we always find it difficult to appreciate the position of these overseas territories. I suppose that we heard about the Bahamas most recently because of the Cuban exiles. 1412 However, as the hon. Gentleman has said, we have had a very long association with these territories. History records that it was in the Island of San Salvador that Christopher Columbus is reputed to have first seen the New World.
We gave these islands a Constitution which has worked fairly well until now. It goes back for 250 years, which shows the foresight of those who conceived it. But constitutions must change and, through their own local council, the Bahamas sought the liberalization of the Constitution back in 1959. It required the authority of the Colonial Secretary, which it was rightly given.
The islands as a whole have a population of only 110,000 and two-thirds of the inhabitants are of African descent. Under the present Constitution there are two Houses of Parliament. One consists of nominated members and the other of 33 elected members. There is adult suffrage, and it was only in 1962 that women at last got the vote. At the Constitutional Conference held in May this year it was agreed that the present constitution was a complex one and that a new one should be drawn up by way of Order in Council. We have the Bill today as a result of this conference.
The report in Cmnd. 2048 sets out in considerable detail the proposed constitutional changes. As the Under-Secretary said, all the political parties—the United Bahamas Party, the Progressive Liberal Party, the Labour Party and the Independents—signed the report, but I am sure that he will acknowledge that the Progressive Liberals and the Labour Party did so with some reservations. Although we are now considering a purely enabling Bill, and shall subsequently have before us the Order in Council, this is the opportunity to make comments about the discussions that took place at the conference. It is while the new Constitution is in draft that the House can express its views on the points which will arise when the Order is made.
I want to draw attention to two points. I have already had an opportunity of mentioning many other points to the Under-Secretary, who has rightly said that they can be put right without any difficulty. I am sure that that has been done. The first point which I wish to raise is that the White Paper contains 1413 a provision about fundamental rights and the need to avoid racial discrimination. This provision is expressed in general terms, but I understand that the intention at the conference was that there should be a specific clause in the Constitution to avoid racial discrimination in the matter of buying and selling property.
My information is that the Secretary of State or his representative said that the exact wording of the provision should be settled between the parties in the Bahamas. I understand that the present position is that the majority party has not yet arranged to hold a meeting with the minority party in order to agree on such a text. In those circumstances I hope that the Secretary of State will be prepared to come down strongly in favour of a precise provision against discrimination in the important matter of property. There must be no question of the British Government's standing aside and leaving this matter to be settled locally, especially bearing in mind that there may be obstruction on the part of the majority party.
This is all the more important because the party which has a majority of seats has a considerable minority of votes—a matter which we heard about in connection with Zanzibar and, as my hon. Friend the Member for Woolwich, East (Mr. Mayhew) said, something not unknown in this country. I hope that the Under-Secretary will be able to give us a definite assurance that we are not leaving things to be discussed merely in the Bahamas, but that we shall see that the matter is settled—because the House is entitled to know what is the attitude of the Government when the Bill is going through.
My second point relates to the division of seats between the main island—New Providence—and the out islands. This is provided for in paragraphs 22 and 24 of the White Paper. The House should be aware that, traditionally, higher representation has been given to the out islands as opposed to New Providence, partly due to the fact that there was a higher population in the out islands. But there has been a shift of population, and the position is now much more in favour of New Providence.
I understand that in the 1962 elections 63 per cent, of the registered voters lived in New Providence and only 37 per cent. 1414 in the out islands. Yet the 63 per cent, are to elect only between 16 and 20 of the 38 elected members of the House of Assembly. Of course, one has to take into account special factors, particularly when they are related to such a scattered island country. It seems to me that the figures which I have given are taking things too far. It is perhaps as a result of this that the situation has arisen that the Government party has 23 seats in respect of a vote of about 31,000 while the Opposition parties have nine seats although they got more votes—about 34,000.
I hope that these figures are right—I have been given them by friends from the Bahamas—and, if they are, I think that one must acknowledge that it is unfair. Recently, the Colonial Secretary, in a different context I know, has been arguing in favour of proportional representation. I should like to know how he reconciles his attachment to that principle with this arrangement in the Bahamas.
Finally, I wonder whether it is really necessary for the majority of the Senate to be made up of appointees at the discretion of the Government although the power of delay is only fifteen months even in the case of a taxation Bill. It does not seem to be in keeping with modern democratic ideas. I should also like to know what is meant by a "taxation Bill". In paragraph 21, the White Paper appears to draw a distinction between money Bills and other Bills, a distinction which has a worthy precedent in our legislation. But when one reads the text it is clear that the Government's power to override the Upper House is limited to spending Bills. Nearly all the revenue Measures will not be treated as money Bills, but as ordinary Bills. Perhaps the Colonial Secretary will say why we have not followed the exact British precedent?
The aim of the Bill, as the Under-Secretary said, is to ensure for the Bahamas a progressive, effective and democratic constitution. We all, I know, join in hoping that this will be so. We have had today three constitutional Bills before the House, two for independence, which represents the pace of our constitutional advance, but we in this House must always be careful to ensure that the fullest consideration is given to seeing that the constitutions 1415 are fair, democratic, and workable. I hope that in this case this proves to be so.
§ 3.18 p.m.
§ Commander Anthony Courtney (Harrow, East)In rising to support the Bill I wish at once to declare an interest, namely, the possession by my wife and myself of a house on what is often said to be the loveliest island of the Bahamas, Eleuthera, one of the 20, as the right hon. Member for Middlesbrough, East (Mr. Bottomley) said, which comprise the populated islands.
I should like to extend to the right hon. Gentleman, in view of what he has said, an open invitation to visit us on Eleuthera and perhaps see the working of some of the points to which he has drawn the attention of the House, namely, the tendency towards racial discrimination in one form or another which, I assure him, is very small indeed, and also the peculiar circumstances which make it necessary to have what seems to be from this distance an imbalance between the representation of Eleuthera and the other 19 or so out islands.
Speaking as an out islander myself, T appreciate the necessity for a readjustment of that imbalance. I assure the right hon. Gentleman that this is something ever present in the minds of those who are going to run—if I may use that term—the Constitution outlined in the Bill.
I like to look on the Bahamas—I think that the House would also find it useful to do so—as a geographical extension of the Florida Cays—and therefore, in a sense, part of the American mainland—and at the same time an outpost, an economic outpost, of the British sterling area. It is that association of facts which, I think, holds certain promises and perhaps also certain disadvantages for our future relationship with this emergent territory.
The advantages represented to the Commonwealth and to the sterling area by the Bahamas can be described as, first, that the Bahamas have for some years since the war been a remarkably good dollar earner for the sterling area. I think that one can look at the Bahamas—from this physical contiguity as 1416 economically belonging to the sterling area—as being particularly favourably situated as a jumping-off spot for certain American markets both in the United States and in Central America. As a possible launching platform there is the political stability to which tribute has been paid and which was shown by the general elections of last year. In many respects—some rather amusing ones—these were quite remarkable.
During the course of my comparatively short but assiduous acquaintanceship with the Bahamas, I have had the privilege of attending sessions of the House of Assembly and of meeting personally and making friends with many of the statesmen who will direct the new Constitution. I can say without reserve that although, of course, somewhat parochial in their outlook—as people in a comparatively small and under-populated territory like the Bahamas are bound to be—they have a breadth of statesmanlike vision which I do not think is often encountered in similar circumstances.
Here, I think, lie possible dangers for the future, as the provision of this Constitution gives to the Bahamas and the Bahamians a greater measure of financial, economic and political independence than in the older Constitutions which are now being overtaken by the newer ones. We should remember that the prosperity of the Bahamas, which have suffered many financial and economic disasters in their history, has been immeasurably boosted—if I may use that word—by such events as the American Civil War. I think that the great initiative of the Bahamians, shown perhaps by the long history which they have of piracy, wrecking and gun-running in the Civil War—and perhaps one might even mention rum-running in the 1920s—is a favourable augury for the type of mind which is to direct this Constitution. But I think, also, that there are hazards for which it is the duty of this House and of Her Majesty's Government to watch.
In the future the Bahamians will be independent and responsible members of the sterling area. By their close relationship, psychological, economic and geographical, with the United States and the American Continent they will have a very considerable measure of responsibility as the forward outpost to which 1417 I have referred; and I hope that my hon. Friend will reassure the House that this point, particularly regarding finances, will be borne in mind within the provisions of the new Constitution.
May I give the House two thoughts on the future of the relationship between the United Kingdom and the Bahamas as a result of the Constitution we are now debating? I feel sure that this new relationship, springing away from the old colonial attitude which Governments have taken towards the Bahamas, should involve the use of this outpost in connection with the markets available to the sterling area, in particular to the United Kingdom.
There are two particular points at which this could be developed. My hon. Friends have referred in two debates this afternoon to economic assistance being given to various territories now reaching independence. Here is another territory receiving a new Constitution, but we have heard no word about financial support for it. There are very good reasons for that. It is a territory which has been an earner of dollars in the past. It has stood on its own feet and never asked for and, so far as I am aware, has never been offered, any financial assistance from the British Government.
Could we not now look upon this territory more as an investment and be a little more forward-looking in this respect than we have been in the past? As one example, could we not set up a quarantine station for livestock in the Bahamas as a geographical entrepot between the livestock exports of this country, cattle, pigs and sheep, and the markets of Columbia, Venezuela and Mexico? The economic advantages are obvious from the point of view of transport to anyone who has studied these questions, and this is something in which we in this country should be very interested.
Secondly, why should we not use the Bahamas as a jumping-off spot for the British light aircraft industry and sales in the American markets? Speaking as an amateur pilot, I can testify to the large number of American aircraft which fly about the airfields of this country. Why cannot we use tax advantages and import duty advantages in order to attack the American market 1418 with our own new British light aircraft, based on the Bahamas?
There is a more technical question with which I shall not bore the House. In the Bahamas there are infinite stretches of sandbanks, partly covered by the tides, where generally there are wonderful weather conditions. Are they not ideal for the operation of another British invention, the Hovercraft, in an area which has not got the physical obstructions and bad weather conditions which are such a disadvantage in other parts of the world?
I welcome the Bill and have the greatest confidence in the future working of this Constitution. I ask my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary to bear in mind the few possible hazards to which I have drawn attention. I believe that in the Bahamian statesmen whom I have the honour and privilege to know we have a fine augury for the future of this newly developing country.
§ 3.29 p.m.
§ Mr. Victor Goodhew (St. Albans)I intervene only briefly in this debate to welcome the Bill. I am fortunate to have visited the Bahamas early this year. I could not help but be struck by the efforts being made to develop them and also by the lack of strains, stresses, complications and problems which are so prominent in all the other territories to which one goes which are thinking about new constitutions and ultimate independence.
It was quite clear to me wherever I went that there was a much happier association between the races in the Bahamas than one finds in other territories. This struck me very formidably and made me all the happier for experiencing it. I was amazed at the prosperity which has been built, basically I suppose, on the tourist industry. I join in the suggestion of my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Harrow, East (Commander Courtney) that here is a ground on which the British Government could well use some investment to the benefit of the territory and the benefit of British people at the same time by seeing that the Bahamas are not entirely dependent on tourism, as seems the case at present.
Perhaps much of the happiness in these islands is due to the fact that there is no Income Tax there at present. It may 1419 be too optimistic to hope that this situation will last indefinitely. I had the happy opportunity of sitting in on a meeting of the Legislative Assembly on an occasion when it was debating a suggestion that a form of Closure Motion should be introduced into its procedure.
The arguments I heard then were exactly similar to those I have heard in this House over and over again during the last four years whenever we have tried to introduce a Closure Motion. If I had closed my eyes I could not have helped feeling that I was back here in Westminster. The whole matter was debated in the happy and informal atmosphere in which we debate it here. It made me feel that this was one territory where the Westminster pattern of government was catching on and had a good chance of success.
I welcome, with these few thoughts, the proposal to give a Second Reading to the Bill.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Bill accordingly read a Second time.
§ Bill committed to a Committee of the whole House.—[Mr. Gordon Campbell.]
§ Committee upon Monday next.