§ 11.5 a.m.
§ The Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations and for the Colonies (Mr. Duncan Sandys)On a point of order. I regret that yesterday I gave an inaccurate answer to a supplementary question by the right hon. Member for Middlesbrough, East (Mr. Bottomley), which is reported in column 641 of HANSARD for Thursday, which I wish to correct at once.
The right hon. Gentleman asked me whether I was aware that the Constitutional Council in Southern Rhodesia had
said that the Land Apportionment Act is an infringement of the Constitution.In reply, I said that the right hon. Gentleman hadcorrectly represented the position."—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 12th March, 1964; Vol. 691, c. 641.]What I should have said was that the Constitutional Council had severely criticised the Land Apportionment Act, but that since the Act existed before the introduction of the present Constitution its continuance is not an infringement.I discovered this mistake only a few moments before Eleven o'clock. Therefore, I was not able to get in touch with the right hon. Gentleman, but, in view of possible misunderstandings in Southern Rhodesia, I thought it right to make the correction at once.