§ 2.35 p.m.
§ LORD OGMOREMy Lords, I beg to ask Her Majesty's Government a Question of which I have given them private notice—namely, whether Her Majesty's Government have any statement to make on Central African federation.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR COMMONWEALTH RELATIONS (THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY)My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for giving me the opportunity to make a statement on this subject. The House will recall that in the course of a debate in another place on March 4, it was explained that Her Majesty's Government were increasingly conscious of the need to prepare and place before the public as early as possible a definite draft scheme for the federation of Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland. The absence of a detailed picture was responsible for many of the anxieties and suspicions that have found expression in some quarters, both in this country and in the three territories, about such a federation. Her Majesty's Government had therefore decided that the Conference which adjourned at Victoria Falls last September should be invited to reassemble in London in April, and that its principal task should be the drawing up of a draft constitutional scheme which would take account of the recommendations made in the officials' report in 1951 and of any modifications therein which the Central African Governments might wish to propose.
The Conference duly met on April 23 at Lancaster House and remained in session until May 5. My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for the Colonies and I led the United Kingdom 278 delegation. The Southern Rhodesian delegation included the Prime Minister and other Ministers as well as members of the Opposition Parties and two Africans. The Northern Rhodesian delegation consisted of the Governor and official and unofficial members of the Legislative Council. The Nyasaland delegation included the Governor, senior officials and leading unofficials. It was a matter of great regret to the Conference and to Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom that African representatives of the African Representative Council of Northern Rhodesia and the African Protectorate Council of Nyasaland who had come to London declined an invitation to participate in the Conference or even to attend as observers. The Conference faced the many difficult issues involved with determination and good will, and a draft federal scheme was agreed upon which is being published to-day as a White Paper.
The Conference also decided to set up three Commissions which during the summer would investigate the financial, administrative and judicial problems attending the establishment of a federation in Central Africa. It is the intention of Her Majesty's Government that, after these Commissions have reported, a further Conference shall be held in Africa later in the year to give final shape to the federal scheme. Her Majesty's Government and the Central. African Governments would then decide whether, subject to ratification in the three territories, the scheme in its final shape shall be approved.
It is our earnest hope that meanwhile the public here and in Central Africa, and in particular the leaders of African opinion, will study very carefully the details of the Draft Federal Scheme now published, before they reach conclusions about it. For a summary of the Scheme, I would refer your Lordships to the Preface to the White Paper. I wish to draw special attention to certain features in it. Why at the outset do we aim at a federal form of government? Members will find on page 3 of the White Paper a statement of the reasons why Her Majesty's Government have rejected the alternative of amalgamation. We believe nevertheless that the closer political association of the three territories is urgently needed in the interests of all their inhabitants. A federal scheme will satisfy that need 279 while at the same time reserving to the separate territorial Governments, which would retain their existing relationship to Her Majesty's Government, the handling of those matters affecting most closely the day-to-day life of the African. That is a fundamental feature of the scheme which should appeal to African opinion.
In order to ensure that a close and effective watch is kept on African interests in the federal sphere, we—that is, the United Kingdom Government and the other Governments represented at the Conference—propose to set up a special instrument, the African Affairs Board. We could not accept the original recommendation of the officials' conference that the Chairman of the Board, appointed by the Governor-General with the approval of the Secretary of State, should have a seat in the Cabinet. This seemed to us constitutionally unsound. But we give the Board statutory right of direct access to the Prime Minister and the Executive Council; we introduce qualifications for membership which will make the Board independent of the Legislatures and the Executive of both the Federation and the territories; and we empower it not only to make representations in the interests of Africans on any matter within the competence of the Federation but also to ensure that any legislation which it regards as differentiating, in terms or in its application, between Europeans and Africans to the disadvantage of the latter shall be referred to Her Majesty's Government. The vital importance of this provision is unquestionable. We believe that the present proposal is both constitutionally more satisfactory and will prove more effective in protecting the interests of Africans.
Moreover, in the preparation of the draft scheme we have carried out our promise that certain rights of which the African is particularly jealous should be formally embodied in the Constitution. Land and land settlement questions are reserved to the territorial Governments; the Federal Government has no power to acquire land except for the necessary discharge of its proper functions—for example, for the extension of a railway line—and always in accordance with existing Orders in Council and relevant legislation. The continuance of the protectorate status of the two northern territories and the continued responsibility of 280 the territorial Governments for local and territorial political advancement are emphasised. Lastly, very important provisions have been included in regard to future constitutional changes. All amendments of the Constitution will require to be passed by a two-thirds majority of the membership of the Federal Assembly and will be reserved for Her Majesty's pleasure. More than that, if objection is raised to any proposed amendment either by the African Affairs Board or by a territorial Legislature, then the amendment can be made only by Order in Council, and the draft Order will be laid before Parliament here for forty days before it is made.
The federal proposals published to-day take full and fair account of the interests of all the inhabitants of Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland. They offer the framework of a new political organism which we believe will satisfy the needs of Central Africa and promote the welfare of the three territories and all their inhabitants. We earnestly hope that the Draft Federal Scheme will be very carefully studied, both here and in Central Africa, and that as a result of the discussions upon it the constitution of a Federation on the basis proposed will eventually be approved.
§ 2.45 p.m.
§ LORD OGMOREMy Lords, I am sure the whole House is grateful to the noble Marquess for giving us that précis of the White Paper, a précis which sets out in clear terms the purport of the White Paper which we shall no doubt be reading in due course. I feel however, that we should have been helped to a greater extent to understand the full purport of the statement if the White Paper had been available to us. I have been twice this morning to the Printed Paper Office, and the White Paper is not available. I am now told that it will not be in the Printed Paper Office until 3.30 o'clock. If the House is asked to consider a very important statement of this kind concerning a White Paper which is going to have great repercussions in Africa, it is undesirable that it should not be available to your Lordships. It may be, of course, that the statement will be made at a different time in another place, and that it is desirable to synchronise the issue from the Printed Paper Office in this House and the Vote 281 Office in another place of certain Papers or statements, as the case may be. But I should not have thought that that applied to this case, and I really cannot understand why the White Paper was not available to members of this House this morning.
As to the contents of the interesting statement which has been made by the noble Marquess, I do not propose to make any comment to-day, nor do I intend to ask any questions. As your Lordships are aware, there is a Motion standing in my name on this subject for Tuesday next, and with your Lordships' permission I think it would be better to consider the matter at that stage, rather than try to elicit any further information by question and answer now.
LORD REAMy Lords, on behalf of noble Lords on these Benches I should like to join in thanking the noble Marquess for giving us this statement. But I should like to dissociate myself from the noble Lord who has just spoken in claiming that we should have had the White Paper at some obviously impossible time. I should like to thank the noble Marquess for giving all the information he could, even though the White Paper was not quite ready.
§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURYMy Lords, first, I should like to thank the noble Lord, Lord Ogmore, for what he said about not making any comment today. I agree that any comment to-day would be premature. Furthermore, on Tuesday next I hope to speak early in the debate, and I shall then be able to amplify what I have said in the statement this afternoon. With regard to the other point made by the noble Lord—I speak subject to correction—I think he is in error. It is the almost universal custom of Parliament that, when a statement of this kind is made, the White Paper in question is made available at the same time in the Vote Office. It is not made available before. In this particular case there is the difficulty that it cannot be made available in another place because the statement cannot be made until the end of Questions. It means only that the noble Lord will have to wait for about three-quarters of an hour. I think he might possibly curb his impatience, because in any case he will have plenty of time to study the Paper.
§ LORD OGMOREMy Lords, I am grateful to the noble Marquess. I do not wish to make any great point of it, but I wish to preserve the rights of members on this side and the other side in these matters.