HL Deb 12 March 1952 vol 175 cc663-94

2.58 p.m.

THE EARL OF LUCAN rose to call attention to the difficulties experienced by students from the Commonwealth, and especially by those from Colonial territories, on arriving and during their stay in this country; to ascertain from Her Majesty's Government what proposals they have to make towards a solution of these difficulties; and to move for Papers. The noble Earl said: My Lords, it may be thought at first sight that the subject of this Motion is not one with which your Lordships should be concerned at a time when there are many important matters on a world scale engaging attention. However, I make no apology for introducing this Motion at this time. Intercourse between the countries of the Commonwealth and the United Kingdom is one of the strongest links that binds the Commonwealth together. The countries of the Commonwealth are growing up. The effects of some generations of education are being felt; and the pace of political and other development in all the Commonwealth countries has greatly increased in the last few years. The majority of those who come to this country from the Commonwealth are young men and women training for their careers. In ten or twenty years' time those people will be rising to the top of their professions; they will become the leaders of opinion in their own country, and possibly even on a bigger scale—it is not impossible that one of the students in London to-day may be a future President of the General Assembly of the United Nations. That is the sort of thing we must have in mind, and our efforts should be directed to providing a contribution to the solution of a permanent problem of this world—namely, the problem of relations between races. Budgets come and go year by year, but the problem of race relations remains. Therefore, it is necessary that the subject should be discussed in public from time to time; and I would ask your Lordships to follow the problem as I try to outline it.

The question of these students is largely a matter of arithmetic, and fortunately the arithmetic is simple. There are about 15,000 overseas students in this country: 5,000 of them are from foreign countries and the United States; 5,000 are from the self-governing countries—India, Pakistan, Ceylon and others; and the remaining 5,000 are from the Colonial territories. Your Lordships may like to know that the greater number of the Colonial students come from West Africa. Another large body come from the West Indies; smaller numbers from East and Central Africa and the Far East; some from the Mediterranean and a couple of hundred from other territories, such as Mauritius and Fiji.

Of these 5,000 students, 2,000 are taking university degrees and 3,000 are taking other courses in law at non-university colleges. Two thousand of them come over with Government scholarships from their own countries, and 3,000 come over as private students. There are 2,500 working in London and 2,500 in the Provinces, in Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Irish Republic and Wales. Those figures take no account of a class of student who present a certain problem, what I may call the free-lance students, those who come with no Government assistance and often without notifying any authorities. They just come, as it were, seeking their fortunes. There are a number also doing postgraduate work in the professions, and the list of subjects which are being taken is most illuminating. Students are working on anything from accountancy to veterinary science; from boot making to theology. But the greatest single number are taking nursing; and, after that, medicine, law and engineering are the most popular subjects.

In the case of the older Commonwealth countries we may say that there is no problem at all. Students from Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa are following well-trodden paths. There is no language difficulty; they have adequate arrangements made by their own High Commissioners and they represent no problem. Similarly, the self-governing countries of India, Pakistan and Ceylon also have their High Commissioner stills in London, and they make adequate arrangements. What it comes to, therefore, is that the problem of the student is primarily the problem of the West African student.

Now what is that problem? I suggest that our aim must be to ensure that the Commonwealth students get the maximum benefit from their stay here, so that they return home, not only having achieved their aim scholastically but also having sampled our life and, we hope, carrying away something which will be of value to them when they get home. It is a serious problem. I suppose that there is no one born and bred in London, and whose home is in London, who has not at some time or other realised, with something, of an unpleasant shock, what it must mean to arrive from abroad in a vast city like this, alone and without a friend. They are strangers in a strange land. This applies, of course, to all young people starting life in a foreign country. They feel loneliness and insecurity, and they need help in settling in and adapting themselves to their new surroundings. That is just where the danger lies. If these people are roughly handled, or if they are injured, they will carry the scars with them through life. If they meet with friendliness and sympathy, and are fully accepted into our life, they will take home with them something of the qualities of which we are proud; and their character and outlook will be profoundly influenced by their experiences in their most impressionable years.

That much is probably common to all students. But here we come to the factor which makes this problem of such particular difficulty; that is, the colour question. If coloured students from overseas countries are refused admittance on the same terms as white people to hotels, lodging-houses, restaurants and dances, or if they are made to feel that they are looked upon here as inferior or unfit to associate with white people, they will feel natural resentment and anger and will be deeply hurt. Those who have been taught—and there are many of them—that England is a Christian country will be disillusioned. Those who believe that England is the home of democracy will develop a cynicism which can do nothing but harm when they return home. I will not pretend that this question of colour prejudice is a simple problem. There are, and there have been, faults on both sides. Everybody knows that there are good and bad coloured men, the same as there are good and bad white men. The trouble is that among certain people in this country there is a tendency to regard all black men as bad and all white men as good, instead of taking people on their merits.

In fact, of course, misunderstandings are bound to arise when we try to assimilate into our society here, highly developed, highly sophisticated, and with long traditions, people from a wide range of societies abroad—anything from a primitive tribal society to a highly civilised city like Lagos. There are bound to be misunderstandings with a strange language, climate and people. Your Lordships may remember that some years ago there was a book written by a distinguished Frenchman or Dutchman, entitled The English—Are They Human? Foreigners, even Western European foreigners, look upon the English as a very strange people. How much more strange do they appear to a boy or girl from Africa or the West Indies? These misunderstandings which have gone on for many years have left a legacy from which we cannot escape, a legacy of suspicion in the minds of every coloured man who comes to this country.

I am afraid that there is sometimes a tendency for young coloured men to be rather on the look-out for insults, so it is all the more important that they should be treated with civility and friendliness. Every isolated case that happens is magnified by publicity and by this latent Suspicion; and, of course, it does an infinity of harm to relations between this country and the Commonwealth. I do not say that these practices are on a wide scale, but I would urge upon your Lordships that even if they are only on a small scale they do enormous harm. I should like Her Majesty's Government (I have given notice of this request to my noble friend who is to reply) to make it quite clear that they disapprove of any such actions, and that in their opinion those who practise those things are doing, even if unwittingly, most serious harm to Commonwealth relations.

There is one other difficulty in the relations between students in this country and the general population, and that is the question of Communism. Many people, whenever they think of Colonial students, almost automatically think of Communism: they assume that these students are Communists, or that the Communists are making converts on a large scale. I do not know whether anybody knows how many young students become converts to Communism while they are in this country. What I do know is that there are only two ways of combating that. One would be to have a censorship, and a denial of liberty of thought—which is quite unacceptable in this country, and I hope always will be. The other is by treating these students with sympathy and understanding, welcoming them and making sure that they are contented.

Now, my Lords, what are the basic needs of students in this country? They want a welcome on arrival; they want to feel that someone is taking an interest in them when they disembark; they want temporary accommodation; and then they want permanent arrangements for lodging, and an introduction to normal English life. After that, I suggest, they only want helping (the help kept in the background) as their problems arise. I am sure it is important that once a student has found his feet on coming to this country he should be nursed as little as possible. It is even more important that any help given to him should be free from any flavour of charity or condescension. From the first he should be encouraged to enter fully into the life of his colleagues at the university. He should live and work and play with his fellow students of the same age and of other nationalities. Finally, he should not be segregated and live in an academic world exclusively; he should enter, as far as possible, into the widest range of activities in the ordinary life of this country.

The most important and the most difficult need to satisfy is that of accommodation. It is generally agreed that the ideal solution for a student is to live in the hall of residence of his college or university, where he will be with other students of all nationalities and share their life and the corporate life of the university. For his leisure and his vacations he should be able to make English friends with whom he can spend some of his leisure. That solution, unfortunately, is impossible in London, at any rate for more than a very small fraction of the number of students. That applies equally to British students, as well as to those from overseas. The accommodation available in hostels and halls of residence, is enough for only a fraction of the students on the books.

Failing this solution, there are three possibilities—I am talking now of permanent lodging throughout the years that a student spends here. There is the hostel for Colonial students: that is one possibility. There is life in a private family as a paying guest. Lastly, there is the ordinary lodging house or boarding house where the student is one of a number of guests. As regards the hostel, your Lordships may remember that last year there was a disagreement, an account of which appeared in the newspapers, over the hostel at Hans Crescent run by the British Council. That is the largest hostel in London. In many ways, life in these hostels is the most popular amongst students. One can well understand that, because life is easier and less effort is required when a student is living among his own contemporaries and people of his own nationality than when he is staying in a foreign home. Moreover, the hostel can be so arranged as to be less unfamiliar than the ordinary English home: various amenities can be put in to remind the student of his home.

The disadvantage of this sort of accommodation is that the student is segregated and lives among students only. His opportunities for any wider acquaintance are limited, and the ordinary student in the university is deprived of the benefit of rubbing shoulders with all these Colonial students. One remedy for the last disadvantage is that these hostels should be deliberately mixed and should include a number of British students living with the West Africans in the hostel. I suggest that for the first year or so of a student's life there is a great deal to be said for these hostels—but there again, the numbers are too small. Going into an English family as a paying guest is a very good way for a student to gain a knowledge of English life and English people. It is very much to be preferred. The last solution, the boarding house, is almost proverbially the lot of all those who conic to London to seek their fortune. It conduces to a sense of loneliness and isolation, and undoubtedly is the least satisfactory of the solutions I have mentioned for the students.

I have sketched out the problem. What is being done to deal with it? A number of voluntary bodies, of all sorts, too numerous to mention, religious bodies and others, have been active for a good many years in this field, but their resources are limited arid so the extent of the work they can do is limited also. In the last two years there has been much more public awareness of the problem, and within the last year several steps have been taken, the first and most important of which being that the Colonial Office handed over responsibility to the British Council for Colonial Students. That agreement dated from January 1, 1950. To cope with those responsibilities the British Council expanded their student welfare department and have taken certain other measures which I will outline.

First, they meet students on arrival, wherever they may arrive—at airport, seaport or railway station—at any hour of the day, night or week-end. That, in itself, is a considerable task and a great contribution to softening the rigours of the arrival of the student here. I may say that it must throw a considerable strain on the staff of the British Council. They meet the students, they bring them up to London, they accommodate them for a night or two and they put them on the way to their destinations. Nearly 2,400 students were met last year under this arrangement, and the Council were fortunate in being given the use of a house called Moray Lodge, on Camden Hill, for the purpose of what might be called a transit camp for the students. Some- thing like 1,000 students passed through in the peak period of arrival, which is August, September and October. But I am told that Mora3, Lodge may not be available to the Council this year. I do not know what other schemes are under consideration, but I am convinced that the British Council will need a great deal of Government help rather urgently if they are to find accommodation to meet the summer rush of students this year. I commend that matter to the Government for their urgent consideration.

I heard of one instance of private initiative in the welcoming of students which may interest your Lordships. The Students' Union of University College of the University of London some time ago decided on their own to get a list of all the Colonial students who were entered for the College for the coming year. They wrote to each a personal letter welcoming them and offering advise and assistance. They met them individually when they arrived and brought them to London, and they introduced them to university life in a way that could not be bettered. That is an example of what individual bodies and colleges can do. It is not a question for the Government; it depends on individuals. I have heard also that the legal profession have taken steps recently to help overseas students. They have not only introduced provisions so that the first examination can be taken outside the United Kingdom and the first year's work can be done in the student's home, but they have appointed a students' advisory officer in London, who assists students when they arrive and to whom they can take all their problems.

A friendly welcome on disembarkation is all very well; that is a very good start: but the accommodation of students still needs attention. Permanent accommodation other than in students' hostels is mostly arranged by the British Council in private families. They have a register of lodgings, all of which have been inspected, to which they direct the students. I understand that there is a great reluctance on the part of the students to go to the outer parts of London where, as against the disadvantages of higher fares and more travelling, the rents are considerably cheaper. However, there is a great tendency to try to live as near the centre of London as possible. Last year the Council placed over 800 Colonial students in lodgings in London, and nearly 800 in the Provinces. I should explain that the Council are empowered to spend money only on Government scholars and students recommended by their Governments. In the case of other students—the private and the free-lance students—they can meet them on arrival, put them up for a night or two and offer them advice on permanent accommodation, but they cannot spend money on them.

Lastly, there is the question of introducing the students to English life. The British Council have their centres. The biggest is in London in Hanover Street. There are smaller ones in other cities in the Provinces. All overseas students are made welcome in those centres and are encouraged to look upon them as a home. In 1951, there were 1,800 enrolled members, representing 104 different countries, at the London centre The average daily attendance was over 200. The programme includes week-end courses, vacation courses, visits to factories and farms and the like, and lectures and discussions. These centres also provide an opportunity to put students in touch with all manner of voluntary organisations, such as youth organisations, sport clubs, Rotary clubs and trade unions, and also with members of the general public. Seventeen hundred students were invited to private homes from this centre. That is not an entirely simple matter. There are a good many inhibitions to break down. It is not everybody who has the genius for making friends with young people or putting them at their ease, and it is not always those people who are in a position to offer hospitality. That is a large subject in itself.

In order to carry out these responsibilities the British Council, as I have said, have centres in London and elsewhere. There are other clubs, apart from those of the British Council, run by numerous private bodies and by one or two Colonial Governments, of which those for Malaya and East Africa are but two. At the same time, I am sure there is still a need for one or more places where a student can go as of right, as a member; where he can meet his fellow students, entertain his friends and generally feel he is at home. It has been suggested to me that the Imperial Institute in South Kensington has the space and the situation to make it very suitable for this purpose. I should be glad if the Government would let us know whether they have any information on the possible use of the Imperial Institute for this purpose. London University has in the planning stage a most inspiring scheme for a students' international hostel, and when it materialises it will be of great value as a centre of academic life, not only for London but for almost the whole world. Visiting students and professors from all countries will be welcome there. I am glad to hear that the late Government undertook to contribute a proportion of the total cost. A number of Commonwealth countries have already made payments towards the cost, and some others have promised contributions. There is one small and specialised class of student about whom I feel some anxiety—namely, the officers, other ranks, ratings and boys, in particular, from India, Pakistan and Ceylon, who are in this country on attachments, courses or apprenticeships with the three Services. The schools close down for the holiday periods and the English soldiers, sailors and airmen go home on leave. This presents a problem as to where these overseas people should go. I suggest to the Government that the Service Departments might look into this question, because it seems to me that they should take responsibility for these men at these periods.

From what I have said of the various needs and of the number of people offering to meet those needs, it is obvious that a good deal of co-ordinating has to be done if there is not to be duplication. Two valuable steps have been taken in the last year. One is that the Colonial Office set up a consultative committee on the welfare of Colonial students. This committee, of which I understand the noble Earl who is to reply is Chairman, has associated with it Members of Parliament, representatives of the British Council and London University and, most important of all, the heads or representatives of all the Colonial student unions—Malayan, West African, West Indian, and so on. They have direct contact with the Minister, which seems an admirable arrangement, and I hope the noble Earl will tell us something about how it is working. One other co-ordinating body set up by the British Council is called the Standing Committee of Voluntary Societies, and the chairman, a distinguished lady, Miss Trevelyan, holds the post of Adviser on Overseas Students at the University of London. One of the first definite achievements of this committee has been the successful launching of a scheme among London boroughs, the object of which is to introduce students living in those boroughs to every aspect of life. The first to start on this work has been the Borough of Kensington. I am told that a very active committee is in being and has already gathered the threads together, putting the students, wherever they may come from, into touch with every conceivable side of life in the borough—the local authority, religious societies, voluntary societies, youth organisations, trade unions, political parties, sports clubs and so on. That seems to be an example that might well be followed by other London boroughs. Kensington has led the way. I believe Hampstead is on the point of forming a similar committee. That seems to be a means of ensuring not only that the student sees the surface of but that he really gets into English life.

My Lords, I have sketched out the problem and the steps that are being taken to deal with it. Before I wind up I should like to mention one other matter in regard to which I think some Government action could be taken to alleviate, to some extent, the problem of the student. A number of young people—an unknown number, because they do not register with anybody and very often nobody knows about them—come over to this country, hoping to study for some profession or to enter some teaching institution. Whether front a spirit of adventure or just a lack of foresight, they do not find out before they come whether there will be a vacancy for them. When they arrive they have nothing to do, their money runs out, and it may be the start of a lot of trouble. I should be the last to suggest that we should introduce any compulsion on, bar to or screening of students coming into this country. The more that come the better, We do not want to discourage them in their ambitions, cm from coming to learn in this country. But I do think it should be made quite certain that those young people and their parents in the Colonies are made aware of the true situation. Possibly, an improvement or an enlargement of the information services would do some good. I believe information is already sent regularly from the Colonial Office to the Colonial Governments. What is wanted is that the information should get out to the colleges, the schools, the populations and the parents. If that were done there might be a few, but only a very few, who would be deterred from coming here—but they would be just those people who would be most likely to become problem cases if they did.

My Lords, I have kept you a very long time. May I say, in conclusion, that we are proud of our schools and our universities and the way we live here—what is sometimes called the "British way of life"? We are glad that men and women from the Commonwealth should look to this country for training for their careers, and we want them to go home with pleasant memories of this country, having acquired something useful and of value from their training. Whether they do so or not depends not on the Government, but on the general public. The British people, I am sure, value their reputation for tolerance and good manners. It is only a small minority who have not yet grasped the fact that bad manners to a man because he is black is a sign of barbarism. Francis Bacon said truly: if a man he gracious and courteous to strangers, it shows he is a citizen of the world. The last year has seen very useful steps taken to co-ordinate the various agencies working for the welfare of the students, and I hope that Her Majesty's Government will have something to tell us about their ideas for the future. I beg to move for Papers.

3.43 p.m.

LORD OGMORE

My Lords, I am very grateful to the noble Earl, Lord Lucan, for setting down this Motion today. I am sure there was no need whatsoever for him to apologise for putting it on the Order Paper at a time when the other House is concerned with other matters. In my view, we could discuss no more important topic than this. It is, I think, vital to our whole future. I know that this is a subject which is very close to the hearts of many of your Lordships here to-day, and of some who are not, and I am sure that those of us who feel strongly about these matters have an ally in the noble and gallant Earl, the Minister of Defence, whom I am glad to see sitting on the Bench opposite for the first time. I am sure we all agree that the keynote of race relations is mutual sympathy and trust, and in order to establish good personal relationships and friendships we have to take positive action. The establishment of good personal relationships and friendships will do more than anything else to reduce the differences of colour and race which now exist. But unfortunately, we do not, for a number of reasons, get to know one another as we should do.

I think that in the Colonies and in the Colonial territories, in the first place, races are still to a large extent separated socially. Perhaps that is not the case to the same extent as it was when I lived in the Colonies, but even to-day there is a great deal of separation between races so far as social matters are concerned. There is a problem arising out of the different backgrounds and different habits, and those who knew the Colonies shortly before my time, in what I call the old days, prior to the First World War (I remember some of the survivals of the old days but I do not remember the state of affairs which existed then) attribute a good deal of the trouble to the advent of European wives to the Colonies. They said that whereas the admission of European wives in large numbers had undoubtedly improved the health and, equally, the morals of Europeans in the Colonies, it had also to a large extent resulted in driving something of a wedge between their husbands and the local native populations. That was a view that was very generally held when I first went to live in the Colonies, and I think that, to some extent, there was some truth in it. Undoubtedly, women coming from this country, where we have mainly an urban life and an urban population, tended to create the sort of society which they had here, where the classes are fairly rigidly segregated, and they brought their own interests and formed their own circles. This was accentuated, because until recently the women of the Colonial peoples did not mix socially at all—very often not even with their own menfolk, and certainly not with menfolk from any other country.

I am glad to see that this state of affairs is changing now and that there is far greater mixing between races than there was twenty or thirty years ago. Yet it is still a fact that in many instances young Colonial men and women do not have many opportunities in their own countries of mixing on a social level with people from this country. They meet them in court, at their offices and in shops, but they do not often meet them outside those places. In this country, I regret to say, the bulk of the population is still very little interested in either Commonwealth countries in general or in the Colonies in particular. There are a few people who are intensely interested in these matters and who are doing a fine job of work. I am glad that the noble Earl, Lord Lucan, has referred to them because they get very few tributes paid to them, either in Parliament or elsewhere. I, myself, meet many Colonial students socially, and have been doing so for years past, and not only Colonial students but business men from the Colonies, especially from Malaya. I find that one of the things that strikes them especially when they come here is the lack of interest displayed by the people of this country in the Colonial territories. They themselves have been brought up to have a very good knowledge of this country and of the facts concerning it. They know our rivers, our ports, our towns and our industries better than they do their own. They need to do, since they have to pass examinations in them and not in their own. These people are surprised and saddened when they come here by the fact that few people know anything at all about them or their countries.

Two or three years ago when I was in Malaya a dinner was given in my honour by some old Malay friends. My host was a well-known man in Malaya. He is very well disposed to this country—indeed, Britain has no greater friend. After dinner he told this story, which saddened the Malays who heard it very much and also saddened me and made me feel rather ashamed. He said that when he came over here about three years ago to visit this country for the first time in his life, he had a conversation with a small group of people. They were persons of substance and, apparently, well educated. They asked him where he came from and he replied: "Malaya." Then they said to him: "What do you produce in Malaya?" He replied: "Tin." As he spoke with a Malayan accent, they did not catch his answer clearly and they said, "Tea?". My friend replied: "No, tin." They said: "Good neavens! do you produce tin in Malaya?". Considering that the standard! of living in this country and, therefore, of that man's questioners, has been largely supported since the end of the war by Malayan tin and rubber, he had some reason to feel aggrieved at the lack of knowledge and interest displayed by those people. It is just that sort of folly, that lack of interest in the Colonial territories, which does more harm than anything else.

In this respect I want to say a word about the Press. It is not often that tributes to the Press are paid from this side of the House, but I do say that the Press of this country is far ahead of public opinion with regard to Colonial matters. When I was at the Colonial Office I was constantly in touch with the Press. I always found them most helpful and anxious to further Colonial causes in every way. In fact, so much so that the circulation manager of one popular paper told the editor that if he kept on running so many photographs and stories about the Colonies, the circulation might drop. I think we have to realise that we are not the citizens of some minor European republic; we are the heart of a great Empire and a vast Commonwealth. The sooner we realise that, the better. If any of your Lordships lias had the opportunity, as I have often had, of trying to talk to an ordinary audience about Colonial matters, he will see, however brilliant a speaker he may be (and I make no claim to brilliance), how quickly the eyes of his hearers will glaze over when the word "Colonies" is mentioned. From then on he has lost their interest, until he gets back to the subject of bus fares or other matters of greater importance.

This lack of interest all leads to misunderstandings, as my noble friend Lord Lucan has indicated. It reinforces the tendency of Colonials to be suspicious. A short time ago a West African spoke to me on this matter. He had not long arrived in this country, and was feeling very hurt about what had happened. He took a trip on one of our suburban railway lines, which was quite an experience in itself. He went into a carriage full of people, every person with a newspaper up before his eyes. No one lowered his paper when he came in. No one asked him where he came from, or asked his name or where he was going. He thought at once that they took this attitude because he was black, and he was upset. I said to him, "My dear fellow, if the Archangel Gabriel had come into the compartment no one would have lowered his newspaper. No one would have asked his name, or where he came from or where he was going. You were treated no differently from anybody else." But it is difficult for coloured people to realise that.

There is one subject which is always in the minds of Colonial peoples and they always raise it—that is, Russia. They see through a great deal of the great Russian myth, but Russia has gained great kudos by passing a law making the colour bar illegal. One can tell them, of course, that there has been no great evidence of consideration in the actions of the Soviet Government, and that, if all the tales we hear are true, they have inflicted some terrible sufferings upon their Colonial peoples. I believe that one tribe has disappeared altogether, except for a few remnants who happened to be away when the purge was on. But they say that the banning of the colour bar is something which we in this country have not done. We can point out that under common law colour discrimination is not legal, but they find restrictive covenants in leases and other matters of that kind. It may be held by a court of law that a covenant restricting the admission of coloured people in house premises is voidable or void, but perhaps it would be a wise thing for the Government to consider whether we should not have some kind of declaratory Bill in this matter. To make certain that the Colonial people understand the situation we should have a Bill declaring that colour discrimination is illegal. I know the arguments against such a measure, but I am sure we shall never convince these Colonial people of our sincerity until something of this kind is done.

These matters affect all visitors, but especially students who live here for years. As my noble friend Lord Lucan has said, they are vitally important. Our relations with them are of increasing importance in these days, and they have tremendous influence in their own countries. As leaders in the future their interest will be overwhelming, and no pains should be spared to remedy matters. This calls for an all-out effort by everybody, and not merely by the Government. The Colonial Office and the British Council have done very well. In Mr. Keith, the Director of Commonwealth students, they have an official whose heart is in his job. I know that when I was a Colonial Minister he would come to me almost frothing at the mouth when he thought something had happened which affected his students in any way. He and his department are doing their best, as are the liaison officers from the various Colonies. They must be encouraged to continue their good work. We must find good lodgings and hostels where other British students live and where there is no segregation, as occurs at Hans Crescent. I think it is a good thing to try to persuade some of the people who can afford it to send their boys to public schools here. I have persuaded one or two of my friends to do that, and the experiment is proving well worth while. The boys go there at an early age, when there is no question of colour bar or any nonsense of that kind.

I am glad that the Students' Consultative Committee have been formed. They have held two meetings, and I am sure that the Colonial Office will listen to their advice. I think, however, that Colonial Governments can do a great deal more, and perhaps the noble Earl the Under-Secretary will be able to persuade them to do more than they are doing. In my view it is important that, wherever possible, the Colonies should send over post-graduate students, rather than undergraduates, for there are universities in most of the Colonial regions. They should also send over with them the wives of married students. The Emirs in Northern Nigeria, who seem to have more knowledge of human nature than some Governments, always do this. They send over not more than one wife with every married student who comes here. My noble friend Lord Lucan has given the House some idea of the number of technical students. There are 863 law students, which seems to me to be rather a large number. Far be it from me to be derogatory of the law or lawyers, but it seems to me that the Colonies themselves will find that this is far too great a number when there are only 220 science students, 500 engineering students and few teachers. One interesting development is that there are 300 teachers from Malaya, and 86 artisans from the Gold Coast, so that there is some progress towards what is wanted—a balanced student population.

I have long suggested that in places like Northern Nigeria, which the noble Lord, Lord Milverton, knows well, it would be a good thing to have tied scholarships. I know that educationists will jump down my throat for making that suggestion, but it is a difficult thing to arrange university scholarships in places where there are few secondary schools and where people cannot afford to send their sons to secondary schools. In these cases it is necessary to give university scholarships to elementary school pupils, so that they will carry boys right through secondary school to the university. When I visited Northern Nigeria I found the complaint that in many cases boys from Northern Nigeria, who would make the sort of students we want in agriculture and veterinary surgery, were unable to afford to go to secondary school, whereas boys from the Eastern province, from the Ibo people, who have no experience of animals, were able to go through secondary school and take university scholarships. So that we have the absurd position of boys who did not know how to put a halter on a horse taking their final examinations as veterinary officers. They had the whole thing in theory, but had no practical experience whatsoever. In this respect I am afraid that some Colonies themselves have been to blame. I once visited a post-war school for Askari ex-Service men, where they paid far more attention to scholarship boys going in for teaching than to those training as agricultural officers. That seems to me all wrong,. I suggest, too, that the Colonial Governments should take more interest in students here: that they should do what some Governments have done and set up institutions such as East Africa House and Malaya House.

Then there are the universities and the Inns of Court. They are doing a great deal and, as my noble friend has said, we are grateful to them for that. But they do take a number of these private scholars, who are financed by their parents, or by friends or societies. There has been a great increase in the number of these scholars in the last year or so, and I wonder whether the universities and the Inns of Court are careful enough in the selection of these people. Do they inquire into their financial backing? As a rule, it is these private students who get into trouble. They come here without sufficient financial backing, often without the necessary educational qualification, and the result is that they fall into bad hands. They are a prey to political harpies and other harpies; and that is what we do not want. Then I would ask: Are the political Parties doing as much as they could in this country? The Communists are doing a great dell; but are the others? That is a matter in which we should all search our consciences. The Conservative Party have a department dealing with this problem, and so have the Labour Party, and I am not at all sure that we should not extend that work. Those who are doing it are doing their best, and they are doing a good job; but I am not sure that they have enough staff to cope with the volume of work. I feel that all the societies in this country—the trade unions, the co-operative movement, the Federation of British Industries, the Rotary Clubs, the National Farmers' Union, and others—should consider this matter as one of their duties. I know that the Rotary Club in one London borough used to invite two students to their meeting every Monday, an invitation which was well received.

I suggest that this is not merely a matter for the Government, but one for the individual British citizen, in his associations and clubs. I do not think the Press and the B.B.C. could do more than they are doing. We would simply ask them to carry on their good work. Most important of all, I appeal to the great British public. In my view, many people in London and the other cities are in a position to invite two or three students, girls or boys, to their homes. They will find them intelligent, well-mannered, cheerful and appreciative. There is nothing they want more than to get to know British people, to be invited to their homes, and to get to know them in their homes. I do not suggest that people should spend a great deal of money. Boys and girls do not want that. They just want to feel that there is one fireside in this country by which they can sit any time they feel lonely or unhappy, and one motherly or fatherly sort of person to whom they can tell their troubles. When we have done that, then we shall have done a great deal. I feel that in this matter, above all else, we are all our "brother's keeper."

4.5 p.m.

LORD AMMON

My Lords, I intervene for a few moments in this debate in order to give some information of what has been done for these students and to make certain suggestions. My interest arises from a visit I paid. to China and West Africa, where I met a number of young men and women who had been students in our universities and teaching schools. I am also on the governing bodies of the London School of Economics and Dulwich College, both of which have a large number of overseas students. Moreover, I get certain information as to what is being done from people who are doing the largest amount of work—namely, the churches. There are only three of our churches which have independent officers appointed to deal with this work: they are, the Methodist Church, the Anglican Church (through the Church Missionary Society) and the Roman Catholic Church. So far as the Methodists are concerned, largely through the generosity of the Joseph Rank Trust they have in Inverness Terrace a large house where they accommodate seventy-eight students, who live together as one large family—as they put it themselves, with no regard to creed, differences of colour or race, or anything of that sort. In addition, there are two other residential places run under the same auspices, both situated in South Kensington. One of these makes provision for about forty-seven students, and the other for twenty-six.

There are 2,531 students in London or in the country with whom the Methodist organisation have kept in touch. There are 1,844 who are at present in this country. It is interesting to note that the majority of these come from our own Colonies. Kingsway Hall have two student residential hostels in London, one in Cleveland Street, in the West End, and the other in Norland Square. In addition, they have people meeting all the incoming boats, and representatives in the different ports. Largely they are provided with information from the particular churches in the Colonies whence these people come, and the Colonial Office also pass on information to them. It is worthy of note that the Colonial Office try to persuade Colonial students who have been here for some time to bring their wives with them; but the difficulty is to find accommodation for married couples when they do come. However, in the last two or three years arrangements have been made for several hundred Christian homes in the London area to accept overseas students to live with them as their sons and daughters, without regard to race or colour. That is one of the best things that can be done.

The Colonial Office are responsible only for students sponsored by their respective Governments, and there are numbers of unsponsored and unannounced students who arrive here, financed more or less by their own families. These people are an easy prey to the Communists, because often they have insufficient money; they have to get work as soon as they can and themselves seek accommodation, under the most difficult conditions. Curiously enough, so far as this denomination is concerned, we find that the people who suffer most from the colour bar are those who are studying to be solicitors and accountants. They find it most difficult to get into private homes. In that connection, the Methodist Church makes arrangements with people who are willing to take them into their homes, and for them to associate with people who will be helpful to them. I should like to give a few figures relating to these students. So far as those in Britain are concerned, 1,471 are from the Colonies, 229 from the Dominions, and 144 from other countries.

I now pass on to give some information in regard to the Church Missionary Society. They have been in touch with some 1,870 overseas students from Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The majority of them come from Africa, and in this country we have 1,150 students from that continent. The Church Missionary Society's chief source of information as to the arrival of students is through the Colonial Office, but advices of some arrivals are received from the Society's own fields, through their Bishops. The Overseas Council of the Church Assembly have recently acquired premises at the William Temple House in South Kensington, and they have another hostel in Philbeach Gardens. They provide for thirty-eight students in one, and fifteen in the other, who are living their permanently. So far as the Roman Catholic Church is concerned, they have no separate or distinct hostels giving priority to overseas students, but they accommodate students in their ordinary hostels. They are in touch with 1,400 students from various parts of the world. Owing to the absence from London of Father McClement, who is responsible for this work, I have not been able to obtain much information. The Newman Association of National Graduates endeavours to bring graduates into their fellowship.

What is being done in this connection is worth noting, but a most dangerous aspect of this problem is that the students who are without connections become easy victims to the Communists. So far as credit is due, the Communists are to be commended, inasmuch as they are active, alert and vigilant in their endeavours to get into touch with these students. The only method in which this danger can be defeated is by the other Churches taking their stand in the same way. We could then deal with the large pool of students who are not directly associated with them. At any rate, we can derive some satisfaction from the knowledge that there definite work is going on; that offices have been set apart specifically to deal with these students and that in large numbers of homes they are given a very warm and cordial welcome. When I was in China I came into contact with a large number of students who had been in touch with the Communists in this country. On the other hand, I met many who had been associated with our Churches on this side. Of course, that is the work the Churches should do. I think the noble Earl who introduced this Motion is to be congratulated. He has done something which will help to the very much more strongly than it is the bond of friendly relations between the Mother Country and her Dominions.

4.14 p.m.

LORD CHORLEY

My Lords, this is a most important subject, and I hope your Lordships will forgive my intervening for a few minutes. As a university teacher of nearly twenty-five years standing, I have had this problem brought frequently to my attention. Its importance was brought home to me most effectively on the occasion when I had the honour to be one of the representatives of your Lordships' House in the Parliamentary Mission to India, shortly after the last war—and in that Mission the noble Earl who sits opposite was a comrade. It was interesting, encouraging, and indeed inspiring, to find how much the good will, which undoubtedly existed towards this country throughout India at that time, depended on friendships which had been created years before on the part of the leaders of India when the were students in England. If, among the many elements which enabled us to bring India through that great constitutional crisis and enabled her to secure her independence amidst feelings of good will and to maintain her position in the Commonwealth, there is one which is of special significance, that is undoubtedly the one.

On one occasion we had the advantage of a long talk with Mahatma Gandhi, and he emphasised that some of the happiest years of his life had been those which he had spent in London. He mentioned the great friendship which he had received from people in London, particularly from families into which he had been received. With a smile he said that when London was being bombarded he felt in a way as if it were his native city that was being subjected to attack from the enemy. That was a remarkable statement from one often considered a foe, and it was obviously not produced for the occasion, because when one reads that fascinating book of his, My Experiments with Truth, he deals in detail with his life in London. And it is quite obvious that it left a profound impression upon him. From that interview with the Leader of the Hindu Congress Movement we went to see the late Mr. Jinnah, who said almost the same thing: that he had never had a happier time than when he was a student for the Bar, living in Hampstead. Indeed, he confessed that on one occasion he had almost retired from Indian politics to settle down in Hampstead as a private citizen, because that was the part of the world where he felt he could be most happy.

Can there be any question that the good will with which that tremendous constitutional revolution took place—be- cause it was no less—and the success with which it was carried through was based to a considerable extent on friendship and good will, dating back from the student years of these outstanding political leaders in India and Pakistan? I have taken those two only its typical examples, but it would be equally true of many of the other eminent Indian and Pakistani statesmen who at the present time are in charge of the political destinies of those great countries. A similar situation now exists. The statesmen of the future, not only from the Commonwealth but from the Colonies in Africa—which to-day are where India was a generation ago—the men who will be the leaders of those countries, are students in our universities and technical colleges in this country at the present time. The friendships and impressions which they take back to their countries depend on what is going on now in homes and institutions in this country.

The noble Earl, Lord Lucan, has done a great service in bringing this matter to the attention of your Lordships' House, and, I hope, to the attention of the public. The British Council and the religious bodies which have been referred to by the noble Earl and by my noble friend Lord Ammon are undoubtedly doing most valuable work Valuable as the organisational work of these bodies is, the really essential thing is to get these students into families was encouraged when the noble Earl said that some 1,700 introductions to families had been obtained by the British Council. That was, I thought, the most encouraging feature in his speech, because it is in our family life that those really enduring friendships are formed. It is there that these people whose skins are a different colour from our own realise that in this country there are very large numbers of men and women who are prepared to throw the colour bar out of the window, and to treat these young men and woolen on equal terms. And that is what really counts. It is on that basis that we shall build up the ramparts of the free world against Communism; on no other basis can it be successfully done. I hope the Press will report this debate, so that the newspapers which go out into the homes of England can show that here is a work which everybody can do if only a little effort is put into this matter. It is not an expensive business to take an occasional student into one's home. Their needs are small and their tastes frugal. If we can bring this home to our own people we shall, as I say, have done a great day's work towards building up the ramparts of the free world against the attacks of the Communists.

4.22 p.m.

THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (THE EARL OF MUNSTER)

My Lords, I suppose there is no member of your Lordships' House who will deny that the noble Earl, Lord Lucan, has introduced this afternoon a Motion which is of considerable interest to noble Lords in all parts of the House. I am glad that he has seen fit to bring forward this matter, because it gives me an opportunity to indicate to the House some of the measures that have been or are being taken for the benefit of Colonial students in this country. If I wished to be remarkably short in some of my observations (and indeed I shall not delay the House for very long) I could reply to the debate in one sentence, by saying that Her Majesty's Government are in agreement with all the utterances that have been made by the noble Lords who have spoken this afternoon. But I think the House would expect me to enter in some further detail, to try to give an outline of the measures we are taking in order to make the position of Colonial students in this country easier in every way.

I have for long maintained that the responsibility which rests upon my right honourable friend for the government of the Colonial territories is not limited solely to securing good government. Its object extends, as I see it, a great deal further than that. Over the years there have been advances towards self-government in many territories. Each extension has been gained only after the individual territory has had experience in the management of its own affairs. But that management has depended in almost every single case on the steady improvement in all kinds and types of education. It is therefore important that the facilities which have been made available in this country, and that the services which are given by the universities, colleges, training institutions and trades and professions, should be utilised, as they are, by men and women from the Colonial territories.

Now, it is not only the student's actual studies which are important while he is in this country. The welfare of the student during his stay must play a vital and important part. In this direction so much can be won and so much can be lost. As I believe, we in this land are still the leaders of modern thought and expression in the world; and, that being so, there is a duty incumbent upon us to offer a sincere and genuine welcome to students from the Commonwealth and Empire who are, as the noble Earl said, strangers within our midst. I think your Lordships will agree that most noble Lords on their visits to foreign countries are more often than not affected strongly by their first impressions. If that be so, how much greater must be the force of the impressions of this country left upon the minds of Colonial peoples?

Her Majesty's Government, as I think most noble Lords readily recognise, have no direct responsibility for Commonwealth students as such. The position of Colonial students is, of course. somewhat different. I have no desire to delay the House on this point, but I will say that the responsibility for students from the Commonwealth countries rests almost entirely on the High Commissioners. It is true that many Commonwealth students benefit from the facilities which are provided by the British Council, who are always ready to give Commonwealth students every assistance. There are also the many voluntary organisations (they have already been mentioned during the course of this discussion) which make a valuable contribution to the welfare of the Commonwealth students.

If I may give your Lordships a few figures of the growth in the numbers of Colonial students in this country, you will see how they have grown in recent years. In 1939 there were only 300 Colonial students in this country. To-day there are 5,154. About 1,200 of these are scholarship students, and the remainder are financed privately. As I think the noble Lord, Lord Ogmore, said, nearly 50 per cent. of these come from West Africa, and the remainder from places scattered about through the rest of the Colonial territories. Of that number, about one-third have undertaken all forms of medical training, including nursing, optics, and veterinary science. It is true that a very large number are engaged in law, although I feel that a large number of them have little chance of making a career for themselves in this profession when they go back to their respective countries. The remainder are engaged on every variety of activity, which can become, over a short or a long period of time, of the utmost benefit to the Colonial territories concerned.

It is also true, as was said by all three speakers from the Opposition Benches, that many of these students engaged in studies in this country to-day are the future leaders in their own particular territories The noble Earl, Lord Lucan, mentioned that in January, 1950, the former Secretary of State for the Colonies invited the British Council to undertake certain responsibilities for the welfare of Colonial students. As a result, the British Council are now responsible, subject, of course, at all times to the responsibility of the Colonial Secretary to Parliament, for the reception, accommodation and welfare of Colonial students. A grant of £455,000 was made available from the Colonial Development and Welfare Fund, and it is not the intention of Her Majesty's Government to reduce tint figure in any way whatever.

Up to date, I understand, the British Council have met some 99 per cent. of Colonial students who have arrived in this country. The students are met personally by the British Council representatives at the seaport, at the airport or at the railhead, wherever the arrival may be, and arrangements are made to find them first-night accommodation on their arrival at the town concerned. After arrival, these students are found accommodation in the university halls of residence, in hostels, or in lodgings. And here I agree at once with the noble Earl that, if it were possible (unhappily, it is not at the present time) it would be valuable to have an increased number these students within the university halls of residence. In addition, the British Council have a register of about 1,000 recommended addresses in the London area alone where Colonial students are welcome to stay. Generally speaking, the British Council have never found any difficulty in finding accommodation for every recommended student who comes to them for assistance.

I think it was the noble Lord, Lord Chorley, who emphasised to your Lordships his belief that it would be far more convenient and better for the welfare of the student concerned if he found accommodation within British family life. There, undoubtedly, the noble Lord is perfectly correct: we on this side of the House are in wholehearted agreement with him that the more students we can get into British families and into British homes, the better it will be for the welfare of the students themselves. The British Council at the moment have two hostels in London at which Colonial students can live, and I hope that at some time in the future it may be possible for a third hostel to be provided within the Metropolitan area. I understand, however, that Moray Lodge, which was made available to students last year, is unfortunately no longer available.

I turn to deal briefly with the Consultative Committee on the Welfare of Colonial Students which was set up by the present Secretary of State, in fulfilment of a pledge given by the former Secretary of State in another place. That Committee affords a means for the Colonial Office to be kept in touch with students and their opinions, for most of the Colonial student unions in this country are represented on that body. In addition, we have one member from each of the political Parties in another place. We also have a representative of London University. It happens to fall to my lot to preside over that Committee. So far, we have held three meetings, and I can assure y our Lordships that the students have not hesitated to voice their opinions freely, frankly and fully. I think we have done a certain amount of good work, but a great deal more lies ahead which I think we could usefully accomplish.

I want to deal next with one point which was made by the noble Lord, Lord Ogmore, on the question of political education. Undoubtedly, there is evidence to show that there an; undesirable political elements in this country which have been endeavouring to influence Colonial students; but, so far as I can trace, there is very little evidence to show that they have been successful in any degree on a wide scale. I myself think, if I may be hold enough to suggest it, that it is very important, as the noble Lord, Lord Ogmore, rightly pointed out, that the main political Parties in this country should interest themselves in the students and help them to understand fully the British way of life and, more particularly, the British form of government.

I come now to deal with other points which noble Lords were good enough to raise. There is the question which always comes to the fore in any discussion upon Colonial students—namely, the sponsorship of recommended students vis-à-vis private students. I understand that in every large Colony machinery has been set up, and is in operation, whereby the students can be recommended by their respective Governments. It cannot be made compulsory for all students to use that particular existing machinery. Therefore, it does happen from time to time that private students arrive in this country without any previous preparation and without knowledge of the conditions which are likely to prevail over here. It follows almost automatically that there are difficulties of admission to universities and elsewhere. That difficulty might not occur if the private student would make full use of the procedure provided within the Colonial territories. Wide publicity for this procedure has been given in all the Colonial territories, but I think that as a result of the discussions which we have had here this afternoon there may still be room for further improvement. I will certainly ask my right honourable friend to call the attention of the Colonial Governments to this particular question again.

I now wish to answer a question addressed to me by the noble Earl about the views of Her Majesty's Government on restrictive covenants in leases and discrimination against coloured people. I think your Lordships will agree with me that, if we desire close and intimate bonds of friendship between each and every member of the Commonwealth and Empire, it is necessary, in the first place, to inculcate the spirit of good relationship among us all. I therefore believe that it is undesirable for a landlord of any premises to attach a restrictive covenant to a lease which debars a tenant from affording accommodation to coloured persons. This question is closely connected with the racial discrimination which, unhappily, is practised (and we all know it is practised) by certain persons in this country. That discrimination we equally deplore, but, as in the particular case of the restrictive covenants, I believe that it can be removed only by close association between all creeds and all colours, by friendship and by understanding.

I am informed by those better able to judge than I am that there has undoubtedly been an improvement recently in the breaking down of colour prejudices. Nevertheless, much still remains to be done. I feel, however, that noble Lords would not in any way wish to exaggerate the story, nor indeed to overlook the fact that Colonial students in this country, in a vast number of cases, are receiving a welcome into English homes. At the same time, I am pretty certain that, in many cases, legislation on the lines of prohibiting restrictive covenants in leases would prove more of an embarrassment than an advantage; in any event, in my humble judgment it would not be enforceable. I cannot help feeling that the best safeguard must lie in a healthy state of public opinion which discountenances such practices—and that can be assisted and won only by a wider and more intimate knowledge of what common citizenship really means.

LORD OGMORE

I can assure the noble Earl that this question of restrictive covenants is very important, not only to Colonial, but also to Commonwealth people over here. If what he has said on the subject represents the view of Her Majesty's Government, I hope that he will make it known to students, and to the Commonwealth representatives, that there are reasons for our acting as we are, and that it is not due merely to the fact that we are too idle to pass legislation through Parliament.

THE EARL OF MUNSTER

I will certainly do that. What is more, I will add to it. I would point out, with great respect to the noble Lord, that the opinion of Her Majesty's Government on this particular point is absolutely and precisely identical with the opinion of the late Government, as expressed by Sir Hartley Shawcross himself in the House of Commons.

My Lords, I will just briefly make one point of which the noble and learned Lord, the Lord Chancellor, reminded me. There are, as your Lordships know, a large number of overseas students who are at the moment studying law in the Inns of Court, and I am glad to say that the Inns of Court jointly have appointed an adviser to overseas students who also acts as a welfare officer. The welfare officer has a small fund available at his disposal for assisting students as necessary, and he is prepared at all times to give advice on matters concerning studies and lodgings. There are two further points which I should like to mention before I conclude. The majority of Colonials in the Services in this country today, some 400 to 500, are serving in the Royal Air Force, and are afforded the same welfare facilities as all the other men within the Armed Services. Within the Colonial Office we have appointed a Jamaican Royal Air Force liaison officer, who is attached to the Service, and who periodically visits the Royal Air Force stations throughout the country to see the men, and to have personal interviews and discissions with them on any domestic or personal matters that may arise.

Lastly, I would turn to the point which was made, I think, by the noble Earl who moved this Motion, concerning the importance of further club facilities for Colonial students in London and, I suppose, elsewhere as well. I agree wholeheartedly with the noble Earl that it is necessary for further clubs to be formed within London and the large towns and cities throughout the country. It is also encouraging to find that many of the Colonial Governments have already provided establishments for their own students in London—such as Malaya Hall and East Africa House. We have every reason to hope that other Colonial Governments will follow the example which has already been set by Malaya and East Africa, and that further clubs will be opened for the benefit of students who are temporarily resident in this country. The noble Earl also asked me about the Imperial Institute, which I understand is making available club facilities which it is anxious to expand. I can only say that every possible assistance will be given to them. I hope that I have answered most of the questions which noble Lords who have spoken have addressed to me. I think this debate has been of immense value in assisting your Lordships generally to ascertain and understand all that is being done for Colonial students by Her Majesty's Government. At the same time, it is of interest to note that the views and expressions of noble Lords on both sides of the House are very similar, and that we are all equally anxious to do everything possible for the younger generation who, before many years are out, may well hold in their hands the future destinies of their respective territories.

4.45 p.m.

THE EARL OF LUCAN

My Lords, as I expected, there was no atmosphere of controversy about this debate, although I hardly thought that I should hear the spokesman for Her Majesty's Government say that he agreed with every word that had been said from these Benches. I am very grateful to the noble Earl for the answers he has given, which are entirely satisfactory. Possibly I had not made clear my point with regard to the club in the Imperial Institute. I understand that there is now a lounge available for use, but the suggestion I made was for a much more ambitious scheme —for a club with facilities for entertainment. I entirely agree that colour prejudice is not a thing in regard to which one can legislate. I would not offer an opinion on the legal side concerning restrictive covenants, but a decision regarding colour prejudice is one for the ordinary man and woman of this country, and I think I can say this afternoon that we in this House have done all we can to give proper guidance in relation to that decision. We have ventilated this subject and we have drawn attention to the directions in which further work can be done. Her Majesty's Government have given their assurance, which I was delighted to hear, alit they have no intention of reducing the grant. My Lords, the rest lies outside this House. I should like it emphasised that this is a sphere in which every man and woman in this country can play his or her part in cementing the bon is of the Commonwealth. I beg leave to withdraw my Motion.

Motion for Papers, by leave, withdrawn.