COMMONWEALTH PREFERENCE (WESTERN SAMOA) ORDER, 1961 (Hansard, 5 December 1961)

EARL WALDEGRAVE
My Lords, the purpose of this draft Order-in Council is to continue to include Western Samoa in the Commonwealth preference area after she becomes independent on January 1, 1962. Western Samoa is at present administered by the Government of New Zealand under a United Nations Trusteeship Agreement. This Trusteeship Agreement comes to an end on January1st, 1962. The Western Samoan Government have asked the New Zealand Government to request us to continue to grant preferences, as we do at present. In return, the Western Samoans have agreed to maintain the preferences which they grant to us.
The preferences which we grant to Western Samoa are of real importance to her economy. Her main products are copra and cocoa. Over half her exports of cocoa and nearly half her exports of copra come to the United Kingdom.
The Import Duties Act, 1958, grants power by Order-in-Council to add the name of any country to those already appearing in Section 2 (4) of the Act as parts of the Commonwealth preference area. The draft Order-in-Council now before the House makes use of this power. This is the first occasion on which we have sought to make use of the Order-in-Council procedure to keep a country in the Commonwealth preference area after it has become independent. This is because whenever our Colonies have achieved independence, a separate Independence Act has been required and a clause has been inserted in such Acts to the effect that the country shall be added to those already listed in Section 2 (4) of the Import Duties Act. No such Act of Parliament is required for the grant of independence to Western Samoa. That is why we are proposing to use the Order-in-Council procedure. I hope that, with this explanation, the House will agree that the draft Order-in-Council should be approved.

§ THE EARL OF LISTOWEL
My Lords, may I ask the noble Earl one question—namely, is it the intention of the Government to consider the exports of Western Samoa in the course of the negotiations that are taking place about the entry of the United Kingdom into the Common Market?

EARL WALDEGRAVE
My Lords, if this Order is approved and preferences are given to Western Samoa, they will of course be facts of our trade. They will undoubtedly have to be considered, just as all the other facts of our trade with Commonwealth countries or under other trade agreements must be considered in negotiation with the Common Market countries.