LEGAL EDUCATION FOR AFRICANS (Hansard, 13 March 1961)

§ LORD FRASER OF LONSDALE
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the first Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

§ THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR COLONIAL AFFAIRS (THE EARL OF PERTH)
My Lords, the noble and learned Viscount the Lord Chancellor informed this House on January 31 that he had commended the recommendations in Chapter I of the Report to certain legal bodies in this country for their consideration, and that my right honourable friends, the Colonial Secretary and the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations, were consulting with the Governments of the African territories concerned on Chapters II and III of the Report.
The legal bodies in question have the recommendations of the Committee under consideration, and consultations are now taking place in the territories concerned between the Judiciaries, the law officers and the leading members of the local legal profession. I am not yet in a position to make a detailed statement on the extent to which it may be possible to give effect to the recommendations of the Committee. However, with regard to the proposed Law Faculty in East Africa, it has been decided that this should be established in Tanganyika, initially under the ægis of Makerere College, the intention being to transfer it to the new University College in Tanganyika after that is established. The Makerere College Authorities are at 604 present in consultation with London University with a view to securing the extension of special relationship with London for the law courses for the initial period.

§ LORD OGMORE
My Lords, may I ask whether the Government will do something to urge the legal professions in this country to take notice of this Report and to make good a deficiency which has long been apparent in their arrangements for students from overseas? Secondly, can the noble Earl give us a date when it is expected that the Law Faculty in Tanganyika will be set up?

§ THE EARL OF PERTH
My Lords, I really do not believe it is necessary to urge the authorities here. After all, the Report, which was prepared with great expedition, was made only at the end of January. The matter is extremely important and also extremely complicated, the task being to get the various recommendations right. It needs a great deal of organisation. I do not think that at this moment there is any question of urging the authorities in this country to get on with a job which they are getting on with. I am afraid that I cannot give a date in regard to the setting up of the Faculty. But I think it is clear that we are not just waiting. The very fact that, as I have indicated, we decided to go ahead, without waiting for the new university, under the ægis of Makerere College shows that we are extremely anxious to get on. It takes time to organise a new Law Faculty; but I can tell the noble Lord that already lectureships for this Faculty have been advertised by the Inter-University Council. That is one illustration of the fact that they are trying to get on with its organisation.

§ LORD FRASER OF LONSDALE
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the second Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

§ THE EARL OF PERTH
My Lords, information is now being obtained from the Governments of the African territories concerned as to the number of students who might be expected to take the post-call course of practical training, which the Committee recommended should be introduced by the Council of Legal Education and the Law Society. The noble Lord will understand that it is not a question of the various territories, including Basutoland, choosing students to practise law. The most they can do to encourage students to take up law as a career is by offering them bursaries and scholarships. It is for the individual to decide whether he would wish to practise law, and it is on the numbers likely to come from the various territories that the information has been asked. When it is received it is hoped that it will prove possible to make arrangements so that the proposed post-call course of practical training will be able to cater for the numbers expected.

§ LORD FRASER OF LONSDALE
My Lords, while thanking my noble friend, may I ask him whether he is aware that in Basutoland, from whence I have just returned, a number of leading men feel that it would be of great advantage to the territory to have as many young students over here learning law and, incidentally, learning the British way of life as may be arranged? Can the noble Earl say, if the territory will send the students, whether there will be places for them?

§ THE EARL OF PERTH
My Lords, as I have tried to explain, the individual has, as it were, to volunteer and the territory concerned can give encouragement in the way of bursaries. But in the last analysis, it is not the territory which sends people: it is the individual who volunteers. It is first a question of how many want to take law, and then the territory can help by giving scholarships or bursaries. That, I feel sure, is the course which, by and large, will be followed in Basutoland. If the volunteers say, "We want to go", then the territory will do what it can to 'help them in providing the money. On the question of whether there will be sufficient places for them once they come over here, of course that all depends on the numbers involved from all the territories. But, as I said in the first part of my Answer, 606 we are asking for this information so that we can make arrangements to cater for as many people as are likely to come.

§ LORD OGMORE
My Lords, may I ask the noble Lord whether students from Basutoland will be eligible for admission to the Law Faculty in Tanganyika?

§ THE EARL OF PERTH
My Lords, I am afraid I do not know the answer to that question at the moment, but I will make inquiries, and perhaps I may let the noble Lord know.