HL Deb 26 November 1963 vol 253 cc578-9
LORD COLYTON

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

[The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what information they have received regarding the report prepared for Mr. Kaunda, Minister of Local Government and Social Welfare in the Northern Rhodesian Government, on the feasibility of building a railway from Northern Rhodesia to Tanganyika and by whom the cost of this survey, said to have been about £150,000, was defrayed.]

THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMONWEALTH RELATIONS AND FOR THE COLONIES (THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE)

My Lords, Her Majesty's Government have no information regarding this report, which was commissioned not by the Northern Rhodesia Government but, I understand, by Mr. Kaunda's political Party, the United National Independence Party. It is not known who is meeting the cost of the survey involved, but it is not a charge on the Northern Rhodesia Government. The International Bank have accepted an invitation by the latter Government to send a preliminary mission to discuss with the authorities, including Rhodesia Railways, the need for further additions to the transport system and the general implications of a railway link between Northern Rhodesia and Tanganyika.

LORD COLYTON

My Lords, while thanking my noble friend for his reply, may I ask him whether it is not a fact that a previous survey was made at the request of the Colonial Office in 1951–52, which suggested that the projected railway would prove to be quite uneconomic? Is it not in fact a purely political project and is it not one which, as I would think, would certainly affect the interests of the Rhodesia Railways, which are one of the two important links between the Northern and Southern Rhodesian Territories? Finally, can we be assured that in fact no Colonial Development and Welfare funds will be applied to the construction of what I fear must be a very doubtful enterprise?

THE EARL OF LISTOWEL

My Lords, would not the noble Duke agree—

THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE

My Lords, may I answer one question at a time—or, rather, three questions at a time? First of all, I would say that, in so far as this survey puts no charge on the Northern Rhodesian Government, we are not financially implicated in any way and therefore there is no cause for us to interfere in this matter. As regards the Rhodesia Railways, as I am sure my noble friend knows, discussions are going on to try to work out ways by which the existing system of Rhodesia Railways shall be continued after the dissolution of the Federation, to the benefit of both Territories. As regards Colonial Development and Welfare funds, I can give my noble friend the assurance he requires.