§ 4.12 p.m.
§ THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMONWEALTH RELATIONS AND FOR THE COLONIES (THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE)My Lords, I think it will be for the convenience of the House if I now give your Lordships a statement made by my right honourable friend the Home Secretary in another place some little time ago. He said:
"The Gambia Independence Conference completed its work to-day. February 18, 1965, has been fixed as the date for Independence. The Conference Report will be published as a White Paper next week."
A few advanced cyclostyled copies of the Report are available in the Printed Paper Office.
§ THE EARL OF LISTOWELMy Lords, I am sure your Lordships will agree that all who took part in the Conference are to be congratulated on the speed of their work and the fact that they have agreed upon a date of Independence. I should like to ask the noble Marquess one question. Will a decision about the relationship between the Gambia and Senegal be postponed until after Independence, or will it be taken earlier?
§ THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNEMy Lords, I am obliged to the noble Earl for his welcome of this information. The position about the relationship between the Gambia and the Senegal is as follows. The Government of Gambia have already initialed two draft Agreements with the Senegal. These Agreements cover defence and foreign policy. We, for our part, welcome these Agreements and are glad to know, further, that the Gambia Government intends to pursue the possibility of closer association in other fields—in the economic field, for instance. That is the situation at the moment.
§ THE EARL OF LISTOWELMy Lords, may I ask the noble Marquess whether these two Agreements, which affect British interests, too, in so far as they relate to defence in West Africa, will appear in the White Paper?
§ THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNENo, my Lords.
§ LORD OGMOREMy Lords, may I ask the noble Marquess whether it is proposed to have a continuing contribution to the budget expenses of Gambia by Her Majesty's Government after Independence; and secondly, whether the Independence Constitution is in fact to be the present one?
§ THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNEMy Lords, as regards the first part of the noble Lord's question, our financial arrangements with the Gambia have still to be finalised, but we have informed the Government of the Gambia that the British Government recognise that the Gambia will have a continuing need after Independence for financial assistance, and we have undertaken to provide development aid to enable the Gambia Government development programme for 1964 to 1967 to go forward at levels to be settled after discussion between the two Governments. We have also indicated that we shall be prepared to consider requests for assistance towards the current budget which the Gambia Government have already made in respect of the period to June 30, 1967, and may make from time to time thereafter.
The Conference which has just been terminated was the Conference to decide the Independence Constitution for the Gambia.
§ LORD OGMOREMy Lords, what I want to know is whether there will be a new Constitution, or whether the present one, which is not a new one, will continue after Independence.
§ THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNEMy Lords, there will be a new Constitution.
§ THE EARL OF LISTOWELMy Lords, may I ask the noble Marquess this further question? We are responsible until Independence for the defence of Gambia, and for its external relations. Therefore I think he will agree that it would be proper for us to see a copy of the proposed Agreement between the Gambia and the Senegal on both these matters. Could he arrange for a copy to be put in the Library which would be available for us after the Recess?
§ THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNEMy Lords, both of these Agreements have already been published, and I will certainly arrange for the noble Earl to have access to them in the Library.