TONGA BILL [H.L.] (Hansard, 28 April 1970)

§ BARONESS LLEWELYN-DAVIES OF HASTOE
My Lords, I beg to move that this Bill be now read a second time. The Bill gives effect to his Majesty the King of Tonga's expressed desire that his Kingdom should progress towards full independence in 1970. In a broadcast on March 12 of this year, His Majesty named June 4, 1970, as the date for the termination of Tonga's status as a British Protected State. A special Session of the Legislative Assembly has been summoned for to-day to seek the support of all Tongan representatives to endorse a resolution to that effect.
Your Lordships will know that these islands were named by Captain Cook as the Friendly Islands, and indeed there has always been a very close and warm relationship between Tonga and our-selves. This was recently reaffirmed by the very warm welcome given to Her Majesty the Queen, His Royal Highness and Her Royal Highness Princess Anne, when they visited Tonga on March 7 of this year.
The purpose of the Bill is to make provisions consequential upon the attainment of independence on June 4, 1970. The termination of the protected status of Tonga will be effected either by a Declaration on behalf of Her Majesty's Government or by an Exchange of Letters. Either method will terminate the provisions of the existing Treaty of Friendship of 1968, under which British protection is exercised.
Perhaps I should remind your Lord-ships that Tonga was first placed under protection by a Treaty of Friendship in 1900. That Treaty has been amended and replaced several times since. Under the present Treaty of Friendship, Tonga assumed complete responsibility for her internal affairs, except in connection with certain legislation required for defence purposes, and a greater degree of responsibility for external affairs. The Treaty contains a provision to permit transfer by the United Kingdom to Tonga of responsibility for defence and such external relations as are still a United 1012 Kingdom responsibility, without amending the Treaty or making a new one. After the transfer of the remaining United Kingdom responsibilities the Treaty will simply provide for peace and friendship between our two countries.
With regard to Commonwealth membership, Tonga wishes to become a full Commonwealth member and her application is being processed. With regard to aid, with which your Lord-ships will of course be concerned, we are giving considerable support to Tonga's current development plan, both in technical assistance and capital aid. Her new Development Plan (1970 to 1975) is now being prepared. Tonga has had a locally enacted Constitution since 1875, with a Parliament, Privy Council and a Cabinet. There is therefore no need for the Bill to contain any provision empowering Her Majesty to grant a Constitution to Tonga.
Your Lordships will be familiar with Bills of this kind, and this particular Bill is merely to make certain consequential provisions. I feel sure that the House will wish to join me in expressing to His Majesty the King of Tonga, to the Prime Minister, to the Government and to the people of Tonga, heartfelt good wishes as Tonga achieves her Independence. I commend this Bill to the House. I trust and sincerely believe that Tonga has a great and happy future.

§ THE EARL OF DUNDEE
My Lords, when Captain Cook landed on the Tonga Islands, almost exactly 200 years ago, he christened them the Friendly Islands, not being aware that a number of natives had formed a conspiracy to assassinate him, about which they never told him. The name is an appropriate one. I do not know any noble Lords who have been there; I never have myself, but I know that the climate, the vegetation, the scenery and the people are all equally delightful and amicable. I do not think that any of us will ever forget the smiling face of the late Queen Salote when in 1953 she drove through pouring rain to attend the Queen's Coronation in Westminster Abbey.
The people of Tonga have had their turmoils and troubles and even civil wars, as other nations have. I think that the only really oppressive dictatorship they 1013 have ever suffered from was that of an English Wesleyan parson, Shirley Baker, in the 1880's. Baker, having supervised the conversion of all the islands to the Wesleyan religion, proceeded unmercifully to persecute all other Christian sects, so that the British Government had to help in restraining and eventually in removing him. But the reason why the King of Tonga requested a British Protectorate in 1900 was not to shield against religious persecution but to protect his people against the possibility of annexation by some other Power. I think it is one of the most creditable achievements of British Colonialism that under the late Queen Salote, whose reign lasted for nearly fifty years, and of her son, who has since succeeded her as King, the progress of Tonga has been so happy and so prosperous. It is one of the few places in the world—I think that Ireland is the only example in Europe—which have developed on the basis of peasant proprietorship, which on many grounds of social philosophy many of us admire in principle but which, alas! is not compatible with Western European ideas of the affluent State; but that is how they have gone in Tonga.
Now the King has decided, and we have agreed, that the British protectorate is no longer necessary and that it shall come to an end in June. As the noble Baroness has said, it is not necessary to have any new declaration or action, but only to cancel the Treaties forming the Protectorate and the subsequent confirmations of them, which this Bill does.
There are only a few questions I would ask arising out of the Bill, and the noble Baroness has already referred to all of them. I sent her a note of what they might be. I am not clear about exactly how many, if any, of the responsibilities in regard to defence and external affairs we are still left with. I am not sure whether there are none at all or whether we are still supposed to be obliged to respond or help in any particular way.
In regard to citizenship, I am not sure of the implications of Clause 2 with regard to the British nationality Acts. I should like to be quite clear about the position of the people of Tonga in future and what rights they will have in regard to Great Britain. About aid, I probably ought to know, but I do not, how much aid we have been giving to Tonga and 1014 how much it will be. Will that be changed in any way as a result of the Bill?
Finally, I understand that the noble Baroness said that the King and his Government desire to remain full members of the Commonwealth. Does that mean that Tonga will be a fully sovereign State, that the Tongan Prime Minister will come here when there is a Common-wealth Prime Ministers' Conference and that Tonga will be a full member of the United Nations?
I am sure that we are all glad that Her Majesty the Queen and members of her family have visited Tonga on Her present Pacific tour, and I know that the House will wish to extend to the King and people of these delightful islands the best wishes for their future and assurances of our continuing friendship.

§ BARONESS LLEWELYN-DAVIES OF HASTOE
My Lords, the whole House will echo the warm and friendly sentiments expressed by the noble Earl towards the people of Tonga in their new independence. I should not like to follow him into the rights and wrongs of Irish peasants' proprietorship at this particular time, but I am sure that noble Lords on all sides of the House have the same feelings of welcome towards Tonga's independence.
I can reassure the noble Earl about the question of citizenship. Clause 2 is quite straightforward. The people of Tonga will have Commonwealth citizenship and will be members of the Commonwealth in the same way as any other Commonwealth State, such as Canada, Zambia and so on. In this way the Prime Minister will be heir to the rights and privileges of the Commonwealth, and if he should wish to come to a Commonwealth Conference, he will be welcome in the same way as other Prime Ministers. That is the point which I think concerns the noble Earl.
With regard to defence, there is no residual commitment for defence by this country under the terms of this Treaty. The noble Earl asked how much aid there had been. To take the last five-year period of the relevant plan, just under £1 million has gone from this country in various forms of aid. In addition, a C.D. and W. Exchequer loan of £200,000 has been made for the 1015 Nuku'alofa wharf. The allocation for the coming year is £250,000. There is to be a development plan, which is being prepared at this moment with British assistance, and when we have that plan we shall be willing to negotiate aid as a result of the plan if the Tonga Government wishes to negotiate with us, as I feel sure they will. The relations seem to be completely happy. We look for-ward to a progressive and developing relationship with Tonga in the future, and I am sure that the whole House will wish them well.