§ 2.56 p.m.
§ THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNEMy Lords, I beg leave to ask Her Majesty's Government the Question of which I have given Private Notice; namely, what further constitutional changes are envisaged for Fiji.
§ LORD SHEPHERDMy Lords, at the invitation of the Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition I visited Fiji between January 26 and February 2 to acquaint myself at first hand with the position reached between representatives of the two main political Parties there who had been having discussions about constitutional change. I found that both parties were agreed that Fiji should proceed to Dominion status: that is to say, that Fiji should become a fully sovereign and independent State with The Queen as Head of State, and that Fiji should seek membership of the Commonwealth. There was also a wide area of agreement 815 between the Parties about other aspects of a new Constitution.
As a consequence of what I saw and heard during my visit, and in particular of my talks with the Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition and their colleagues in the Alliance and National Federation Parties (and in view of the wide area of agreement between them), I informed the Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition that, subject to the Legislative Council endorsing by means of a formal resolution the proposals so far agreed, Her Majesty's Government will be willing to convene a Constitutional Conference in London in April with a view to finalising arrangements for the independence of Fiji.
I have arranged for copies of the report of my visit to be placed in the Library.
§ THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNEMy Lords, I am much obliged to the noble Lord for his reply. The noble Lord was good enough to arrange for me to have a copy of his report and I am grateful to him for it. I will not go into it in detail, as other noble Lords have not yet had an opportunity of seeing it, but perhaps I may just mention three points. I do not expect the noble Lord to go into them in great detail, but perhaps he can give me an interim reply.
I am not clear whether the question of defence has yet been exhaustively discussed. Also I am not quite clear whether the special position which I think is at present enjoyed by native Fijians will persist, or whether this will change under the new Constitution. Then there is the difficulty, of which I myself have a certain amount of experience, of the composition of the Legislature and the method of election. I understand that, as has so often happened on other similar occasions, this problem has not yet been solved. It may well be that it will not be solved before the Constitutional Conference takes place in April. I do not want to embarrass the noble Lord, because I know how extremely delicate these conferences are, but am I right in understanding that in the event 816 of disagreement it would be up to Her Majesty's Government, to provide the formula for election? I take this to be the case from the report the noble Lord has given me.
§ LORD SHEPHERDMy Lords, on the question of defence, this is clearly a subject that would be discussed formally at the Constitutional Conference. With regard to the special position of Fijians, particularly in the matter of land, this will continue as at present. As to the composition of the Legislature and the election machinery, as the noble Marquess will see, the two Parties have agreed that in the event that they themselves cannot reach agreement on the Lower House the British Government should rule. I felt it only right to Fiji, however, if that responsibility was going to be placed firmly on the British Government, that I should indicate how we would rule in the present circumstances; that is, that the present composition, the present machinery and method of election should remain, the only amendment being that necessary for the removal of officials from the Legislative Council.
§ THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNEMy Lords, I am much obliged to the noble Lord.
§ LORD BROCKWAYMy Lords, is my noble friend aware that some of us who are at times critical want most sincerely to congratulate him on the success of this Mission—extraordinarily difficult because of the conflict in the past between the Indians and the Fijians. He has accomplished quite an achievement in reaching this Agreement, and we should like sincerely to congratulate him.
§ LORD SHEPHERDMy Lords, if congratulations are in order I think they should be extended to the Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in Fiji, and to all those colleagues who have worked very hard to reach what I think is a remarkable milestone for Fiji. We can take pride and satisfaction from the fact that this particular Agreement was signed by all the Members of the Legislative Council with the exception of one, a minority, a member of the Liberal Party.