ABACO (Hansard, 3 May 1973)

LORD BELHAVEN AND STENTON
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

EARL FERRERS
My Lords, representations were made to Her Majesty's Government in December last that the Abaco Islands should be allowed to secede from the Bahamas at independence and remain a Crown colony. This request was refused, and the question has not been raised with Her Majesty's Government since then.

LORD BELHAVEN AND STENTON
My Lords, while thanking my noble friend for that reply and appreciating the difficulties which Her Majesty's Government face over this, may I ask whether my noble friend would not agree that the Bahamas have been united with Great Britain for longer than England and Scotland have been united, and that the inhabitants of an area such as Abaco, who have been connected with Britain for so many years, are entitled to more consultation than they have been given in view of the very large changes which are going to be brought about in their future? If Her Majesty's Government are not satisfied about what are the views of these people, are they not as entitled to be consulted as much as the people of Ulster, of Malta, of the Falkland Islands or of Gibraltar?

EARL FERRERS
My Lords, Abaco is an integral part of the Bahamas. Her Majesty's Government were prepared to consider the clearly expressed desire of the Bahamas Parliament for independence; they could not acquiesce in any fragmentation of the Bahamas.

§ THE EARL OF LAUDERDALE
My Lords, would my noble friend say whether he regards self-determination as an overriding principle; and, if he does, would he be able to say that he is willing to attend to this principle whichever way it goes?

EARL FERRERS
My Lords, there was an election in September, 1972. The Opposition Free National Movement did not oppose independence in principle but argued that it should come at a slower pace. When the independence resolution was passed in the Bahamas Parliament there was not one dissident vote.

LORD CLIFFORD or CHUDLEIGH
My Lords, is it not a fact that in the Bahamas the population has been known 183 to stone the tourists and that the Government have insisted on inefficient bank clerks and the like in offshore business, so losing their two main sources of income? Would it not be a good lesson in the facts of economic life if Abaco retained its present status and so become to the Bahamas what the Cayman Islands are and were to Jamaica?

EARL FERRERS
My Lords, Abaco has a population of 6,000 out of a total Bahamas population of 170,000. I think it would be impracticable to separate this particular island from the remainder of the Bahamas.

§ VISCOUNT MASSEREENE AND FERRARD
My Lords, would my noble friend not agree that we do not want what happened with Anguilla and St. Kitts to happen here? Is there not a danger that this might happen if the people of Abaco do not have their self-determination? Is it not logical, since we always respect the wishes of people who want independence, that we should respect the wishes of those who want their country to remain a Crown colony?

EARL FERRERS
My Lords, I can only assure my noble friend that Her Majesty's Government were concerned to consider the wishes of the people of the Bahamas. That is why they took note of the Bahamas Parliament's resolution. I can only repeat that not one member of the Opposition or of the Government Parties voted against that resolution.

§ LORD BROCKWAY
My Lords, while welcoming the independence of the Bahamas, is there not much to be said for what has been expressed behind the noble Earl, and is it not now desirable (with all the groups in the Caribbean which include St. Nevis and Anguilla) that there should be a conference between the Caribbean countries to decide these difficult issues which arise as independence is gained?

EARL FERRERS
My Lords, there has been a conference in this country with representatives of the Bahamas to try to thresh out what is the right way to go towards their independence. This has been done; and with great respect to the noble Lord, Lord Brockway, I should not think that a new conference at this 184 juncture within the Caribbean would be of great assistance.

§ LORD SHEPHERD
My Lords, would the noble Earl not agree that a Constitution was arranged for the Bahamas some four and a half years ago with the clear intention that the Bahamas would go into independence and that at no stage was there any dissent within the Bahamas about going into independence? The fact is that there has been an appeal; it has been disallowed and has not been pursued. Would the noble Earl not agree that in the interests of the Caribbean it would be best to leave this now and to hope that the Bahamas as a united country will prosper and succeed in its democratic processes?

EARL FERRERS
My Lords, I entirely agree with the noble Lord, Lord Shepherd. Over the past several years there has been a distinct, direct and positive movement towards independence and this is its culmination.

LORD BELHAVEN AND STENTON
My Lords, is it not a fact that in the vote to which my noble friend referred, the Members of the Opposition walked out, as is I believe the custom in the Bahamas, and therefore the fact that there was a unanimous resolution means precisely nothing?

EARL FERRERS
My Lords, if a unanimous resolution means precisely nothing, I suppose that there is no point in voting.

§ LORD SEGAL
My Lords—

THE LORD PRIVY SEAL (EARL JELLICOE)
My Lords, I think that it is the turn of the Cross-Benches.

§ LORD THURLOW
My Lords, would Her Majesty's Government agree that, whatever sympathy one may have for the views of particular groups caught up in the process of constitutional change, it is really not possible, two months before the agreed transfer of power, for a colony to contemplate fragmentation, especially in the absence of support from either the elected Ministers or the elected Opposition?

EARL FERRERS
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Thurlow. I think that he is absolutely right.

§ THE EARL OF LAUDERDALE
My Lords, would not the noble Earl agree that we have a long-standing tradition of protection of minorities and that the smaller the minority the greater our obligation; and that we should not allow the smallness of this minority to deter us from fulfilling that traditional and historic obligation, particularly when our performance in this matter will be watched elsewhere in the world? Would the noble Earl not agree that the argument about fragmentation comes ill from a Government of either side in this country which has seen the fragmentation of one Colony after another?

EARL FERRERS
My Lords, I entirely agree with my noble friend that we should take small minorities into account, and this is what we have done. It is our belief that to fragment this particular island from the rest of the Bahamas would be to do a great disservice to the whole of the Bahamas and to this particular island.

LORD BELHAVEN AND STENTON
My Lords, would it not be better to have fragmentation now than three years later, as it has happened in Anguilla?

EARL FERRERS
My Lords, we have no evidence at all to show that the idea which my noble friend has postulated would come about.

§ LORD SHEPHERD
My Lords, is it not deplorable that this should be put as a possibility at this stage?

EARL FERRERS
My Lords, I think it is a great pity that that has been suggested and I believe that it is without foundation.