OCEAN ISLAND (Hansard, 7 December 1976)

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

§ The MINISTER of STATE, FOREIGN and COMMONWEALTH OFFICE (Lord Goronwy-Roberts)
My Lords, this is a matter which will have to be resolved in discussion during the period leading up to the eventual constitutional conference to consider the independence arrangements for the Gilbert Islands.

§ Lord BROCKWAY
My Lords, would not the Minister agree that the inhabitants of Ocean Island are among the victims of the most cruel fate since the last World War—cheated into selling their land to the Phosphate Commission; evicted; land devastated so that even trees cannot grow on it, and now enforced to enter into a political association with the Gilbert Islands, which they do not want, and the eastern islands of which are 2,000 miles away? Will Her Majesty's Government sympathetically consider what can be done for these unfortunate people?

§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTS
My Lords, I have said before, and I repeat now, that Her Majesty's Government will do everything that is possible and in equity to help the Banaban community, as they will to help the Gilbertese community, and I will certainly bear in mind everything my noble friend has said.

§ Lord DERWENT
My Lords, can the noble Lord say what is possible?

§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTS
Not off the cuff, my Lords, at Question Time.

§ Lord HAILSHAM of SAINT MARY-LEBONE
My Lords, while nobody would ask the noble Lord to say anything "off the cuff", which he never does, having regard to the statements of the Vice-Chancellor in a recent case and no doubt after the time for appeal has expired or any appeal has been disposed of, will the noble Lord and Her Majesty's Government make a considered statement on the whole subject of these matters?

§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTS
Yes, my Lords. In view of the fact that other legal processes may be pending, the noble and learned Lord will agree with me of course that we shall have to choose carefully the time when we make such a considered statement. Indeed, we shall have to judge whether we are helping or hindering. I hope that at the end of the day there will be an agreed and amicable pacific settlement as between the Banabans and the Gilbertese.

§ Lord SHINWELL
My Lords, while I support my noble friend Lord Brockway and those who have asked that further consideration be given to this question, may I ask whether my noble friend can tell us the amount of compensation that has been paid? Is it not some derisory sum?

§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTS
My Lords, it would take me some time to produce the totality of royalties that has been paid at the rate which I notice was deemed by experts to be reasonably fair. As to the future arrangements for the Banabans, which may well involve certain financial arrangements, I could not state them now, but what I said to my noble friend Lord Brockway I repeat to my noble friend Lord Shinwell: we shall bear all these considerations very much in mind when we discuss them, not only with the Banabans and the Gilbertese but also with the Australians and the New Zealanders who have an interest in this matter.

§ Lord LEE of NEWTON
My Lords, as I remember it the phosphates were sold to Australian farmers at well below 515 world prices. In the discussions which the Government are to have with the Australians, may I remind the noble Lord that the Australians have derived great advantages from the sale of these phosphates?

§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTS
Yes, my Lords. My noble friend indicates the way in which this non-profit-making company, which was set up by joint action of the three Governments I have named, disposed of the phosphates over a period of years at what they considered from time to time to be reasonable rates. Actually I think it was the New Zealand farmers rather than the Australian farmers, or indeed the British farmers, who benefited—if that is the right word—from the prices which were then paid. Of course one must remember—and I do not want to detain the House with a detailed examination of this complex and important matter in the context of question and answer—that there was constant payment of royalties, and that the expert evidence was that the royalties paid over the years were reasonably fair.

§ Lord BROCKWAY
My Lords, appreciating the noble Lord's later replies, may I ask whether the Government will consider making an ex gratia payment to the Banabans in view of the fact that, while their claim for compensation from the Government was rejected on technical grounds, it was accepted on moral grounds by the Vice-Chancellor, who made a devastating criticism of the actions of the British Government at that time?

§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTS
My Lords, if I may comment without of course having fully considered the Vice-Chancellor's very lengthy statement of judgment that was completed on Friday—and it took him some clays to read his own judgment; it will take me a few more days to consider it in totality—certain aspects of the judgment which my noble friend has quoted may be set against certain other things the Vice-Chancellor said. He said, among other things, that while one Colonial officer clearly had acted—I think the word was "out rageously", he paid very warm tribute to the actions of, and the service to the Banaban community and to this part of the world by many other colonial officers.

§ Lord BROCKWAY
My Lords, will the Government consider making an ex gratia payment? That was my question.

§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTS
Yes, my Lords. Every aspect of this important and complex matter will be considered carefully by Her Majesty's Government. I am not disposed to express any anticipatory decisions on it before I have studied, first, the Vice-Chancellor's extended judgment and, secondly, the transcript of the proceedings—proceedings which took a very long time indeed. Furthermore, I must have early discussions, not only with the communities concerned in the area but also with two other Commonwealth Governments.