§ Mr. REMERasked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies if his attention has been called to the practice in the French Colonial Empire to limit the staffs 1077W of British firms in the employment of British subjects; if he is aware that in the Crown Colonies foreign firms have the right to employ anyone of any nationality they please; and if he is prepared to make regulations whereby all foreign firms in the Crown Colonies shall be compelled to employ a fixed proportion of British subjects?
§ Dr. SHIELSThe answer to the first part of the question is in the negative. As regards the second and third parts of the question, foreign firms operating certain kinds of undertakings (e.g. oil concessions and various undertakings of a public utility character) in the British Colonies are already required in the interests of Imperial defence to employ specified minimum proportions of British subjects. Conditions of this kind are, however, only imposed in cases where they are considered desirable in the interests of public security. As regards the hon. Member's suggestion that a condition of this kind should be imposed on all foreign firms in the non-self-governing Colonies, I do not consider it to be either desirable or practicable to adopt, in this matter, a policy differing so radically from that followed in this country.