Mr. Creech Jonesasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies when it is proposed to ratify the International Labour Office Convention on the recruitment of native labour; and what reservations or modifications have been made or are being made by the respective Colonies in regard to its terms?
Mr. M. MacDonaldThe necessary consultations with Colonial Governments are virtually completed and a White Paper summarising the action proposed by His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom in regard to the ratification of the Convention will be laid as soon as Parliament reassembles. So far as concerns the non-self-governing Dependencies under the control of the Colonial Office, it is hoped that it will be possible to apply the Convention without modification to all territories in which recruiting as defined in the Convention exists or is likely hereafter to exist.