Dr. Jegerasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies when it is proposed to implement the I.L.O. Convention on Forced Labour and to abolish all forms of compulsion, direct and indirect, which tend to force African colonial peoples to work for wages or to depress wages; and whether he will refuse registration to all trade unions in the Colonial Empire which maintain a colour bar or otherwise exercise racial discrimination.
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§ Mr. George HallThe International Labour Convention regarding forced labour has been applied in its entirety to every British Colonial territory. As a special war-time measure compulsory labour was authorised under the Defence Regulations in certain African territories for essential purposes. As I stated in my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for South Cardiff (Mr.Callaghan) on 17th October, I am in communication with2472W the Governors of those territories in which such labour is still being used under the Emergency Powers Legislation with a view to its early discontinuance. In most Colonial territories it is a matter for the Registrar of Trade Unions to interpret the local law as to registration, and the rights of applicants are determined by the local law. Colonial trade union legislation is based upon the trade union laws in this country.