§ Mr. F. Harrisasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will make a further statement regarding the publication of a part of a judgment delivered in camera by Mr. Justice Cram in the Supreme Court in Kenya on 10th December, 1954.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydYes, and I welcome this opportunity to correct a misunderstanding which may well have arisen from my reply to a supplementary question by the hon. Member for Eton and Slough (Mr. Fenner Brockway) on 27th April.
A copy of the full judgment, including the part delivered in camera, was obtained in Kenya by means unknown and copies were widely distributed without Government authority. In view of this publicity, the Government of Kenya subsequently supplied a copy, on request, to "East Africa and Rhodesia," and I should like to emphasise that publication by that Journal, for which I have a high regard, constituted no impropriety whatever. I am very sorry if any words that I used last Wednesday may have given a contrary impression. According to my information, it is quite likely that other newspapers had reason to believe that they were at liberty to publish the judgment in full. In these circumstances, I have now placed a copy of the complete judgment in the Library.