§ Mr. George Craddockasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what decision has been reached on the claim of the Arab Association of Zanzibar that racial representation in the Legislative Council should be replaced by representation elected on a common voters roll.
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§ Mr. Lennox-BoydThe decree providing for constitutional changes came into operation on 15th September and the number of representative members of the Legislative Council has accordingly been increased to twelve.
Proposals of His Highness the Sultan's Government for choosing these members, based on the report by Mr. W. F. Coutts, were submitted to the former Legislative Council in Sessional Paper No. 2 of 1956 and were adopted. Under these proposals six of the seats will be filled by common roll elections which it is intended to hold in July, 1957. The remaining six seats will continue to be filled by nomination, but the exact method of selection is still under consideration. Copies of the Sessional Paper have been placed in the Library.