§ Mr. Braineasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies, whether, in the light of the recent agreement on a new constitution for Singapore, he will make a state- 148W ment about the Christmas Island which is now administered by Singapore.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydIn the light of the new constitutional arrangements now agreed upon for Singapore, Her Majesty's Government do not consider that they can ask the Singapore Government to continue to administer Christmas Island (which lies in the Indian Ocean some 800 miles to the south of Singapore) on their behalf. Christmas Island has since 1900 been associated for administrative purposes with Singapore.
The sole activity on the island is the extraction of phosphates by the Christmas Island Phosphate Commission, which is wholly owned by the Australian and New Zealand Governments. Arrangements are accordingly being made to transfer the administration of the island to the Government of Australia, which draws about one-third of its phosphate requirements from the island and is the Government most closely concerned with its administration.
The island, which should not be confused with Christmas Island in the Pacific Ocean which is the site for United Kingdom atomic tests, has no indigenous inhabitants as such, the present population being the labour force employed by the Phosphate Commission for working the phosphate deposits. The Australian Government have given assurances that British subjects ordinarily resident on the island at the time of transfer and those born there afterwards will enjoy the same rights regarding citizenship and immigration as were extended to the inhabitants of the Cocos Islands when these were transferred to Australia in 1955. The Singapore Government have in the past enjoyed certain revenues in respect of the phosphate operations and Her Majesty's Government are making an ex gratia payment of 20 million Malayan dollars to the Singapore Government to ensure that they do not suffer economically by the transfer. The Australian and New Zealand Governments will reimburse Her Majesty's Government in respect of this payment.