§ Mr. J. Johnsonasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he will make an announcement about the Report of the Mauritius Electoral Boundary Commission.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydI have placed in the Library of the House copies of the Commission's Report together with a letter which I have sent to the Chairman of the Commission and a Dispatch which I have sent to the Governor.
The Commission has recommended that elections should be held in 40 single-member constituencies. It did so on the understanding that, in order to ensure that the agreed principles underlying the London Agreement shall be put into practice, I gave them a certain assurance. This is that the Governor will so use his power of appointment to the Legislative Council—so long as he does not thereby frustrate the election results—that, as finally constituted, it contains representatives of the main sections of opinion in numbers as nearly proportionate as possible to their numbers in the population as a whole. I have gladly given this assurance and accepted the recommendation of the Commission. 29W I am sure that this electoral system will give the people of Mauritius the best possible chance of good and stable government in the future.
I am most grateful to Sir Malcolm Trustram Eve and his colleagues for their very lucid and valuable Report.