§ 67. Mr. Juddasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the interview given by Mr. P. W. R. C. Haley, the Acting British Consul General in South Africa, to the Rand Daily Mail and published in that paper on Thursday, 3rd September concerning Mr. Neil Wates, was held with his authority; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Sir Alec Douglas-HomeHer Majesty's representatives have standing instructions262W to make clear the policy of Her Majesty's Government as and when appropriate. In this case Mr. Haley was drawing attention to the importance which the Government attach to trade with South Africa. He was misquoted in the Rand Daily Mail on 3rd September. A correction was published the following day which I will, with permission, circulate in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
Following is the correction—
Rand Daily Mail, 4th September
"Consul's Views on Mutual Trade"
The acting British Consul-General, Mr. P. W. R. C. Haley, said in a statement in Johannesburg yesterday that he felt he should correct several misconceptions arising from a statement attributed to him that he had condemned the recent move by certain British companies to interfere with trade with South Africa on moral grounds, or that he had criticised the support they had reportedly given to Mr. Neil Wates. He said, "I have been most careful not to condemn this action and deny having said that it is contrary to the law. The fact is that every British business man is free within the law of the land and our international agreements to trade, or not to trade, with any country of his choice.
In the light of the official policies of the British Government, and of the general attitude of British commerce and industry, and particularly of the current flourishing figures of our mutual trade, I merely indicated that Mr. Wate's views were those of a minority.
He is fully entitled to these views, and it is certainly not for me to condemn anybody for a brave stand taken on high moral principles.
The last and the new British Governments have both made it unambiguously clear that they do not consider political differences can be resolved by resorting to general trade sanctions.
Nobody in South Africa should doubt the importance which the British government attaches to the maintenance and expansion of our mutual trade."