Page:MALAYSIA BILL RHODESIA AND NYASALAND BILL (1) (Hansard, 11 Juli 1963).djvu/12

 come to the conference and this caused some delay. But it should not pass unnoticed that the result is an inconvenience to Parliament and an undemocratic procedure. I am not suggesting that it is not in order to use an enabling Measure and an Order in Council. Nevertheless, I think that we should all agree that, whenever possible, legislation should be passed by an Act of Parliament and not by an Order.

It is unsatisfactory, in particular, that Parliament should allow delegated legislation, even if it is subject to the House's approval, to amend Acts of Parliament. This is done in Clause 1(2,e). The present circumstances make it reasonably safe to do so because what will be done will be by agreement with all the Governments concerned. But there are occasions when it can lead to abuse or to the passage of legislation on false assumptions.

For example, on the Second Reading of the Southern Rhodesia (Constitution) Bill, 1961, the hon. Member for Essex, South-East (Mr. Braine), speaking for the 1449 Government, explained the Clause proposing the granting to Southern Rhodesia of power to make legislation having extra-territorial effect by instancing the anomaly that a Southern Rhodesian abroad could perjure himself in an affidavit for use in Southern Rhodesia and not be punished for it. That is in column 1049 of the OFFICIAL REPORT for 8th November, 1961.

The subsequent Order in Council based on the Act did not only correct this small anomaly but gave general power to make extra-territorial legislation. Consequently, there are features in the recent legislation of Southern Rhodesia which could not have been made but for this provision, and which are very unjust. For instance, people can be punished for statements made outside Southern Rhodesia "likely to engender hostility between sections of the population"." We on this side of the House will support the Bill. In doing so, we express the hope that the main committee composed of officials representing Her Majesty's Government, the Southern Rhodesia and Northern Rhodesia Governments, with the assistance of Federal officials, will be able to retain and strengthen the inter-territorial links. The retention of the economic links, and the development of common services can bring great benefits to all people in the territories.

The key to the success of this part of the agreement reached at Victoria Falls lies with Southern Rhodesia. I hope that it will be made clear that Mr. Winston Field's demand for independence at the same time that independence is granted to Northern Rhodesia cannot be met in present circumstances. This is the Labour Party point of view. If Her Majesty's Government are foolish enough to concede this, which, as I recognise, many hon. Members opposite would do and which was at the back of the mind of the hon. Member for Haltemprice (Mr. Wall), who interrupted me, it is clear that there will be no hope of Southern Rhodesia becoming an independent country of the Commonwealth, let alone the United Nations, and I think that this would be a bad thing.

Alternatively, the Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia may say that when Northern Rhodesia gets independence he will carry on as at present with de facto 1450 independence, hoping that in time this will help him. We have to recognise that this will not solve anything, and I doubt whether the Southern Rhodesian Prime Minister would be able to get support for this policy in his own country.

A further possibility is that the Southern Rhodesian Government would declare themselves an independent country without seeking to join the Commonwealth or the United Nations. This would mean linking up with the Union of South Africa. This might, of course, be convenient to South Africa. South Africa has very large investments in Southern Rhodesia. It might also appeal to the South Africans to have their military frontier at the Zambesi.

I think that what we should be urging upon the Southern Rhodesians is that they must meet the legitimate demands of the Africans so that peaceful progress can be made towards racial equality and democratic government. A heavy responsibility rests upon Her Majesty's Government in terms of the future peace and security of the area and for the welfare not only of the Africans, but of those Europeans who have become Africanised. We can no longer legislate for Southern Rhodesia since the Tory Government renounced this power in the 1961 Constitution. They did this in exchange for quite inadequate safeguards for the Africans.