Page:MALAYSIA BILL RHODESIA AND NYASALAND BILL (1) (Hansard, 11 Juli 1963).djvu/19

 accused him of being frightened. What I said was that in deference to his Left Wing he did not allow Federal public servants to explain Federation. That is not party propaganda. When I went out to Central Africa I found amazing ignorance about Federation then, due to that policy of the right hon. Gentleman.

Mr. Griffiths I have no fear of the Left Wing. The right hon. Gentleman should hear me speak on occasion to my colleagues.

I wish to set out very briefly why I originally supported the concept and principle of Federation and why I am sorry that it was not possible to find an agreed basis for Federation in Central Africa. I also want to give the economic and political reasons because they are still important and relevant today and will be relevant at the end of the year when the Federation comes to an end. I want to make a comment or two on these matters.

We embarked upon this very great experiment, in what we called the British Empire, of guiding the peoples in British territories towards self-government and democratic independence. Indeed, we have gone a long way towards completing the job. Most of my life has been spent in a trade union and I have been concerned with the conditions and standards of people. I was disturbed and still am disturbed at the fact that whereas we could produce the framework of independence for these people we were not 1463 equally successful or objective in providing them with the economic foundations upon which democratic independence could have any meaning at all. We have brought the flags of independence, the framework of independence and constitutions for independence to millions of people, and yet they will go hungry for the rest of their lives.

When I went to Central Africa I found by accident of geology a rich oasis of wealth surrounded by a desert of poverty. In Central Africa, Rhodesia and in Katanga we find this rich mineral wealth and around it this poverty. The worst poverty of all is in Nyasaland, the loveliest of the territories, the most thickly populated and the most poverty-stricken.

What has been happening in Nyasaland? Thousands of people, indeed tens of thousands of them, were driven from home to seek work. Where did they go? They went to the Union of South Africa, leaving their families behind. We found a poverty-stricken, broken society, and anyone who has experience of that knows perfectly well that they face more than those in this country with similar experience of the breaking up of families. It has a terrible effect upon people. I was disturbed at this.

I ask myself, why has this rich Copper Belt not been developed? It is one of the richest in the whole world. When I was there I went down the pits. There were miners there from this country, from South Wales, Durham and Yorkshire. They went out there to work in those mines and risked a lot. I saw among them some of the worst cases of silicosis that I have ever seen. There is no difficulty in getting capital in the Copper Belt. I found a way in which these three territories could join together and in which the wealth thus derived would provide a basis on which a sound viable economy could be established and which would enable them to meet what President Truman described as the"revolution of rising expectations".

The Central African Council had been built up, which was destroyed very largely by the Rhodesian Government. I was anxious that there should be this co-operation between the territories in the terms that we use now, and which the right hon. Gentleman used a moment or two ago, in the terms of what might be called the Common Market. I was particularly anxious that this very great wealth should be used and that it should fructify.

There is an article in The Times today about Nyasaland. Its people will be independent in a few months' time. The Times article says—I accept its figures; it is somewhere near right—that at the present moment the income per head of the population in Nyasaland is £16 10s. per annum. There is a publication by the United Nations which gives the income per head of the population of every country, and the figure for Nyasaland is one of the lowest. For every £1 that they have we have £25.