Debate on the Address

Part of Orders of the Day — Queen's Speech – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 3 December 1954.

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Photo of Mr Henry Smith Mr Henry Smith , Nottingham South 12:00, 3 December 1954

That answer in no wise abates the sin of the hon. Member for Harrow, West, who has dared to give the impression in these Colonies that what Western investors are out for is to be let off their fair share of tax.

Infinitely worse was the speech of the hon. Member for Darwen, who said, in effect, that if there is a piece of ground in the Colonies—in Nigeria, for example—where cocoa grows prolifically, and if the demand for it is such that great prices can be obtained, and great profits made, the advantage of those prices and profits should accrue to the occupiers of the land and to nobody else. I have never heard a more discreditable doctrine. If it were justifiable, this debate would not be being held.

The whole idea of this debate is that we, the civilised peoples of the West, who, thanks to science and developing technology, know how to get a higher standard of living, should give some of this away to the colonial peoples and not keep it all for ourselves. What the hon. Member for Darwen said in effect was, "I want those cocoa producers to make a lot of money so that my Lancashire friends, taking advantage of the law of supply and demand, may get that money from them in excessively high prices for our textile products." That is the wrong spirit for this debate.

The whole idea behind mutual aid and colonial development is, and must remain, the idea of give-away, the superior technological Christian civilisation lifting up those who have not the fortune to enjoy either the technological or other natural advantages that we possess. This exhibition from the Tory side, from the hon. Members for Harrow, West and Darwen, will be very useful to me and my party at the coming General Election.