Oral Answers to Questions — Swaziland – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 16 June 1964.
Mr Stephen Swingler
, Newcastle-under-Lyme
12:00,
16 June 1964
asked the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations and the Colonies how many officers and men there are in the Swaziland police force; and how many of them were born, educated, or formerly resided, respectively, in South Africa.
Mr Nigel Fisher
, Surbiton
The answer to the first part of the question is 438, and to the second, 62.
Mr Stephen Swingler
, Newcastle-under-Lyme
Is it made crystal clear to all members of the Swaziland police force that they owe allegiance to a Government who oppose apartheid, and that it is no part of their task to collaborate in applying the Laws of apartheid which, unfortunately, temporarily prevails in the surrounding country?
Mr Nigel Fisher
, Surbiton
I do not know whether the hon. Member is suggesting that the loyalty of these officers and men is in question but, if so, I must say that I am entirely satisfied that there is no foundation for that statement at all.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
Laws are the rules by which a country is governed. Britain has a long history of law making and the laws of this country can be divided into three types:- 1) Statute Laws are the laws that have been made by Parliament. 2) Case Law is law that has been established from cases tried in the courts - the laws arise from test cases. The result of the test case creates a precedent on which future cases are judged. 3) Common Law is a part of English Law, which has not come from Parliament. It consists of rules of law which have developed from customs or judgements made in courts over hundreds of years. For example until 1861 Parliament had never passed a law saying that murder was an offence. From the earliest times courts had judged that murder was a crime so there was no need to make a law.
