Mr Roland Robinson: asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies when it is expected to publish the Devlin Report on Nyasaland.
Mr Roland Robinson: I followed the remarks of the right hon. Member for West Bromwich (Mr. Dugdale) with very great interest and I was particularly fascinated by his adventures into democratic theory. I think it is quite fair to say that all of us in this House firmly and sincerely believe that the democratic form of Parliamentary Government is the best in the world, and we are proud to have it. At the same...
Mr Roland Robinson: I have no quarrel with the hon. Gentleman on that point. I was pointing out that there was a difference between what the right hon. Member for West Bromwich said and what appears to be the official policy of his party. I say "official policy of his party" because the same point was taken up by the right hon. Gentleman the Leader of the Opposition this afternoon. He, too, said, "We believe in...
Mr Roland Robinson: The right hon. Gentleman seemed to want him to say that he believed in it now and for the present. I do not want to follow him in too much detail as to who started and brought federation into being. It is quite clear that the idea was germinated when his party was in power and that hon. Gentlemen opposite set the ball rolling, while we completed the job. However, before it was completed,...
Mr Roland Robinson: It is true that the hon. Member went on and gave two reason why the Africans would not have confidence in the Commission. From the point of view of getting things done, the duty of the hon. Member and the duty of the House is to create confidence in the Africans who are prepared to help to get things going in their own territory. I listened carefully this afternoon to the Leader of the...
Mr Roland Robinson: In the quotation I gave from the late Oliver Stanley I said that we shall have differences as to tempo, administration and detail. Those are all differences of method. I was trying to plead that the House should get together on a major problem.
Mr Roland Robinson: My hon. and gallant Friend the Member for the Isle of Ely (Major Legge-Bourke) is to be congratulated on using his good fortune in the ballot so well by raising the subject of the horticultural industry, with which he is exceedingly familiar and for which he has fought so hard for many years. His speech made it abundantly clear to all that the industry is faced with some very serious...
Mr Roland Robinson: I should like, at the outset of my remarks, to express my gratitude to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Colonies for coming back tonight specially to reply to the short debate which I am initiating. I know that he left an important banquet very early, and that, having come here, he has, owing to the exigencies of the previous debate, had a long wait. The subject I...
Mr Roland Robinson: I find myself in very full agreement with the opening remarks of the hon. Member for Pembroke (Mr. Donnelly). I can truthfully say that the maiden speech of my hon. Friend the Member for Southend, West (Mr. Channon) gave a great deal of pleasure to us on all sides of the House. I add my personal tribute to him. Since I knew his father so well for very many years, it is with a sense of real...
Mr Roland Robinson: I have many more, as the hon. Gentleman will hear if he stays to listen. It is a great pity that the right hon. Gentleman does not take care to discover—it would be a discovery for him—the record of the past before he blames us for so many things done by people on his own side. The most unworthy part of the right hon. Gentleman's speech was the attack he made on my right hon. Friend the...
Mr Roland Robinson: The hon. Gentleman says "Hear, hear." I am convinced that we could have attained a settlement long ago if many hon. Members opposite had not, time and time again, made it abundantly clear to the Greeks and Greek Cypriots that if there were a change of Government Enosis was just around the corner. When people representing practically one half of this House of Commons create that kind of...
Mr Roland Robinson: I turn now to the policy of the Government on Cyprus. It was well stated in June by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, when he said that we had four main purposes in our policy. They were, of course, repeated in Cmd. 455 of June last year. The first purpose—properly the first purpose—was to serve the best interests of all the people of the Island. Those were the Prime Minister's...
Mr Roland Robinson: I remember that meeting very vividly. It was when Field Marshal Harding addressed hon. Members after he had given up the Governorship. His words after he left the island were very different from those that he used when he was still there. The hon. Member for Bebington also said that we had constantly underestimated Turkey's apprehensions about Cyprus. This is a theme which has been repeated...
Mr Roland Robinson: I gave him the credit that it was something to do with that.
Mr Roland Robinson: It is quite proper for the hon. Gentleman to say so. I can only say that I am sorry. I hoped that it had something to do with that. I hoped that at least one Member of the Government, when they turn on their heads and completely repudiate their statements in public in the councils of the world, would feel it necessary to return his seals of office. The Colonial Secretary this afternoon put...
Mr Roland Robinson: Can my right hon. Friend say whether any arrangements have been made to look after the welfare of the families of the detainees?
Mr Roland Robinson: asked the Prime Minister, in view of the constitutional effect on the Commonwealth, whether he will make a statement about the policy of Her Majesty's Government with regard to the joint declaration of intention to establish a union signed by the Prime Ministers of Ghana and Guinea on 23rd November.
Mr Roland Robinson: In view of our friendly relations with France, will the Prime Minister make it very clear indeed that the initiative on this matter came from Ghana and Guinea, and not in any way from the United Kingdom?
Mr Roland Robinson: asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies when it is proposed to establish a coconut nursery in the north-west area of British Guiana; and what plans there are generally for developing coconut cultivation in the Colony.
Mr Roland Robinson: asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what plans are being made for the production of coir products on a cottage industry basis in British Guiana; and what assistance is being given by the Government of British Guiana to the project.