[?]Ure Of Britain's

[?]ommons Express [?]ns

Pacific Colonies

■om a Special Correspondent

London, May 1.

irough the initiative of a pn zember, Mr. N. Pannell, the of Commons, in April, was the opportunity—all too rare wussing the future of Britain’s • Colonial Territories. »E are 33 British Colonies, m Pitcairn, with a few idreds, to Sierra Leone, 21 , classified as small.

Panned’s motion (treated as party issue, although more than Tory speakers took the lealt with the. large number tered Territories which "cari 3e, even in the long run, to sovereignty. Such territories ng from the Falkland Islands gkong—are either too small or population, or too poor >nal resources, or for a com i of all these reasons, to ly prospect of a truly inde ; existence. e whole of the British Com ilth of 650 million people n 30 million now await self lent; and, of these, 10 are found in the small, d Colonial Territories, se of their geographical and immediate interest in ith Pacific area, Australia jw Zealand could play a ole in determining the ulti atus of the Pacific Islands gm. svas suggested by a number ; and, indeed, this is out a pamphlet put out by the Party in the UK, called ’s Colonial Policy”, the prospect of an election UK in the next 12 months position’s views have more than usual. lea of federation, along the ndi e s pattern, wherever lically possible, seems to and favour with the Com- Jrunei, North Borneo and ;; British Somaliland and Somaliland; and the de r of Guiana joining the dies—all were mentioned in r. N. Pannell said “No such lent can be foreseen” in the f the Solomon Islands, tly, Mr. Kerr’s plan of a an Federation with P-NG reached his ears, innell thought it necessary *e be a pronouncement from rernment, in order to curb table hopes and ambitions smaller territories.

ers, did to 1 posSbiUty & of other Colonies comine ir nrttv+Sl me g mbe f rs

Shi?

in the past, however, has shown much enthusiasm about taking the colonial load off John Bull’s shoulders.

One Voirp fnr rmrU-nlu une voice tor Cinderella One other voice, that of Mr t Dugdale. was raised on behalf of the Cinderella of the Pacific—the Solomons. He spoke of the lack of economic development, the lack of

rudfmentl? 1 su f vey T’ and the very fjjdimentary education system in

pSI

“ a - 1Cm ° te fr ° m D A J*o the r hint of the Labour ? a u attitude was given by Mi John Callaghan, who said that since some members of the Common wealth were physically closer to these small Territories than Britain, they might want to help in their development and be associated with any change in status, He also called for the pooling of the resource* of wealthier Corn

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vealth members to assist de iment in these territories. rtainly they have a “moral ation”; but one has to look indeed to find much morality aolitics. Perhaps the South ic Commission —which, one MP tted, “this House has lost sight might be given some teeth, so it might do something in the nistrative field. e Under Secretary of State for Colonies, Mr. Julian Amery, !d to look into the suggestion ; forward by several members it Channel Island status might le “ultimate” status conferred he Gilbert and Ellice Island iy. is suggestion is not as radical might sound, for the Channel ds while having internal self rnment, are linked to the Crown )ugh a Lieutenant-Governor, act with HM Government is

through the Home Secretary. A change of status eventually would whilsWna C r? lor £ a -f’ complex, guaranteem S British assistance - . , .. .

Fiji s Problems Aired Pr°p ler ns were given an airing, what with Mr. Brockway and m imemptoymenf a aggfavated lo bv

the PWirr^n7nff g nf Sn mS

recent!V laymg ’ off of 500 men „ , Mr. Brockway went further, and asked for a “common roll” in Fiji.

He said also: “If we really mean what we say about democracy in the smaller Colonies we should begin to establish it in Fiji”.

But Mr. Amerv reolied that thp development of Fiji towards self government was essentially a slow process, because it depends on the growth and understanding between the races. It was HM Government’s aim to bring Fiji to the stage of government by an “unofficial majority”; but it would take some time to reach that point. he stressed that for some of the smaller colonies “internal self-government” would be the maximum advance in status, with Britain retaining appropriate re sponsibilities for defence and ex ternal affairs, and “perhaps, in cer tain cases, for the safe-guarding of minorities”.

He dismissed Mr. Brockway’s

laint that Fiji taxation was too by saying that taxes were is high as in the East African tories! ntion was also made that the :ess Colonies” would, for the being, have to forego in idence, in the interests of the Df the Commonwealth. Cyprus “not necessarily a precedent”. :s seemed to indicate some ;ning of attitude, and is in ing in regard to Singapore Aden. sre were the usual allusions (ringing in UNO”, mainly by ir members, but whether they isly entertained the idea of gentlemen representing the tors of Panama and Dominica ig a say in determining the e of British Colonies, seems doubtful. ter members seemed almost on yerge of advocating the De e ultimatum to his Colonies: er stay in or get out”. But was dismissed as being too il a departure from British 3ds, and more suitable to the :h regime. loes, of course, have some ad ges for investors and trade, j member admitted that, ugh several MP’s had spent youth in the Colonial Service, ames of the Territories, except lestion time, were practically ird in the Commons.