Arge ina and China could be gravely embarrassed by ill-
timed recommendations from a Select Committee for changes
in policy - particularly if FCO Ministers had given
evidence to the Committee before they were made. Also
a Select Committee which chose to discuss the future of
any of these territories could positively damage the
Government's negotiating position and so jeopardise the
future of the dependency's inhabitants.
(b) The Select Committee's Reports could not avoid
making some criticisms of the administration of particular
territories from time to time and they would thus provide the Committee of 24 in the United Nations with additional
4
opportunities for anti-British propaganda,
(c) Besides the four dependencies which are the subject
of disputes (see paragraph 6(a) above), the PAR Report
on the Future of the Dependent Territories recommends
that certain territories, eg the Seychelles, BSIP, the
Gilbert Islands and the Associated States in the
Caribbean should soon move towards independence.
Visits
by a Select Committee, unless the timing were carefully
chosen, could make eg the negotiation of constitutional ad vaults
Reforms and eventually of independence more difficult
since local politicians might well decide to try, by
making representations to the Select Committee, to play the
House of Commons off against the Government. The result
would be undignified as well as embarrassing.
(d) The sphere of interest of a Select Committee on the
Future of the Dependent Territories would overlap with
that of the Sub-Committee on Defence & External Affairs
of the Expenditure Committee, as well as with that of
CONFIDENTIAL
/the
NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
(17259) Dd.897459 250m 12/72 G.W.B.Ltd. Gp.863 (16941) Dd.897300 250m 9/72 G.W.B.Ltd. Gp.863
NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
}
the Select Committee on Aid and Overseas Development.
This overlap might not be a serious disadvantage provided
the
that/three Committees were generally agreed about the
level of development assistance which individual
territories merited. If there were policy differences
between the Committees, however, much conflicting advice
could be offered to the House of Commons which could
bring one or other Committee into disrepute.
CONCLUSION
7.
It is submitted that on balance the disadvantages
of a Special Select Committee on the Future of the
Dependent Territories clearly outweigh the advantages. Visits by Ministers and MPs to the dependent territories,
reasonably frequent debates on colonial policy on the
floor of the House of Commons and a forward looking policy
advocated by the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary of
the day would appear to be the best means of keeping
Parliament informed of progress and so of safeguarding
the future of the peoples of the dependent territories.
RECOMMENDATION
8. It is accordingly recommended that the proposal
for a Select Committee on the Future of the Dependent
Territories should not be pursued.
CONFIDENTIAL
8
CONFIDENTIAL
PS/Lord Gorowy-Roberts
نمی)
* to
follow
CALL ON LORD GORONWY-ROBERTS BY SIR PAUL BRYAN:
1.
2.
9 MAY
Sir Paul Bryan DSO MC, the new Chairman of the Anglo-
Hong Kong Parliamentary Group, is to pay a courtesy call on
Lord Goronwy-Roberts on 9 May at 12 noon. I shall attend the call.
I minuted to Lord Goronwy-Roberts on 16 April about
Sir Paul's election as Chairman of the Group. Sir Paul has been
Conservative MP for Howden (East Riding, Yorkshire) since 1955.
He was a Minister of State in the Department of Employment from
1970-72. He visited Hong Kong in 1969, but he is not otherwise
known to have taken a close interest in the Colony. He has been
invited to make a second visit in September as the guest of the
Hong Kong Government; and Mr Kidd tells me that he has accepted.
3.
Sir Paul is a Director of Granada Television and is a
long-standing advocate of commercial radio. He may be interested
in the commercial radio and television services in Hong Kong which
the Colonial Secretary described to Lord Goronwy-Roberts yesterday.
But we do not know of any direct link between Sir Paul and the
Hong Kong commercial TV companies.
4.
The most recent Chairmen of the Hong Kong Parliamentary
Group have been Sir Anthony Royle, Mr Peter Blaker and Sir John
Tilney. I attach a list of the Group's current membership.*
5.
One of the Chairman's main functions has been to advise
on the selection of groups of MPs who have visited Hong Kong as
guests of the Hong Kong Government. This has undoubtedly been a
successful exercise which has created a pool of knowledge and
CONFIDENTIAL
/interest