•
CONSOLIDATED FUND ALL
PASSAGE FOR MR LUARD'S SPEECH
In the case =7
1
Para
7
+
THE BANABANS AND OCEAN ISLAND
The Hon Member has expressed strong views on this subject and it will come as no surprise to him that I do not
share them.
My Rt Hon Friend made a full statement to the House on 27 May setting out what Her Majesty's Government consider a generous financial provision for the Banabans and suggesting the sort of compromise formula for a constitutional settlement. Those proposent would be fair and honourable to all the parties concerned.
/made it clear that no final decision would be taken
ту
before the pre-Independence Constitutional Conference and that the Banabans would be represented at, that Conference and free to argue their case there. important. B-B
The Hon Member has attacked Mr Posnett's Report on the subject of the Banabans and Ocean Island. I am aware that the Report does not support the views on this subject which the Hon Member holds. But those views are not unanimous in this House. My Rt Hon Friend found Mr Posnett's report of considerable value in his attempts to arrive at a fair and honourable settlement. There were of course many other factors to take into account and in particular my Rt Hon and noble Friend has had discussions with all of the parties concerned, including the Banaban leaders.
If Sir B Braine repeats the assertion he made in the House on 27 May that our ex gratia payment of $A10 million is only one- fifth what the Banabans would have got from their phosphate had they been given proper advice in 1947:
14
Gost, do not acquir.
oyalbios
This is a matter of assertion only and the Crown stands by
The Crown
about past the evidence it adduced during the legal actions which ráfuted that assertion completely.
/The 1947