HKG 025/1
8 December 1977
CR Evans Esq
Friends Peace & International Relations Committes (Quakers) Friends House
Buston Road
LONDON NW1 2BJ
HKG 025/1
BREVET SI TUCSTY NO. 51 - 8 DEC 1977
INJURE
Tidien
No
L
BRITISH DEPENDENT TERRITORI ES
46
lar Snodgrass has passed to me your letter of 23 November since I deal with matters affecting the Dependent Territories as a whole.
Ithas been the policy of successive British Governments to promote self-governaɑnt and independance in the Dependant Territories in accordance with the wishes of the inhabitants and the provisions of the United Nations Charter. But it has never been the polley to impose Ldependence on those who do not want it.
мне тебя
You ask me to comment on the ouse of eida. Grenada, prior to becoming independent in 1973, was one of the West Indian Associated States. This meant that the country enjoyed a constitutional status amounting to slightly less than full independenos, under which it had full responsibility for its own internal affairs, while Britain retained responsibility for external affairs and defence. An essential feature of this status is that it is voluntary and can be terminated at any time.
In the 1972 General Election in Grenada, the Premier made his intention of seeking full independence the first item on his programme. His party won 13 of the 15 seats in the House of Representatives and with this mandate he then asked the British Government to grant full independence to Grenada under the teras of the West Indies Act of 1967. This request was duly complied with.
JAB Stewart