*
The problem has been to restrain Ministers from undue interferenc in the day-to-day management of the Police Force and in the-
exercise by the Commissioner of his own responsibility. 13. Those who prepared the present Constitution ten years ago might be surprised at the way things have developed. The able and experienced Governors who preceded me, finding the way to independence blocked and realizing the dangers of a stultifying stand upon the letter of the law, evolved pragmatic means whereby constitutional practice could keep pace with the country's progress and meet the political aspirations of Ministers, without infraction or amendment of the constitutional instruments. In
short they allowed Ministers to overdraw on the constitutional account in expectation of an early independence settlement. The reserve power of the Governor and hence of Her Majesty's Govern- ment in London was formally preserved so that it could, at least in theory, be enforced if the need arose without constitutional
revision. Yet at the same time some of the pressure and hope- fully the pain was removed from Ministers ambitions for wider
power. But this process of stretching the Constitution cannot be extended indefinitely. The elastic might become weakened or
snap. The reality of the Governor's power might become so apparently attenuated by disuse as to become incapable of resump- tion. The public might lose its confidence in the final respons- ibility and power of Her Majesty's Government in London. The
independent authority of the Commissioner of Police over his Force
might be eroded. The position of the British Army garrison might become unduly exposed. It might become impossible to call in
the overdraft. At the risk of finding myself in purgatory alongside those who claimed that no human being could run a mile in less than 4 minutes, I make bold to say that the process of
10.
CONFIDENTIAL AND PERSONAL
/pragmatic