Page 534
Page 534
Page 534
401
arculated: 35/5/51 (80m)
402
HIS-DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT)
Page 535.
Page 535 af 587.
CONFIDENTIAL
C.P.(51) 141
24TH MAY, 1951
CABINET
COPY NO.
31
COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
DEBATE ON THE ANNUAL REPORT
Memorandum by the Minister of State for Colonial Affairs
As Ministers will know, the Annual Report of the Colonial Develop- ment Corporation is to be discussed in the House of Commons on Tuesday, 29th May, and I fear that the question of responsibility for the failure of the Gambia Poultry Scheme will undoubtedly be raised. The Board of the Corporation are anxious that a statement should be made by the Government refuting Lord Trefgarne's charges in his personal statement in the Lords, and Lord Reith has sent me a letter enclosing suggestions for the line to be taken by Lord Ogmore, who will be speaking for the Government in the House of Lords when the Corporation's report is debated there on 13th June. Lord Reith has also asked me to make a statement in the Commons.
2.
The main lines of the statement that Lord Reith and the members of the Board of the Corporation wish the Government to make are as follows:-
3.
(1)
(2)
Lord Trefgarne assumed direct charge of the scheme in July,
1948, when he minuted: "This project appears to have become involved with various points of principle. I have therefore decided to take direct charge of it from now on.
I!
Lord Trefgarne withheld from the Board adverse reports and overrode technical advice from three of his senior officers without passing the opinions of the latter on to the Board.
The Corporation also wish the Government to quote a letter written by Lord Trefgarne to the then Chancellor in September, 1948, in which he described the American Manager of the scheme, who has since been dismissed, as "probably one of the greatest poultry experts and tropical farmers in the world".
4.
I do not think that it would be at all wise to make a statement on the lines proposed by the Board, and I would naturally like, if possible, to avoid reviving the issue at all, particularly in view of the fact that the whole matter concerns internal administration of the Corporation, for which the Government does not accept responsibility. It is possible, however, that there will be very strong pressure for a definite statement by the Government, and in that case it would seem that the only way of avoiding the necessity for such a statement would be to concede some form of enquiry. While I should wish to avoid this if at all possible, I should like the agreement of Ministers that I should, if absolutely necessary, announce that Lord Reith had asked the Secretary of State formally to institute such an enquiry and that he had agreed to do so.