"Detached for Separati
Common
77.8.
94069/49 taken to Mr. Moreton who with retter it dient to
Mr. Ruckford.
A
Mr. Paskin
With reference to Sir C. Jeffries' separate minute attached and the Secretary of State's minute on this file, you will, I understand, get from Mrs. Paskin extracts from minutes and a copy of a printed paper relating to the Hamburg Constitution for study by us.
2 On the matters I discussed with you this morning, I have now got file 94069/49 borrowed from Mr. Rushford, to whom it should be returned. (I understand that Mr. Morton has also been asking for this file recently for Sir T. Lloyd, but it could not then be located. However, I found it this morning and it should, perhaps, go to Sir T. Lloyd before being returned to Mr. Rushford.) From minutes on that file it does not appear that final conclusions have been reached, and Mr. Trafford Smith's draft letter of 21st December to the Ministry of Defence has not yet issued. There appears to be departmental agreement, however, that discussions at the departmental level would suffice where other departments are concerned in new Constitutions. In the minutes on that file Sir C. effries had agreed with your view that the machinery of the Commonwealth Affairs Committee of the Cabinet was not the best form of consultation.
3 I also attach an extract from Hansard which Mr. Watson informs me is the locus classicus on the question of consul- tation with Parliament on any alteration in Colonial Constitutions. There is no obligation to consult Parliament, though adequate opportunity for debate was promised. The whole position at the moment is, perhaps, a little complicated by the impending General Election and the pre-occupations of Ministers.
4. We have also to consider the further point which Sir C. Jeffries has made in his minute attached about the use of reserve powers. The following is an extract from the minute in question:-
"I think, however, that it is our duty to warn Ministers when this next goes forward that they must not place too much reliance upon reserve powers. These can, in practice, be used only very sparingly indeed and are apt to provoke acute controversy when they are used. It is better, if we wish to retain more than nominal control, to do so openly. It would probably be worth while to consult Sir K. Roberts- Wray on this point as he has much experience of it."
6. In view of paragraph 1 of the Secretary of State's minute, and the fact that almost 6 months has elapsed since the Governor sent his despatch, without any reminder for a reply as a matter of urgency, I suggest that:-
(1) we should now telegraph to the Governor as
in draft herewith;
(2) if the Governor confirms that he wishes to
go ahead at once, we should consult the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence;
(3) while they are looking at the picture, we
should:-
(a)
deal with No. 73 on this file;
(b) study the documents which Mrs. Paskin
will provide and consider what, if anything, we want to say to the Governor about them; and
(c) consult Sir K. Roberts-Wray on Sir C. Jeffries' point about reserve powers;
/ and