CO537-6046 — Page 229

HOUSE OF LORDS

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THURSDAY, 26TH OCTOBER,

1944.

Viscount Elibank had the following Notice on the Paper: To call attention to the announcement by the Secretary of State for the Colonies on 5th October of the terms of a new Constitution to be granted to the Gold Coast Colony, and to the announcement on 18th October of a similar character regarding Northern Rhodesia; and to ask His Majesty's Government whether they propose to consult Parliament regarding any changes before they are made and whether they will ensure that in the future no change in the Constitution of any of our Colonies or Protectorates shall be promised or made without full consultation with Parliament.

The Duke of Devonshire:

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While, therefore, my right honourable friend, in present circumstances and may I say that as I did not propose this afternoon to go into all the constitutional details involved, I am, therefore, the more indebted to the noble Viscount who has just sat down? cannot agree to give the definite undertaking required by the noble Viscount who asked the question, for there are very considerable difficulties both of a constitutional and practical nature, I am in a position to repeat that it is the desire of my right honourable friend that Parliament should have ample and adequate opportunities for discussion of constitutional changes, and that he is investigating the possibility of widening the opportunities should it be established that there is really a case for the widening.

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