TNAG-0597-FCO40-744-Future-of-Dependent-Territories-territorial-studies-1977 — Page 143

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Reference

Seychelle

4.

Mr Stanley therefore wondered whether our present policies were realistic, could the island dependencies in fact sustain independence? Could they be induced to move there faster? Could they be encouraged to seek association with neighbouring states? Alternatively if independence was not realistically attainable should we be thinking of restoring more direct rule from London?

5. There were several factors affecting a territory's attitude to independence:-

a) Size Probably irrelevant nowadays provided there is a balanced budget and some external defence assurance.

b) A Balanced Budget Several former colonies have gone to Jindependence while still in budgetary aid but they were all eager to do so and there were good prospects of a balanced baid: yor budget (later achieved).

eager for c) The wishes of the people The realisation that British Indep.. Ministers wished it had helped to persuade the Seychelles

to go for independence. Fixing a date can concentrate minds locally.

6.

For territories which looked unlikely to go to independence, it might seem attractive to us to offer a choice between going to independence, sweetened with a propriave undertakings concerning, continued budgetary aid, and being downgraded to a sort of rural district council. All OAGS argued but the latter course was not a true option since it could not be politically defended either in Britain or the dependencies.

7. Mr Stanley asked whether, assuming for the moment that we could not "recolonise", there was a half way house? Could we re- impose UK control over the spending of UK funds while leaving the territory complete freedom to do what it liked with its own? A big objection to this was the impossibility of splitting the responsibility between London and dependency for maintaining law and order (discussed further in para below). The experiment in Papua New Guinea to have two parallel systems of control over finance had been disastrous.

8. Mr Jones thought that Montserrat could go to independence but not in one step. It would help to be able to pass through associated statehood. It was pointed out, however, that it was notk policy to create new associated states (where we had no authority or power to maintain law and order. The fallacy about associated statehood was that in practice no Minister could say publicly that IMG proposed to do nothing' about internal dis- order in the associated state of X).

9. For some Uis (not the Caymans) there were neighbouring countries with whom association looked natural and advantageous. However, dependencies were unlikely to seek a closer political and economic association with other territories until after independence.

CODE 18-77

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