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APPENDIX II

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DRAFT PARLIAMENTARY STATEMENT

The House will recall that in the course of a debate on the 4th March it was explained that Her Majesty's Government were increasingly conscious of the need to prepare and place before the public as early as possible a definite draft scheme for the federation of Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland. The absence of a detailed picture was responsible for many of the anxieties and suspicions that have found expression in some quarters, both in this country and in the three territories, about such a federation. Her Majesty's Government had therefore decided that the Conference which adjourned at Victoria Falls last September should be invited to reassemble in London in April, and that its principal task should be the drawing up of a draft constitutional scheme which wou d take account of the recommendations made in the officials' report in 1951 (Cmd. 8233) and of any modifications therein which the Central African Governments might wish to propose.

The Conference duly met on the 23rd April at Lancaster House and remained in session until the 5th May. My colleague the Secretary of State for the Colonies and I led the United Kingdom delegation. The Southern Rhodesian delegation included the Prime Minister and other Ministers as well as members of the Opposition Parties and two Africans. The Northern Rhodesian delegation consisted of the Governor and official and unofficial members of the Legislative Council. The Nyasaland delegation included the Governor, senior officials and leading unofficials. It was a matter of great regret to the Conference and to Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom that African representatives of the African Representative Council of Northern Rhodesia and the African Protectorate Council of Nyasaland who had come to London declined an invitation to participate in the Conference or even to attend as observers. Conference faced the many difficult issues involved with determination and goodwill, and a draft federal scheme was agreed upon which is being published today as a White Paper.

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The Conference also decided to set up three Commissions which during the summer would investigate the financial, administrative and judicial problems attending the establishment of a federation in Central Africa. It is the intention of Her Majesty's Government that, after these Commissions have reported, a further Conference shall be held in Africa later in the year to give final shape to the federal scheme. Her Majesty's Government and the Central African Governments would then decide whether, subject to ratification in the three territories, the scheme in its final shape shall be approved.

It is our earnest hope that meanwhile the public here and in Central Africa, and in particular the leaders of African opinion, will study very carefully the details of the Draft Federal Scheme now published, before they reach

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conclusions about it. For a summary of the Scheme, I would refer the House to the Preface to the White Paper. I wish to draw special attention to certain features in it. Why at the outset do we aim at a federal form of government? Members will find on page 3 of the White Paper a statement of the reasons why Her Majesty's Government have rejected the alternative of amalgamation. We believe nevertheless that the closer political association of the three terri- tories is urgently needed in the interests of all their inhabitants. A federal scheme will satisfy that need while at the same time reserving to the separate territorial Governments, which would retain their existing relationship to Her Majesty's Government, the handling of those matters affecting most closely the day-to-day life of the African. That is a fundamental feature of the scheme which should appeal to African opinion.

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