parties and all sides of the House of Commons believed in the federal solution that had been recommended at the Victoria Falls Conference. Now, we see the end of this federation and we are disillusioned.
What are the causes of this tragedy? In my view, the main cause is a failure of the party system in Parliament, here in London, to deal with a problem like that of an experiment in federation. It was a fact that although the right hon. Member for Llanelly (Mr. J. Griffiths) said in the House of Commons that he believed in the principle of federation, he refused out of fear of his extreme Left-wing to allow his officers in the Federation to explain the advantages of federation. That was the initial great weakness in this federal experiment.
Mr. James Griffiths (Llanelly) Rather than reply to the right hon. Gentleman at this stage, I know that many hon. Members wish to speak and I shall do so later if I succeed in catching Mr. Speaker's eye.
Mr. Turton I much prefer the right hon. Gentleman to make his observations afterwards. That is a quicker way of debating.
The Front Bench of the Labour Party believed in that principle, although its back benches did not. Afterwards, when the Labour Party got into Opposition, it can be seen from HANSARD that in debate after debate during the succeeding years it did all it could to wreck the plan of federation and to make it a party issue, trying to use it as a stick to defeat the Government. I believe that today, as the right hon. Member for Middlesbrough, East showed at times during his speech, the Labour Party is carrying on the same sort of attitude and some of the right hon. Member's remarks today, especially in regard to Southern Rhodesia, are likely to be construed as unhelpful for the future peace and collaboration of all these people of Africa.
I am not, however, acquitting my own party from blame. I believe that the speech made by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister in South Africa and the constitutional contortions of my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster when Colonial Secretary wrecked the foundation on which federation was based.
Looking back over the last ten years, one sees clearly the failure of the Southern Rhodesian Government to elect any African Member of Parliament to the Southern Rhodesian Parliament before the last election, and even today there is no African town councillor in Southern Rhodesia. All these factors have helped to make the federal experiment a failure. Only three years ago, racial discrimination was being practised in hotels and cinemas. In this supertragedy, I believe that if the reforms introduced within the last years of Sir Edgar Whitehead's Government had been introduced five years earlier, the federal experiment would still have succeeded.
This is not, however, the time for recrimination and I want to leave the past and to concentrate on the future. If I am right, all of us, every one who sits in the House of Commons, of whatever party, must take some blame for the failure of this experiment, and we have to ensure that the 8½ million people, 1454 of all colours and races, in the three territories do not suffer too much from our failure. In other words, we must look after these people. In particular, we must look after the 35,000 public servants who have been operating what the British Parliament—and no other Parliament—told them to operate in the three territories. They have made a very good job of it.
During the nine years, the gross national product has gone up from £344 million to £538 million. The average African wage has risen by 70 per cent. during the period of federation. Nor should we forget Kariba; that expenditure of £78 million has nearly doubed the amount of electricity supply in those countries. Finally, do not let us in this House overlook the tremendous progress which has been made in the health and hospital work in the three territories. It is vital that this work should be maintained and that the standard of health should not deteriorate with the break-up of federation. I am particularly concerned that all the work which has been done on the prevention of malaria, tuberculosis and bilharzia is now in jeopardy as a result of the break-up.
