Annual report on Northern Rhodesia / Colonial Office.

  • Colonial Office
Date:
[1952]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report on Northern Rhodesia / Colonial Office. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    9/134 (page 3)
    During the summer recess of the United Kingdom Parliament visits to the Territory were paid by the Minister of State for Colonial Affairs, the Rt. Hon. H. d’A. Hopkinson, and the Leader of the Opposition in the United Kingdom House of Commons, the Rt. Hon. C. R. Attlee. Mr. Hopkinson was in the Territory from the 30th July to 12th August, and Mr. Attlee from the 18th August to 2nd September, except for the period from the 27th to 29th August, when he visited Southern Rhodesia. In very full programmes they held discussions with representatives of all communities and besides visiting Lusaka and the Copperbelt, they visited some of the other centres in the Territory. With the publication of the draft federal scheme and the reports of the three Commissions, the public in Northern Rhodesia were presented with a fuller picture of what federation would entail than had previously been available to them. Consequently more detailed examination and criticism of the proposals were possible. Opinion on the principle of federation remained divided. Africans continued in general to be opposed to it, though there was some evidence of readiness to consider the proposals on their merits rather than to reject federation out of hand. It also appeared that some Africans accepted that federation would have its advantages, provided Africans’ interests were adequately safeguarded. The other sections of the community remained generally in favour of federation, though isolated voices were raised against it. The detailed proposals contained in the scheme, as read with the Commission reports, were also generally acceptable to the non-African sections of the community though with some reserva¬ tions. It had at first been intended to hold the second of the year’s federation conferences in Central Africa during October but for various reasons it was deferred until the 1st January, 1953, and, for climatic and other practical reasons, it was decided not to hold the conference in Central Africa but in London. NEW ORDINANCES During the meetings of the Legislative Council in 1952 a total of forty Ordinances was enacted, the majority of them representing minor amendments to existing legislation. The Land Bank Ordinance was enacted and will be brought into force as soon as the necessary administrative arrangements have been completed. Towards the end of the year a number of amendments were made to various Ordinances affecting the power of the Courts to inflict corporal punishment. They included the amendment to the Penal Code whereby the power was modified by abolishing whipping with the cat-o’-nine-tails and by permitting only caning for certain specified offences. During the year the Legislature also approved the gift of £100,000 as a Defence