Mr. Swingler In that case, the means of laying that suspicion is for the Government to accept that a prima facie case for an inquiry into these companies has been established and for them to promise to set up such an inquiry. We want to know that that investigation will be begun before the House adjourns. We want to know the powers and the nature of that investigation before the House adjourns, maybe for the purposes of this Parliament for ever.
Therefore, before we are asked to decide upon the Motion, I hope that the Leader of the; House will be able to tell us that before the end of this week the Minister of Housing and Local Government will state exactly the nature and membership of the Milner Holland Committee which is to inquire into the exploitation of tenants; and, further, that an independent investigation will be set up into racketeering companies involved in speculation and over-valuation of land, about whom many of us are very anxious to submit evidence.
3.57 p.m.
Mr. William Warbey (Ashfield) I, too, wish to oppose the Motion, for the reasons given by my hon. Friends the Members for Brixton (Mr. Lipton) and Newcastle-under-Lyme (Mr. Swingler) and for an additional reason.
I hope that the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations and for the Colonies will be informed by the Leader of the House that there is a good deal of concern at this moment about the date which the Government intend to fix for the inauguration of Malaysia under the Malaysia Bill. So far, we have had the announcement of the intention as being 31st August.
I hope that before the debate is concluded, if the Leader of the House cannot persuade the Secretary of State to come here and make a statement, he will at least use the good offices of his Parliamentary Private Secretary to convey a message to the Secretary of State so that we can have a reply given to us at the end of the debate.
This is a matter which will involve the most profound and serious international repercussions. At this moment there is going on in Manila a summit conference of the heads of Malaya, the Philippines and Indonesia. The question of the Federation and the timing of the inauguration of the Federation has now become a question which may have very serious repercussions indeed, unless Her Majesty's Government are now prepared to act with some wisdom.
Complaints have been made from this side about the forcing of the pace of federation, but die doubts have been set aside because it was said that at a previous conference of the Foreign Ministers of the three countries in South-East Asia an agreement was reached between all three and that Indonesia and the Philippines said that they would welcome the formation of the Federation of Malaysia. The right hon. Gentleman will know—his right hon. Friends certainly know, because they were informed of it during the course of the debate on the Malaysia Bill—that that welcome was conditional.
It was conditional on one very important proviso which was written into the agreement signed by the Foreign Ministers and now forming the substance of the Manila conference. The proviso was that the support of the people of the Borneo territories should be ascertained by an independent and impartial authority, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, or his representative. Moreover, the representative of Malaya at that conference undertook to consult Her Majesty's Government about the steps to be taken to implement this agreement, in consultation with the Secretary-General.
I want to know, and the House is entitled to know, the answer to the question which was not answered during the Second Reading and other stages of the Malaysia Bill—whether those consultations with the Secretary-General have taken place and what action the British Government propose to take following those consultations. My information is that the Secretary-General of the United Nations, U Thant, has made it clear that he could not ascertain the views of the people of the Borneo territories unless he was given a period of three or four months in which to make the necessary arrangements for finding out their views. If my information is wrong, I hope that it will be put right, but if it
