From 50 Years Ago: No Room for Immigrants?

One of the most controversial pieces of legislation in recent years is the bill to impose restriction on Commonwealth immigration. Despite the legal verbiage with which this bill has been clothed, there is little doubt that whatever its declared intentions may be, it is in essence a bill that will weigh more heavily on coloured immigrants, for the simple reason that the bulk of immi-grants happen to be coloured. The mainspring behind this bill is racial emotions and the anti-colour group inside the Conservative Party associated with such names as Mr Norman Pannell. Sir Cyril Osborne and others, whose battle cry has been: “Do you want to see Britain go Black?”. Britain is now finding it difficult to face up to the colour problem; is this then another step towards the disintegration of the Commonwealth?... Pandit Nehru, questioned about the bill at London airport on his arrival, said that he thought it was rather unfortunate that this kind of thing should be pursued now. Dr Cheddi Jagan was more outspoken and said that “the new bill can only be interpreted as a colour bar....”. Sir Crantley Adams, the West Indian Federal Prime Minister, has also come out sharply against the bill, saying that despite pious assurances to the contrary, it will in fact operate on a basis of race and colour…