Part of the debate – in the House of Commons am ar 29 Gorffennaf 1926.
Mr. THOMAS:
That is a remarkable improvement and only emphasises the point I am making. That change would not have happened. It might have gone on year after year. The very fact that it was necessary to take drastic action, and then prove the action was justified by the improvements made, emphasises, I think, the point I am making, that, instead of waiting in this matter to see the facts dragged out, some steps ought to be taken to see that visiting of some kind is done in order to prevent it. Not only am I delighted to know of the improvements, but I hope, and I am sure, that, the facts having now been brought out, the right hon. Gentleman and the Under-Secretary will see that, where there is any repetition in any part in connection with matters of this kind, he will take as prompt and drastic action as I did to stop it. I therefore propose leaving the African question to a number of my friends who will follow me, and I will content myself with saying that I hope the next Imperial Conference will be fruitful and beneficial and will tackle these great and difficult and technical problems not in a party spirit. The suggestion I made is not made because we want the Opposition there or anything of that sort. It is merely because we want to make it more representative of the Empire as a whole and not cause disappointment to those who come and those whom they represent because of a reversal of policy due to circumstances for which no one is responsible.