three unofficial members nominated by the Governor. The status of the Executive Council was changed to that of chief instrument of policy and it was composed of the Governor, as Chairman, three ex-officio members and six members of the Legislative Assembly.The latter were elected by the Assembly but included not less than two of the nominated unofficial members of that body. Universal adult suffrage was also introduced in 1954, and the first general election under the new Constitution was held on 28th April 1954. The only fully organised party, the People's United Party, gained eight of the nine elected seats. The principle of Steering Members, appointed by the Governor from among the unofficial members of the Executive Council as the first step towards full ministerial status, was adopted in 1955. At the general elections which took place on the 20th March 1957 the People's United Party gained all nine of the elected seats. In February 1960 a conference was convened in London to consider proposals for further development of the Constitution of British Honduras. The conference decided to adopt a ministerial form of government based on a revised Legislative Assembly and Executive Council. This revised constitution was introduced in March 1961 following a general election. The new Legislative Assembly, presided over by a Speaker, consisted of 18 members elected by the general public, five nominated members and two ex-officio members (the Chief Secretary (formerly known as Colonial Secretary) and the Attorney-General). The normal life of the Assembly was four years. The revised Executive Council under the chairmanship of the Governor, consisted of two ex-officio members (the Chief Secretary, responsible, inter alia, for defence, security and external affairs, and the Attorney-General) and six unofficial members holding various departmental portfolios as Ministers, of whom at least one was a nominated member of the Legislative Assembly. The leader of the political party obtaining a majority at a general election for the Legislative Assembly seats was appointed First Minister and the remaining five unofficial members of the Executive Council were elected by the unofficial members of the Legislative Assembly from among their own number. The Governor appointed the five nominated members of the Legislative Assembly, after consultation with the First Minister in respect of two seats and after consultation with the leader of the minority party in respect of one seat, the remaining two seats being filled by the Governor after consultation with the leaders of both the majority and minority parties. At the general election held in March 1961, the People's United Party, led by Mr George Price, won all the 18 elected seats in the Legislative Assembly. Mr Price was thereupon appointed First Minister. PRESENT CONSTITUTION At a Constitutional Conference held in London in July 1963 a Ministerial system of internal self-government with a two-chamber legislature was agreed. Under this new Constitution introduced on 6th January 1964, the Governor has special responsibilities for defence, external affairs, internal security and the safeguarding of the terms and conditions of service of public officers. Further, for so long as the Government of British Honduras continued to receive money from the United Kingdom Government in the form of Grant-in-Aid of the current revenues, the Governor would have a special responsibility for maintaining or securing the financial and economic stability of British Honduras and for ensuring that any condition attached to any financial grant or loan made by Her Majesty's Government was complied with. This latter responsibility came to an end on the 31st December 1966 when the Grant-in-Aid ceased. The Executive Council has been replaced by a Cabinet consisting of a Premier and other Ministers. Ministers are appointed by the Governor on the advice of the Premier. The Governor appoints as Premier the person who appears to him to be likely to command the support of the majority party in the House of Representatives. The bi-cameral legislature is known as the National Assembly and comprises a House of Representatives and a Senate. The House of Representatives consists of 18 members elected under the system of universal adult suffrage. The Speaker may be elected by the House from among its own number or from outside the House but the Deputy Speaker is elected by the House from amongst its own number. The Senate consists of eight members appointed by the Governor. Five are appointed on the advice of the Premier, two on the advice of the Leader of the Opposition and one after consulting such persons as the Governor considers appropriate. The President may be elected by the Senate from amongst its own number, or from outside the Senate, but the VicePresident is elected by the Senate from amongst its own number. LAND POLICY The alienation of Crown land is carefully controlled to prevent, as far as possible, the acquisition of such land for purely speculative, non-productive purposes. No racial discrimination is exercised. During 1953 and 1954 a land use survey was carried out. A land policy, based on the findings and recommendations of the Survey Team, has been formulated and was published by Government in 1958. In order to encourage the economic development of the country a tax on undeveloped rural land was introduced in January 1966. GOVERNMENT At the 1963 Constitutional Conference it was agreed that the next general election should be held when it became due in the ordinary course, i.e. not later than March 1965. As the members of the legislature at that time were elected on the basis of the 1961 constitution, the conference agreed that the alterations in the legislature should not take place until after the next General Election, except that the two official seats in the legislature should be abolished when the new Constitution was introduced. The Constitution was introduced on 6th January 1964 and at the election held on 1st March 1965 the People's United Party (PUP) secured 16 seats and the National Independence Party (NIP) two seats. The House of Representatives elected a Speaker from outside the House. In the Senate a President was elected outside the Senate. THE CABINET Premier and Minister of Finance and Economic Development: Minister of Local Government and Social Development: Minister of Natural Resources and Trade: The Honourable A. A. Hunter Minister of Public Utilities and Communications: The Honourable A. E. Cattouse PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARIES Finance and Economic Development: Hon. A. E. Arthurs LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Speaker: The Hon. W. H. Courtenay, OBE THE SENATE Ewart William Francis, OBE (President) CIVIL ESTABLISHMENT Governor and Commander-in-Chief: Sir John Paul, GCMG, OBE, MC PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION Chairman: D. N. A. Fairweather, OBE, ED Members: A. S. Burns, OBE, JP; E. G. N. Gegg, JP; A. S. Pinks, JP; Miss K. M. Usher OFFICE OF THE SERVICE COMMISSIONS AND ESTABLISHMENT MINISTRY OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (also includes Information, Broadcasting and Customs) Financial Secretary: R. A. Fonseca, CMG, OBE Head of Planning Department: D. R. B. Permanent Secretary Broadcasting and Accountant-General: H. E. Cain, MBE MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS AND (including Police and Printing) Chief Medical Officer: N. L. Maison-Brown MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND HOUSING Permanent Secretary: E. N. Fuller, OBE Chief Education Officer: E. P. Yorke, MBE Housing Officer: L. F. J. Longsworth MINISTRY OF NATURAL RESOURCES Permanent Secretary: R. A. Fuller MINISTRY OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND Permanent Secretary: J. L. Castillo Superintendent of Prisons: S. P. S. Campbell MINISTRY OF LABOUR The Permanent Secretary: G. M. Young ANDERSON, A. H. Brief Sketch of British Honduras-Past, Present and CARR, D. and THORPE, J. From the Cam to the Cays. Putnam, 1961. GANN, THOMAS. Mystery Cities. Duckworth, 1925. GANN, THOMAS. Ancient Cities and Modern Tribes. Duckworth, 1926. GIBBS, ARCHIBALD ROBERTSON. British Honduras. An Historical and GREGG, A. ROBERT. British Honduras. Corona Library, 1968. JOYCE, T. A. Report on the Investigations at Lubantuum, British Honduras. PENDERGAST, Dr DAVID. Altun 4a. Government of Belize, 1969 SHERLOCK, PHILIP. History of Belize, Education Department, Belize City, 1969. SWAN, M. British Honduras. Phoenix House, 1957. WADDELL, D. A. G. British Honduras; A Historical and Contemporary BRITISH INDIAN OCEAN TERRITORY T HE British Indian Ocean Territory consists of the Chagos archipelago and the islands of Desroches, Farquhar and Aldabra. The headquarters of the territory is at Victoria on the island of Mahé in Seychelles. This island, which does not form part of the territory, lies some 1,000 miles east of Mombasa. The Chagos Archipelago is composed of six main groups of islands situated on a large shoal area, the Great Chagos Bank, the whole covering some 21,000 square miles of ocean. Diego Garcia, the largest and most southerly of the Chagos islands is 1,100 miles east of Mahé and consists of a V-shaped sand cay some 15 miles long with a maximum width of 7 miles. The arms approach at the top of the V almost enclosing the large, deep lagoon. The permanent land area is about 17 square miles. The other main island groups of the archipelago are Peros Banhos and Salomon both of which consist of small sand cays lying on large, roughly circular atolls. In the case of Peros Banhos there are 29 islands with a total land area of 4 square miles and in Salomon there are 11 islands with a land area of 2 square miles. These three main island groups are run as coconut plantations and have an annual output of 1,200-1,500 tons of copra. There are guano deposits on Diego Garcia but these are not being worked except for use on the plantation. Most of the other islands of the archipelago were formerly coconut plantations but they are now uninhabited except for large flocks of sea birds. Desroches is a small sand cay 34 miles long and varying in width from a quarter to three-quarters of a mile with an area of 800 acres. It is 120 miles south-west of Mahé and is situated on the southern edge of an almost circular atoll 12 miles in diameter. The whole island is given over to coconut production and gives an average of 200 tons of copra a year. Farquhar, some 430 miles south-west of Mahé is an atoll 10 miles by 5 miles in extent. The principal islands occur on the northern and eastern sides of the atoll but there is also a small group of islands on the north-western rim. The total land area is two and a half square miles, all the suitable parts of which have been planted with coconuts. Some maize is also grown. Farquhar is the only island in the territory which is in the cyclone belt and considerable damage was done to the island by cyclones in 1930, 1954 and 1966. The present production of the island is about 220 tons of copra a year. There are large colonies of sea birds on the islands. Aldabra, the largest of the islands in the Territory, is a raised reef atoll nineteen miles in length and up to 74 miles in width with a land area of about 60 square miles. The land rim of the atoll is almost continuous being broken only by four narrow passages, the large but shallow lagoon containing many small islets and mud banks. On the seaward side the island is fringed by low cliffs rising to some 15 feet. On the southern side of the island there are stable sand dunes rising to 50 feet in some places. Inside the lagoon the perimeter is indented with innumerable small creeks and there are large areas of mangrove in the intertidal areas. The land surface is composed of limestone either of the champignon or pavé type. In the former type, which is the more common, the limestone has been eroded into a maze of jagged pinnacles, pits and crevices and is covered with dense scrub. The pavé consists of slabs of limestone with vegetation growing in the hollows. The island is unsuitable for coconuts and the main products are mangrove poles and fish. Because of their declining population, the taking of turtles was banned in 1968 for ten-year period.. The number of turtles has however declined considerably in recent years. Aldabra has an interesting flora and fauna including some rare and unique species. With the exception of the Galapagos it is the only remaining place where the giant tortoise is found in its natural state. The bird life is very rich including large colonies of frigate birds, some flamingos and a species of flightless rail thought to be unique to the island. It is also one of the breeding grounds of the sacred ibis. |