Bledisloe Commission
In 1939, the majority of the Commission recommended a union of Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, whose African populations would remain under British trusteeship.
A minority of the Commission appended a report which recommended the early amalgamation of the three territories, largely on economic grounds, despite the almost unanimous objections of Africans in all three.
[1] A Legislative Council for Southern Rhodesia was created in 1898, initially with a minority of elected seats and an electorate formed only of the better-off white settlers.
This white population increased rapidly after the discovery of the Copperbelt in the 1920s, and Northern Rhodesian settlers wanted self-determination with a European minority electorate, following the model of Southern Rhodesia but separate from it.
As long as Leo Amery was Colonial Secretary, he attempted to qualify the principle that the interests of Africans in tropical Africa would be treated as paramount, and gave tacit encouragement to these Northern Rhodesian settler aspirations.
[6][7] The Colonial Secretary of the Labour Government, Lord Passfield, published his Memorandum on native policy in East Africa in June 1930.
His Memorandum stated that no further white minority governments would be permitted, dismissing settler aspirations of self-government in Kenya and Northern Rhodesia.
In 1933, a substantial minority in the Northern Rhodesian legislature favoured amalgamation with Southern Rhodesia, despite vigorous African opposition.
[18] The Commission cautioned against overemphasising conflicts of interest between black and white in Central Africa, and suggested that Africans could benefit socially and economically from European enterprise.
Firstly, the Southern Rhodesian pass laws and other overtly racial policies would have to be changed, Secondly, there should be some form of representation of African interests in the legislatures of each territory, possibly through the nomination of European representatives.
It also commented unfavourably on an alternative under which the eastern part of Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland would remain as separate entities outside the union, as they would not benefit from the economy of the Copperbelt.
Even though the Commission advocated future amalgamation, a majority of its members ruled this option out as an immediate possibility, because of legitimate African concerns and objections.
He did not entirely rule out federation, which had been proposed by a conference held at Victoria Falls in 1949 between the Southern Rhodesian government, and the elected, or "unofficial" members of the Northern Rhodesia Legislative Council led by Roy Welensky, without any Africans present.
It was left to his successor in post in 1950 to 1951, James Griffiths, to begin exploratory talks with Huggins and Welensky representing the white minorities of both Rhodesian governments, subject to the opinion of the majority African populations being ascertained.
After a change in the British government in 1951, the incoming Conservative Colonial Secretary, Oliver Lyttelton removed the condition of sounding out African opinion in November 1951, and pushed through the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland against strong opposition in 1953.
