Rhodesia
SIR,—Mr Sills, in his temperate letter, asks if we have been fair to 'our kith and kin' in Rhodesia. 'Are we being fair to the Southern Rhodesians?' he writes. Considerations of fairness must take all Rhodesians into account. To the extent that we give priority of concern to our own kith and kin we are being unfair to nineteen-twentieths of the people. Throughout his letter he ignores the Africans. He refers to the help given by Rhodesians in the Second World War, meaning only our kith and kin, yet Rhodesia's forces contained more Africans than Europeans.
He writes that the British government has never ruled in Rhodesia. But the two constitutions under which internal self-government has been exercised were granted by the British Parliament and Britain has retained throughout the right to veto legislation considered unfair to the Africans. There can be no doubt that Britain's policy today is constitutionally correct (unlike that of the Rhodesian Front) and is concerned—also unlike that of the Rhodesian Front —to be fair to all the Southern Rhodesians.
As for Mr Enoch Powell, because the difficulties are proving greater than had been foreseen and the Government's tactics and timing have had to be adjusted accordingly, he advocates that Britain should 'admit a mistake' and turn round and come out. He says that this would need 'courage.' To the world— and to our best selves—such a volte-face would be seen, and rightly, as the opposite. Munich had far more to commend it than the policy for which he stands.
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