Constitutional Matters:

This section has six primary subdivisions: Federal constitutional affairs, those of each of the three territories (with Barotseland as a subsection of Northern Rhodesia (Zambia)), general, miscellaneous citizenship and franchise matters, and other countries. The inter-relatedness of constitutional change and advance leads to an overlap in the material between these divisions. The discussions between the Federal and British governments can stray onto other topics outside this heading, but material in other parts of the list can stray onto this topic. Discussions between Federal and British ministers (and their officials), whether in London or Salisbury (Harare), will also be found in the Federal cabinet papers (both memoranda and information series), and the consideration of all manner of constitutional proposals by the Federal cabinet will be found in its minutes/conclusions.

The files relating to London visits, where those visits were for constitutional discussions, are to be found in the current section, as well as in sections dealing with conferences on closer association, and with other visits (MSS. Welensky Papers 395/1-2; 398/2; 399/2; 400/5-402/2; 406/1; 407/3-4; and 408/2-3).

The papers in the current section are a mixture of those from Welensky's private office (files from his 'PM' series and briefing material), duplicated minutes whose origin lies either there or with the Cabinet Secretary/Secretariat, and the 'Secret Registry' files. The last mentioned, carrying 'CX' references, were extracted in the autumn of 1963 by one of Welensky's private secretaries with a view, in part, to providing chapter and verse for Welensky's collaborator on 4000 Days (John Connell). Some of the 'CX' files are complete; for others, particular documents were removed for Welensky's use, leaving the rest of the file, it may be assumed, to find its way to the National Archives in Salisbury (Harare). The contemporary listings (MSS. Welensky Papers 196/5-198/4) of these removed documents (with occasional items overlooked in their compilation and equally occasional items wanting) provide a table of contents. Where a whole file had been removed for Welensky's use, no such listing was made, except in a few instances where the residual file was removed for Welensky's use after the removal of the extracts and their listing. The extracts and the residue have been recombined in the current cataloguing.

The division between the constitutional and the (party) political is, in many instances, a fine one. The Barotse subsection contains political and political party matter from the 'PM' series as well as the strictly constitutional from the 'CX' sequence. Such material for the other territories, the Federation, and additional material for Barotseland will be found in series 5 of this catalogue.

'Federal Government' means that of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi); other federal governments are identified appropriately. 'United Kingdom Government' describes Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The 'Federal Prime Minister' is Welensky unless otherwise noted; the 'Federal Minister of Law' is J.M. Greenfield. Butler, as minister responsible for the Central African Office (1962-1963), is, for simplicity, described as First Secretary of State throughout that period. Ministers are generally identified by their office in preference to their name; for clarity, both may be used.