The Prime Minister and Secretary of State for the Colonies
have made a very important announcement in; regard to the machinery for governing the Empire., Various developments since the War have brought into increasing prominence the fundamental differences between the self-governing Dominions and the Crown Colonies. They have, of course, been for a long time fully recognized at the Colonial Office, and no one who knows anything of the work of that Office will blame it for not giving due deference to the Dominion Govern- ment. But. -the machinery has never been outwardly adapted to this development. Our Allies during the War could never understand why the King or Colonial Office could not issue commands equally to Australia and Antigua or what differences existed between the constitutions of Canada and Sierra Leone. There is now to be a new Secretaryship of State for Dominion Affairs, with its Parliamentary Under Secretary of State who would also be Chairman of the Oversea Settlement Committee. That the new creation is an adaptation of machinery rather than a fundamental change is proved by the fact that one Minister will at first at any rate hold both Secretaryships at the Colonial Office. The title is obviously reminiscent of the Secretaryship for Foreign Affairs, and gives a hint that the Dominion Governments will be more " diplomatically" treated in two senses than they have been in. fonn until now. * * * *
Previous page
