The appointment of Lord Harlech/still more familiar to many ple
under his former name of Mr. Ormsby-Gore, as High mmissioner for the three South African Protectorates, utoland, Bechuanaland and Swaziland, is tlie second example Ir. Malcolm MacDonald's appointment to Canada being the first) of the substitution of a man of Cabinet Minister standing for a civil servant in a High Commissionership. There are arguments for and against that course. When the Colonial Secretaryship was unhappily left vacant by Lord Lloyd's death Lord Harlech, who was Colonial Secretary from 1936 to 1938, was the man with the most obvious qualifications for the post, and many people will still feel that the wise course would have been to appoint him. At the same time the future of the Protector- ates, two at least of which must sooner or later be taken over by the Union of South Africa, remains to be settled, and a man of Lord Harlech's experience and standing would be an admirable negotiator. I say two at least, because Basutoland and Swaziland are enclaves within the Union and cannot remain indefinitely under Whitehall. Bechuanaland, by far the largest of the three, is not an enclave, and might well be left as it is.
Previous page
