Colonial Future

PLANNING AND AUTONOMY

By LORD MILVERTON

THE Colonial Empire, now getting to an increasing degree the attention it has always merited and never received, has in the part few years been infected with an outburst of inspired planning, and in the process questions of some delicacy and importance have inevitably arisen. The belated attention which Colonial planning has now received coincides with the rising tide of nationalism and intensified aspirations for self-government and autonomdlis status ; and the two movements, economic and political, seem to conflict. On the one side we have the steady advance of Colonial peoples towards political power, the multiplication of unofficial majorities in Legislative Councils, the invasion of Executive Councils by unofficial members and louder cries for more and more power of local decision in all matters, social, economic and political, affecting the life of the community.

It has become increasingly clear that so-called political progress and political power are nothing but a sham unless the country con- cerned rests upon an economic basis which will support the aspira- tions for a higher standard of life and for ampler educational facilities. The food and health of the people are bound up with the possibilities of real advance, and the people must be qualified and able not only to talk the jargon of democratic politics but also to take a leading part in the development of the agriculture, trade, commerce and industry of their own country. There is much advocacy of early independence and full partnership in the Commonwealth, but where is there a Colony or Protectorate which would not descend into chaos if the British, official and unofficial, were to depart ? To state these considerations is not to be false to our premises and professions ; it is merely taking a realistic view of inescapable facts, and to allow the Colonial Empire to drift into an impossible position would be the real betrayal. So far from political progress having been too slow, it is probable that it 'has been too fast, while progress on the economic and social side has been too slow. If time is not taken to adjust the balance, the ship will founder in the first storm. Autonomy must be properly ballasted to be at all seaworthy.

The dilemma in which we find ourselves today is that we have encouraged roseate visions of independence without regard to the limits of speed which at all times qualify educational, social and economic progress and which are today still further restricted by the world shortages of trained personnel and materials. In anxious haste to set right the economic needs of our Colonies we have pro- duced ambitious development plans. They suffer inevitably from the vice of having been largely produced by British officers because there was nowhere available adequate local personnel. In turn this has induced in the local population a feeling of detachment. The schemes are not their schemes, and, despite earnest attempts to enlist their sym- pathy and support for efforts which have their own welfare as the aim, it has proved difficult to reconcile direction from outside with the growing agitation for autonomy. The problem is intractable because of the emphasis laid on speed, and because we are not dealing with one problem, but a mass of interlocked problems involved in the task of making our dependent peoples jump the centuries and con- centrate into one generation the progress of a score of Western generations.

The authoritarian method is easy by comparison, as is evidenced by some of the Russian successes, achieved without regard to the terrible price in human life and liberty. In our dealings with the Colonies, the nascent nations of the future, we have to reconcile our democratic faith with the progress we have promised them. Is the task impossible ? The reply must depend on the answer to another question. Is speed to be the over-riding consideration ? If the reply is affirmative, then unless a measure of authoritarian method is permitted the task is impossible, and we may as well admit it before failure ends in disaster. If we proceed along that road we shall ultimately be driven to grant self-government to people unfitted to govern themselves by modern standards. The Communist, with his professions of democracy and his practice of totalitarian tyranny, stands ready to profit by such failure. But if speed is not to be the over-riding consideration, if wisdom and common sense are to be allowed to control enthusiasm, if we are determined not to abdicate entirely from our position of senior partner and controlling trustee, then the difficult task assumes manageable proportions. We can apply the lesson from our own experience in England. There is, even in England, a school of thought which denies that planning is compatible with democracy and which claims that success in planning demands ever-increasing control over the individual until he has become a mere cog in the authoritarian regime. Most of us do not accept that dismal conclusion. We believe that democracy is thought applied to our daily life, with jealous regard for the human spirit which is killed by a totalitarian economy. The trouble is that we are still groping towards the true solution ourselves. We feel that Government planning is acceptable and right, but that as yet there is too much centralisation of the administration of authority. The ideal is centralised planning on the highest level combined with heavily decentralised administration of authority, so that the smaller units, down to the individual man, can take a full share and have a full say in how the authority is to be administered. When uniformity becomes an aim the democratic spirit dies.

The application of this principle 'to the Colonies seems to be the only solution of our problem, the only way in which democratic Imperialism becomes a possibility and a system which can enable us to retain the principles of democracy while fulfilling the role of a tutelary power. We have so much still to teach the people of the Colonial dependencies. Most of their vocal leaders speak of

democracy -without appreciating its practice. They think of it as a means to power, whereas it is rightly a means to opportunity. The

vesting of power in a democracy should mean that power is shared throughout the nation, and the individual is free even while he obeys. Recent Parliamentary criticism of Colonial Governments suggested that their development schemes were inadequately co-ordinated and required more centralisation and direction from the Colonial Office.

The critics seemed unaware of the fact that general high policy is centralised, but its administration is vested in the local Governments ; any other system would misinterpret the true function of the Colonial Office and would be repugnant to the democratic principles which in the political sphere are constantly being pressed by the same critics.

It is true that in the prevailing conditions of shortage of essential materials there must appear to be more control from London than would be the case in conditions of free markets and ample supplies ; but even if such conditions last longer than is expected there is no inherent difficulty in Colonial participation in the control of alloca- tion of supplies. Past criticism of the Colonial Office has maintained that it has not spoken with sufficient urgency and determination on behalf of Colonial needs, and such dissatisfaction has lent strength to the feeling that the Colonies might bargain better on their own behalf. We ought indeed to envisage a future in which the Colonies will have a more direct voice in such matters.

The main object of this article has been to urge that there is nothing fundamentally inconsistent in the present high-policy control of planning in London and our declared Colonial policy of steady progress towards self-government. The chief danger is that there may be too much high thinking and loose talking about political independence before the economic foundations have been laid. The roof is not the first consideration, even in a political house. Anyone who has had practical experience of administration in the Colonial

Empire knows how conservative ignorance is in agriculture, in food, in hygiene, and in all the matters affecting daily life. The new laisser-faire, which insists that all men shall be allowed to starve in

the traditional way in which their fathers did, has not made the task of revolutionising the lives of such people any easier. Teaching people to alter their habits and their outlook on life, which is what it amounts to, requires time and patience, since forcing them to do so would destroy their willing co-operation and the hope of continuing advance.

The best success has been achieved in countries where traditional loyalty to chiefs reduces the field over which education must first be spread and minimises the necessity of risking premature democracy.. A simple count of the persons in any given Colony who possess even academically the qualifications for undertaking the responsibilities of government would underline the levity of claims for immediate autonomy. The number of persons who are capable of discussing and understanding the problems that confront a modern Government would surprise most people by it, paucity. The great problem that confronts the Dutch in Indonesia is how to bridge the time it must take before the Indonesians can produce their own administration.

One must assume that the Colonial Powers do not intend to be stampeded by international clamour—partly emotional and partly interested or prejudiced—into abandoning the Colonial peoples to misrule and exploitation by an impatient and ill-qualified group of their own people. It is too late to turn back on the road now. The craving for independence is the direct result of our own teaching ; and the appeal of the Western way of life, of Western methods and forms of government, has led the native populations to ask for the same freedom to manage their own affairs. We can but try to accelerate the process, even though doing so involves us in the super- ficial contradiction of dictated planning from outside. It is not a matter of pursuing a good end by bad means, but of expediting the end by external stimulus, and it needs strong moral courage and purpose to hold to that course.