News and Views

Abstract

THE first Conference representative of the Governments of the British Colonial Empire was opened in London by Mr. Amery, Secretary of State for the Colonies, on May 11. The speech in which Mr. Amery welcomed the delegates followed closely the lines of his address to the members of the Imperial Conference held last year. He dealt with the extent, resources, and trade of British undeveloped tropical and subtropical estates, and the diversity of problems, constitutional, economic, and cultural, and of the interest of every part of the Empire-including the selfgoverning Dominions-in the solution of those problems. There is, however, as he pointed out, very little structural or administrative unity to correspond with the unity of the problems and of the spirit in which they are approached. While the lack of coordination between the various parts of the Colonial Empire, their almost complete autonomy and selfsufficiency as, regards their essential services is not altogether disadvantageous, yet it militates against the efficiency of those aspects of administration into which scientific method and scientific research enter, problems of agriculture, of veterinary science, of health, and of transport. In all these matters much closer co-operation and more effective interchange of information and ideas is needed, particularly of the trained and skilled personnel, who are the most effective agencies for the distribution and dissemination of such information and ideas. But, except for scientific research, Mr. Amery does not envisage a reconstruction of the services into large, all-embracing federal schemes, as he believes the end in view can be attained by the development of a system of consultation by conference.