FROM DOWNING STREET.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 554, 8 July 1909, Page 6

FROM DOWNING STREET.

AN IMPERIAL MISSION. "TO COME INTO NEARER TOUCH." \ ARRIVAL OF SIR 0. P. LUCAS AND MR. A. Ai PEARSON. There arrived in Wellington yesterday by the Sydney .boat, two travellers' with an, Imperial" mission. Sir Charles Lucas, K.C.M.G., and Mr. A. A. Pearson have been sent to Australasia by the Colonial Office with the object of promoting a more intimate understanding between tho Imperial Govern. ment : on'theono hand and the' Governments, of the Commonwealth, the States, and the Dominion on the other. Sir Charles Lucas is Assistant UnderSeoretary of State for tho Colonies, and has been placed in charge of tho newly-separated Dominions Department of the Colonial Office. He is a scholar as well as an administrator, and has found time during his official career to edit Cornewall-Lewis's important essay on "Tho Government of Dependencies." to write a history of the Canadian War of 1812, and to project, edit, and in great part write the valuable series of volumes entitled "The Historical Geography of the British Colonies." Sir Charles Lucas is tall and greyheaded; he has tho "scholar's stoop," and a friendly and courteous manner. This last characteristic is shared by his colleague, Mr. A. A. Pearson, who entered the Colonial Office more than 40 years ago, and has had a distinguished official career. "Tho object of our visit," said Sir Charles Lucas to a Dominion reporter, "is to enable tho Colonial Office to gam a closer and moro personal knowledge of tho Dominion, and to bring tho office into nearer touch with the New Zealand Government. It is tho outcome of a wish expressed at the last Imperial Conference, and it is hoped that our tour will not be the last of its kind. ■ We spent three very_ enjoyable months in Australia, and wero received everywhere with the greatest kindnoss and cordiality. ■Wβ aro confident that we shall be just as kindly wolcomed in.New Zealand, and shall have an equally pleasant visit to the Dominion. We expect to be in thia country fully a month. "After spending a few days in Wellington wo shall probably visit Christchurch and Dunedin before going north to Auckland."