DOMINIONS AND THE COLONIAL OFFICE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 307, 16 September 1918, Page 6

DOMINIONS AND THE COLONIAL OFFICE

. » A MISAPPREHENSION CLEARED DP OVERSEAS CRITICISMS NOT JUSTIFIED His Excellency the Governor-General has been requested to publish the following telegram, which has been transmitted to him by the Secretary of State for the Colonics:— Considerable misapprehension exists with regard to the naturo of the arrangement recently concluded whereby tho Prime Ministers of the Dominions have been given ■ the right of direct communication with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on certain mattors, and it therefore seems desirable to state the exact nature of this arrangement. After preliminary discussion in the recent Imperial War Conference the subject was considered by the Imperial War Cabinet where, on July 30, the following resolutions were passed:— (1) The Primo Ministers of ,tho Dominions, as members of the Imperial War Cabinet, have the right of direct communication with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and vice versa: (2) Such communications should be confined to questions of Cabinet importance. The Pv'-'ie Ministers themselves are. the jud.c •■ of such questions. (3) Teletrrnnhic communication between the Prime Ministers should as a rule be conducted throush the Colonial Office machinery, but this will not exclude the adoption of more direct moans of communication in exceptional circumstances.. In order to secure continuity in the work of the Imperial War Cabinet and a permanent means of consultation during the war on the more important .rtuestions of common interest,, the Prime Minister of each Dominion has the right to nominate h Cabinet Minister either as a resident or visitor in London, to renrescnt him at meetings of the Imperial War Cabinet to be held regularly between the plenary sessions. It has recently been sta.ted in tho oversea Frees that dissatisfaction with Colonial Office methods of administration was the chief reason why this question was raised. The discussion at the Imperial Conference will shortly be published in n. Blue Book, and it will then be seen that this statement is contrary to fact, and that the assumption that tho attitude of the Dominions in this resoect was inspired by distrust of' the Colonial Offico was expressly repudiated by the Dominions' representatives, as is shown by the following extracts from the speeches made. Mr. Masscy (New Zealand): "I nm glad to hear from both speakers (Mr. Hughes, who moved tho resolution, and Sir Robert Borden, who supported it) that no reflection is intended on the Colonial Office, as at present constituted. My experience of the Colonial Offico during the time I have _ been Primo Minister—and I am now in my seventh year—is that they havo done their work ■ well and thoroughly and enthusiastically, and I havo always personally met with the greatest courtesy from the Colonial Office, from each and every one of the staff, from Mr. Long downwards. I do net wish to go iuto particulars now." Mr. Hughes (Australia): "I cordially agree with that." Mr. Burton (South Africa): "As far as we are concerned in South Africa, it is hardly necessary for mo to 6ay that the resolution is not prompted by any sense of dissatisfaction or of complaint against the administration of the Colonial Office, whether under your authority, sir, or, indeed, that of any of your predecessors. Tho days have long gone by when any such complaint could justly bo made." ■ Mr. Cook (Australia), (after a- complimentary reference to the assistance which the Naval Board of Australia had obtained from the Colonial Offico on a particular occasion): "And therefore- I think that that machinery, though perhaps, it could be 1 burnished up a little, would still be necessary for dealing with, the detailed administration of the other Dominions while reserving for the Prime Minister that other class of correspondence in cases which have to do with tho policy of the Empire generally." Sir Joseph Ward (New Zealand): "I want to add my word of recognition to the good work lyhich the Colonial Office throughout, so far as my experience is concerned, has done. That not onlv applies to tho present Secretary of State for the Colonies, but to his predecessors. I think, from the point of' view of tho work of the Colonial Office, none of the overseas countries hove had any reason for comnlaint at all—on the contrary, I thinlc they havehad a great deal to be satisfied with."