A NEW DEPARTURE

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 10605, 2 June 1920, Page 4

A NEW DEPARTURE

There is, it is announced, to be si -change in the Imperial relations. Instead of being in the Department of the Colonial Secretary, tho Oversea (Dominions are to be in a new department, called the Imperial Department, with a Minister at its head appropriately titled. The 'old Colonial Department,- however, is not to be abolished, but its jurisdiction will bo over the Mandates that have been created by the Peace Treaty. This is a right step, eminently, becauiso it makcii the very buffer that is required between tho Mandatory Governments and the League of Nations, to which they are responsible. The Colonial Office will stand for tho co-ordination and uniformity necessary for the harmonious progress of the mandatory system within the Umpire, and will supply tlie one channel of communication with the League, which is obviously preferable to the multitude ot channels which is likely to make undesirable divergence. The reparation is good for-another reason. It will prevent confusion in the treatment of the Qvcrsea Dominions, which are at once autonomous and mandatory. The Imperial Department will deai with the first, the Colonial with the second, and confusion between the two will be impossible.