FORTY-FOUR YEARS AT THE COLONIAL OFFICE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 221, 23 October 1909, Page 4

FORTY-FOUR YEARS AT THE COLONIAL OFFICE.

A GREAT CIVIL SERVANT TELLS OF PRESENT IGNORANCE ABOUT THE COLONIES. The colonies liave loomed large in the British Press title year. First, the visi. 01 tne colonial editors, then the liuucnui Ucieucc gathering of colonial gflru»>ni?i., and, lastly, the presence of Souib Amca's statesmen to seal the bond 01 uuion —these have all riveted »ui- inter, si in the colonies. To no one are the changes which have, lakeu place in the popular regard con- j ceruiug the colonies more apparent than tu one who for forty-four years has been officially connected with the Colonial Office. Such is Sir W. B. Hauiiltoa,-j K.C.M.G., C.8., who, in the Nineteenth Century, tell* many interesting experiences, and a most informative and reau able article he writes. Dir'FlcbL'llto Of COMMUNICATION, uueu i entered tne Colonial Uiuct ,u"ibuv iie says, "ocean telegraphy >wjiiu in its miaiicy. The only existing capie was to North America; and feouji ami \\ est Ulrica, the Eastern colonies, Australia, and tae West Indies weic si.ul uuij accessible by mail. The result was llna even in ihe case of a despatch ol the utmost importance, addresscu -a a . to Hong Kong ot Australia, the question at issue, su ..u as an answer 10 iUat particular uespatch was coueerueu, lmg-it oe put comioi'iauiy to sleep lor tlie uoii pan. ot lour mouths. "And as m those days even mails were few and far between compared wiui what they are now, the opportunities for (.oiniminiuatiun of any Kind with oui wiuuial empire were necessarily somewiuu infrequent. Apart, moreover, from actual correspondence witn the colonies, tue circumstances governing what mav die caiieu tne uomestic life of the office were very different. f IGNORANCE OF COLONIAL AFFAIRS. "I nave referred to the ignorance ui. and want of interest in, colonial attain. that formerly existed; but 1 have often been struck uy the extent to which the, stui prevail. Take any average gathe' - lug oi English gentlemen, at a ciuo, a uiuuer-pany, a meet of hounds, or an., wliere else, and—barring soldiers wu.. have seen foreign service, sailors, huu officials—l very much doubt whethci even now one in live would be able to define correctly the difference between a Crown and a self-governing colony, o. even to say where half of them were. iou may endeavor to„explain, but it . ot no use; tncy look at you hopeless!,.. aud go away sorrowfully; it is too nituii lor mem, and they give it up. WHERE'S NIGERIA!

"One, 01 course, thinks nothing o. being asked to. assist in obtaining a British consulship in a British colony" lor some friend or relative; it is perhaps too much to expect that the dinoreu.i between a colony and a foreign couuuy should be universally understood; bui it is a common thiig for candidates Jioi Crown colony appointments—well edu cated and of good position—to stuu when filling up the lorm of application that they would prefer to go to Canada. Australia, .New Zealand, and sometime: India! And only the other day 1 wa; i talking to a highly respectable membci of the House of Lords, who takes an intelligent interest in public affairs, biu who had never heard of Northern or Southern Nigeria, and whose ideas oi our West African possessions were limited to 'some place called the Gold Coast.. . VAGUE IDEAS ABOUT COLONIES, "it was a revelation to him, and a somewhat staggering one, to learn thai m that quarter of tne world there were vast inland territories, with an enormous ~~ trade, rapidly being developed by roads, lailways, and other accompaniments 01 civilisation, and offering almost endless possibilities hi the future. And taem are thousands iu the same position who are equally uninformed, "The colonies' lo them merely suggest Canada, Australia, South Africa, and possibly, as becoming a winter resort, the West Indies; out their ideas as to the rest o: our colonial empire are, to say the least, somewhat vague.

OUR SILENT WORKERS. "I'he great self-governing colonies ana dominions must, ot course, always occupy the first place in the public mind. They are nations in themselves; their climatic conditions render them the natural out lets for emigration; and they are united . to us by ties that in the case of most 01" the Crown colonies and protectorates cannot-in the nature of things be saia lo exist. But I have often felt that the " growing importance and significance o; tne latter is not realised or undcrstool as it ought to be, and that they have had to occupy too much of a 'back seat' in the public estimation. Neither is it sufficiently realised what service is being reudered there not only in our oldestablished colonies, each with its cau-,fully-thought-out system of government and administration, but, in our enormous and rapidly developing protectorates in . East and West Africa —by an army ol silent but devoted workers, with no political or other axes to grind, often carrying their lives' iu their hands, and ;em- , pire-builders' iu the truest sense of tlu * word. ~ .i^a THE MAKER Of THE COLONL4L OFFICE. "If I were asked to fix the date when the Colonial Office really began to assume its proper position, I should be inclined to place it approximately in the autumn of 1880, when Mr. Stanhope succeeded Lord Granville as.Secretary of State. He was only five months in office, and it is hardly probable that his name will now be associated to'any great extent with colonial affairs. But there must still be some who will be able to call to mind the remarkable Energy, capacity, and enthusiasm with which he entered upon the duties of his olli ?' ~ , : *«** "I was his principal private secretary during this short period, and was periiapsj therefore, iu a better position taau , most others to realise the broad, statesmanlike, and original ideas entertaiuei by him, and which struck me as quite unlike anything else to which I had previously been accustomed. His who'c heart was in liis work, and it was a bitter disappointment to him when after these few months he was called upon to. ' abandon it and to undertake the charge i of a department where many others had' failed, and where he had a consciousness | that he himself could not hope to sue- | ceed. . ■- ij ■. ! THE FIRST COLONIAL CONFERENCE | "It is perhaps not generally known or ; remembered that it was Mr. Stanhope ! who initiated the idea of the first Colonial Conference, tile invitations to which were sent out by him in November, IS3'j; but it was not granted to him to carry out the development of his idea, which V■" passed into the able hands of Lord, Knutsford, then Sir Henry Holland. It cannot be said that any great practical results were the outcome of this cont'd - tnce; but the first step had been taken; the attention of the'country had been attracted; and colonial alfairs were noA' beginning to occupy their proper place."