BRITISH COLONIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 February 1939, Page 5

BRITISH COLONIES

PAST AND FUTURE POLICY DURHAM REPORT CENTENARY FOUNDATION OF DOMINION AUTONOMY. PROTECTION OF COLONIAL. RACES. (British Official Wireless.l RUGBY. February 18. Great interest attaches to the centenary now # being celebrated of the famous Durham report on Canada —as a result of which Canada was given responsible self-government— on account of the fact that it marked the birth of a new conception of responsibility in colonial affairs, the contrast of which with other conceptions still as an important factor underlying the international aspects of the colonial question. The first point is commented on in a leader which “The Times” devotes to the centenary, and the second is brought out in a statement addressed to Mr Chamberlain by a large number I of distinguished signatories. “The Times" says that the Durham report marked the end of the old policy of acquiring colonies simple as a source of profit, and it regards the report and the new policies to which it gave rise as “a channel through which the benefits of English liberty and English constitutional freedom have flowed to the Dominions and colonies.” In the view of the signatories of the statement sent to the Prime Minister, what is fundamental to the whole question of colonial claims is the purpose for which colonial territories are desired. They say that it is undeniable that in the past some colonial territories, .though by no means all, have been acquired by right of conquest, or for purposes of economic exploitation. “But we hold most strongly,” continues the statement, “that the basis of colonial policy must be a form of trusteeship which makes service to the inhabitants and the territory the only justifiable moral ground for securing and holding a colonial territory. This conception of colonial policy has been built up during more than a century of effort by statesmen and others drawn from all parties in the State, and it has received increasing recognition during the past 50 years.” “Starting from that point of view, the writers reach the conclusion that the stipulations for the safeguarding of native interests in the Berlin and Brussels Pacts, together with the principles of the League of Nations mandate system, constitute the essential elements of an international charter regarding native races in colonial territories. In the light of these considerations and in relation to the question of the transfer of colonial territories, they lay down four principles in accordance with which any transfer should be made, while expressing no opinion in advance favourable or unfavourable on proposals for the transfer of such territories to different administrations. The principles are: — (1) Respect for the wishes of the inhabitants, which are to be ascertained as far as pbssible by impartial inquiry. (2) Observance of obligations in treaties with native rulers. (3) Acceptance of the of mandatory trusteeship, the primary object of which should be that of seeking to advance the moral, and material conditions of the inhabitants.