COLONIAL EMPIRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 June 1939, Page 7

COLONIAL EMPIRE

PROGRESS IN MANY SPHERES UNREST IN LIMITED AREAS REPORT TO PARLIAMENT. CONCERN FOR WELFARE OF PEOPLES (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY. June 1. In conformity with the practice begun last year of presenting to Parliament with the colonial and middle eastern estimates a review of the year’s work in the colonial emphe, a Blue Book was issued tonight which records the development up to the end of March last. Its description of peaceful and liuitful progress in many spheres of the activity over the vast areas of the colonial dependencies effectively serves to put in their true perspective events of a less happy nature which nave marred the year s chronicle in certain places and which received a disproportionate amount of publicity on account of their current news interest. The reviews deals faithfully with the disturbances in Palestine and the< unrest in the West Indian colonies, but it is amply justified in pointing out that if the populations of all the territories in which disturbances occurred are added together they would amount to about three millions, while populations totalling 56 millions enjoyed undisturbed public security in the rest of the colonial empire. ‘■ln contrast to the disturbances which have taken place in so many parts of the world, the history of the colonial dependencies, as of the whole British Empire, has in the main been one ‘of constructive, peaceful development,” the review states. “Indeed, in several instances the security and peacefulness of the British colonies have attracted great numbers of refugees from neighbouring countries harassed by war or disturbance.” What is brought out by this discussion on the last year’s events in the colonial empire, which runs to nearly 100 pages and deals with each group of dependencies separately as well as each main aspect of colonial administration in over a dozen chapters, is that a major tendency in all the dependencies has been greatly increased concern for tne welfare of the peoples. This has been manifested not only in the attention given to the improvement of labour conditions but also in the work for the welfare of women and in connection with health and nutrition.