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necessary to carry it out, and consequently liable to domestic and international embarrassment if, for instance, we should have
to use force to maintain law and order. In so far as it is
relevant, the quantifiable cost to us of continued dependence is likely to be marginally higher than that of independence, by virtue of the greater obligations which we have towards the dependencies (and it could be considerably higher in the longer term); but essentially the choice rests on political rather than financial grounds. In some cases undue haste in relinquishing our responsibilities might prejudice the chance of handing them on to a well-disposed successor government willing and able to deny the territory to influences hostile to us, but in general
the paper suggests that it is in our own interests to encourage most territories to seek independence, or (in a very few cases) association with a third power or a regional grouping, as soon as international constraints and local circumstances allow.
4.
But there is another side to this also: the interests and
wishes of the inhabitants themselves may dictate that we should not try to persuade them into independence before laying the foundations of a viable social, political and economic infra- structure which they have some hope of sustaining after indepen-
dence.
5. In considering our policy on the future of some at least of
the territories, we may have to weigh our own interests in relin- quishing responsibility against those of the inhabitants in continued dependence. In any case the circumstances of each of the territories differ widely: the recommendation in the paper is that separate studies should be put in hand, territory by territory, to define the political objectives which are approp-
riate to each.
6. As a result of our decision to go for a policy of "accelerated decolonisation" wherever practicable, I realise that some expat- riate officers serving in the Dependent Territories (many of whom
will still be needed for a long time to come) may feel anxious
/about
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