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KEORGANISATION OF THE COLONIAL SERVICE
has been in use for well
1. The term "Her Majesty's Colonial Service over a century to describe the members of the public services of the Colonies, Protectorates and other territories which are dependent upon Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. Originally, the Colonial Service con- sisted of officers appointed from Britain or recruited locally from amongst British colonists. As time went on, staffs were increasingly built up from the indigenous or resident populations of the territories, but it has always been and still is necessary to recruit large numbers of men and women from Britain and other Commonwealth countries to supply needs which could not be met from local resources, especially in the professional, technical and higher administrative branches.
"unified
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2. Since 1930, these latter branches have been organised as Services. Although the members of these Services are directly employed and paid by the territorial governments, they are under the general direction and patronage of the Secretary of State for the Colonies. They have, rightly, regarded themselves and have been regarded as belonging to a general service under the Crown as well as to the local civil services of the territories in which they are immediately serving.
3. The political developments now taking place or likely to take place in many of the territories, in pursuance of the declared policy of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom to further their advance towards self- government, make it necessary to review the situation of the Colonial Service. Constitutionally, all officers of the Colonial Service, using this term in the widest sense, are in the same position. They are servants of the Crown, and the conditions of their employment are embodied in the Colonial Regulations. These Regulations constitute the Secretary of State as the ultimate authority for appointments, discipline, promotions and general conditions of employ- ment. The members of the Service--and more especially those who have been recruited for the unified branches by successive Secretaries of State- are now asking, and are entitled to ask, what will be their position if and when as a result of constitutional changes, Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom are no longer able to exercise effective control over their tenure and conditions of employment as hitherto.
4. The debt which the oversea territories owe to the loyal, devoted and efficient work of the men and women in the Colonial Service is inestimable. Their work is far from over. The task of building up fully equipped local public services is progressing fast; it is an evolutionary process which will be completed at different times in different places. But side by side there is going on the evolution of the Colonies and other territories themselves, and while their economies and activities continue to expand a wide field of opportunity and need for the skilled assistance of British staff remains. This fact is fully recognised by responsible leaders in the territories.
5. It is then of the first importance to these countries, and not least to those where a new burden of responsibility is being undertaken by their own governments, that their progress should not be set back by the prema- ture loss of experienced staff or by failure to attract new staff which they may require. There is a problem here which cannot be solved by the territorial governments alone or by Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom alone Both sides must act in nartnership.
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