22
8
both routine and specialist work, just as the Commanders of Armies are men who have had experience of regimental work and have been through the Staff College. I should have thought the difficulties could be met if you limit your scheme to a purely higher cadre of research men, and admit into that cadre the ordinary executive or administrative officers from different Colo- nies after a certain period of experience if they have shown, by special study or by going through special refresher courses, that they wish to qualify. It would almost parallel the military arrangement; they would, so to speak, have p.s.c." after their names and then be available for the central list, perhaps go on the pay sheet of the central list, and in that way be transferred to different parts of the Empire. Naturally, heads of depart- ments would be chosen from that, and a good deal of reasonable pressure could be exerted on Governments not to select as head of a big department a man who had not got p.s.c." after his
name.
፡፡
Sir EDWARD GRIGG : I am a great believer in the organisa- tion of an Imperial Service such as Sir Donald Cameron has suggested, but in the first instance, in order to make a helpful start, I think it would be necessary to confine it to research purposes. That in itself is a sufficiently large undertaking to begin with. When you have manned that particular research cadre, you would no doubt be able to spare men to take on the duties of advisers to Governments on various technical things, and then you might come to a later stage when you could find men for even further purposes. But I am sure that the prac- tical step is to begin to get an Imperial corps for research, and that everyone would agree to assist in founding that. It would not raise these exceedingly difficult administrative problems, the relation of men in the same branches and so on.
f
*
I am also a great believer in the other idea which Sir Donald Cameron propounded, of a pool. I think in practice the pool would be exceedingly hard to maintain if it were a pool for the whole Empire. Here, again, you can produce a strong family feeling over a given area. I think it is very hard to produce it over the whole area, it is so very wide. People know about a poor Colony which is fairly near them, they feel, That is part of our obligation.' But I know that if Kenya were asked to help the West Indies they would say, It is a very long way off. They are much older than we are. I think there would be great difficulties of that kind. With regard to the pool, what would give the best start of all to such a system would be if the Imperial Government itself could make some contribution. The Colonies would say, This is an Imperial purpose, and we entirely agree to pay our share, but for an Imperial purpose surely the Imperial Government will come in." I think that would be almost an essential part of the foundation of a pool.
"
Possible_Contribution to Central Pool from Empire Market-
ing Board.
Mr. AMERY: On the second point, I think I can say that the most we could get from the Treasury would be the salary of the Agricultural Adviser as Director of Research here, but I do not think it would be impossible to get the Empire Marketing Board, with its fund of a million, to contribute in one shape or another to the Central Research Staff, either in respect, say, of the cost of passages backwards and forwards, or in respect of equipment, or in other ways. It is already doing so in the case of various research institutions in different parts of the Empire which in some cases put up 50-50, and, though I should not like to make the suggestion that the Empire Marketing Board would ever go as high as 50-50 for the suggested pool, I feel pretty con- fident that if a really effective scheme were worked out, if it were clear that the majority of the Colonies were supporting it. the Empire Marketing Board would come in with a substantial contribution. It might be £20,000 or £30,000. it might be possibly £50,000, I do not know, but at any rate if a really big effort were made on the part of the Colonies I am sure the