PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
THERE C.O.
+885
17 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
1
(5) Apparently no power exists to pre- vent the Commission from calling for and discussing papers upon any Colonial ques- tion at any time, whether it be politic or not, and deciding to hold its proceedings in public, e.g., the question of Morocco as affecting Gibraltar, or the question of France as affecting Newfoundland.
No-the High
(6) The persons appointed by the Colonies will certainly be the Agents- Commissioners? General. They are on the spot, and to appoint them will save the Colonies
expense.
(7) Are these persons doing to deal with the Crown Colonies?
C. P. L.
No. C.P.L.
But these are
to what extent (if at all) the administration of those Colonies should be controlled by a Council consisting mainly of the representa- tives of other Colonies.
April 6, 1905.
(MR. LUCAS.)
R. L. A.
believe that this new scheme ought to be precisely the tried. I think the relations of the Colonial things which Office to the Commission should be clearly present almost
defined; that the Secretary of State's position insuperable diffi- culties. M. F. O. should be upheld, and that no administrative powers whatever-in other words—no autho- rity over the Crown Colonies should be given to the Commission or the Council. The diffi- culties suggested by Mr. Cox can surely be
of
we
down that this will not be 80.
C. P. L.
I hope the (8) The Commission will attempt to usurp the functions of or dictate to the Secretary
State will lay Secretary of State. They can call him as a witness and compel him to answer. As regards the wording of the draft, Section 23. There is no question as to copy- right save the desire of the Colonies for the repeal of the Imperial Copyright Acts, and that they may be free to legislate as they please. earnestly hope that this thorny question which, for 10 years, we have done our best to prevent becoming a burning one may not be alluded to.
April 5, 1905.
(MR. ANTROBUS.)
H. B. C.
There is no doubt that public opinion is in favour of some kind of Imperial Council; and, although it seems to me to be rather too confidently assumed in the draft that the formal establishment of a council will tend to promote unity of sentiment and action, I see no reason why the experiment should not be made so far as the responsible government Colonies are concerned.
The position of the Crown Colonies (in- cluding those possessing representative insti- tutions), and of India would seem, however, to require further consideration. One of the most important points in the scheme is the arrangement under which the Prime Minister, and not the Secretary of State for the Colonies, will be the President of the Council. This will raise the status of the self-governing Colonies and their Prime Ministers, and will be a grace- ful and gratifying concession to them. But it will, at the same time, lower the status of the Secretary of State, who will be in the Council merely the representative of the Crown Colonies, and assistant to the Prime Minister, and it seems to me desirable to con- sider what effect this change will have upon the administration of the Crown Colonies, and
I do not think safeguarded. The scheme may, or may not, do good, but it is what people are looking for, and it ought to be given a trial.
quite
can assume this.
M. F. O.
April 6, 1905.
(MR. GRAHAM.)
C. P. L.
On the first sixteen paragraphs of the pro- posed circular I have no observations to make. The suggestions contained in the remaining paragraphs, however, seem to me to require further careful consideration. It is proposed to constitute a Commission of almost unlimited powers of enquiry-a body which will have all the powers of a Royal Commission in respect, not of one subject only but of any subject whatever which the "Imperial Council" may refer to it. In my view this is a dangerous power to be exercised by any body not directly responsible to the people especially con- sidering the probable composition of the Com- mission. The Colonies have not always been able to find able men for the position of Agent- General, and in some cases these officials have been conspicuously wanting in tact and dis- cretion. Is there any likelihood of better men being forthcoming as members of the pro- posed Commission? I think not. Men of the sort wanted are not so plentiful in the Colonies. On the contrary, I think it likely that the Colonial members of the Commission would, even if men of ability, be afflicted with an infirmity far more common in the Colonies than in this country-"swelled-head "—a particu- larly undesirable affliction in the case in ques- tion. Imagine a body so composed meddling with questions like the Transvaal Constitution, Chinese labour, the French claims in New- foundland, the Alaska boundary, &c. But their powers are not limited to these obviously Colonial questions. There is nothing to pre- vent them making enquiries into the French Nor do I entente or the. Japanese alliance.
see any need for such a body. A few perma- nent officials, if well chosen, attached to the