FROM EMPIRE TO COMMONWEALTH

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21904, 3 October 1936, Page 11

FROM EMPIRE TO COMMONWEALTH

HOW BRITISH. NATIONS CO-OPERATE -

IMPERIAL CONFERENCES AND HIGH COMMISSIONERS ' • : v . - ■ ' j craojt one own c«bk*mokd»st.) . LONDON. August 1. B Stages of the metamorphosis of- the i Colonial Empire to the British Com- ’ monwealth of Nations ware described j In an interesting broadcast address c .this week by Mr H. V. Hodson, editor j of the “Round Table." t , “When the British Empire* including what are now the self -gov©ring Doi minions, was still ruled from Down- [ Ing Street, anyone who had to describe its organisation, would simply have described how that control by i Great Britain was exercised, he said, i “But as the Dominions, gradual!* look - on their present status as self-govern- ■ ing nations Great Britain’s control or their affairs grew thinner and thinner. There are a few veStiges lext, Tnat is i aIL But as the system of control by . Great Britain has ‘softly and .suddenly vanished away,’ like the Baker ; in ‘The Hunting of the Snark, it has been replaced by a new organisation. The esesnce of the new system is.free partnership between equals. “First, there was the development or ■the Imperial Conference —the most re- ■ markable of the means whereby the ■ Commonwealth countries work to--1 gether as equals. It grew put Of the • colonial conferences which were held when Queen Victoria’s jubilees brought many Empire statesmen to London. The main purpose of those conferences was to advise the British Government on issues where it was concerned with the affairs Of the different colonies, including those that are now known as Dominions. Functions of ConferenA “But nowadays the task of the Imperial Conference is different. It is to consider round a table those issues ' which are of common concern - to a : group of self-governing nations* like ' their trade with each other or their defence against outside aggression; to draw up common principles of policy on matters that affect them all, in* eluding the whole field of foreign i policy; to set up organisations for deal- ; ing With matters of common concern , on a co-operative basis, matters like shipping or cables and wireless; and if necessary to agree upon the terms 1 of laws which will, be passed by the . different Empire governments in order , to do something which they are agreed ought to be done in a uniform way. * “The outstanding example'of that : ; was the Statute of Westminster, which , put* down on paper, so to speak, the independent rights of the Dominions. It J is important to note that the Imperial * Conference is not itself either a'government or a parliament; it can neither f make laws nor give orders to anybody. 1 It merely gives ' a lead —usually a : unanimous lead—to the different Com- * monwealth governments in forming * their own policies and passing their ■ own laws. Some people in the Do- 1 minions are rather suspicious of any tendency for the Imperial Conference to grow into a joint parliament for the commonwealth or to gain any executive powers. For this reason they oppose the suggestion that the conference ought to have a permanent secretariat. If has no such secretariat at present, nor does it meet at any regular intervals or follow any strict procedure. There never was a political organ of such importance with so little ’ set constitution or rules, ] Stains of Governors * “We find exactly the same story of development from central authority to free and equal cooperation between partners if we examine other parts of j the machinery of co-operation among the members of the British Common- ! wealth. In the days of control from 1 London, the Governor-General of a c country like Canada was the chief agent of the British Government out there. He was appointed on the recommendation of the British Government and Was responsible to them He . had important duties like disallowing legislation passed in the Canadian Parliament, which was not in accordance with English law, Or reserving it for his Majesty’s pleasure to sign, which meant holding it back to see whether

J V t .1 ‘ the Govornmant-hece at bepmt MTt<4, tttftffc to interfere am MMtjK because the big se§bl& PWpll®? Canada have been tree to ! conduct their own internal affairs •'tfery long time; but on paper he qfi'MSr seas those powers. Witt exeyraing them he was an agent of the B’rtush Government. If they wanted t® Itt* form the Canadian <&vermne<rt about v any point, or to consult with who, ' they did so through the Governor-' General., , ■ ■. ■ "Now ,see the contrast with the jJpe* sent state of affairs. The. GovernorGeneral is hot an agent of the British Government at aIL He is simply Unrepresentative of ■ the King, and hia constitutional position in the Doi minions is precisely similar to that of - the King in this country. Shat » [ to say, he is not a political person, . but in all Royal business like signing 4 acts of Parliament or treaties; or reprieving criminals, or dissolving Parliament, or calling on a new Prime > Minister, he acts on the advice of the , Ministers of the Dominion Government, What is more, they are entitled to recommend to the King who should ■ be appointed as their Govemor- ' General, and they can if they Wish ’ choose a citizen of their own country. ;■ If the Government here wants to -com- ; municate with .a Dominion Govem- . ment it does not do so any longer ’ through the Governor-General, but either directly or through the system i of High Commissioners. The only exception to this rule is In New Zealand, where at the' Dominion's own request, the Governor-General is still the channel of communication. “As that old machtoety or connexion between *the central country of the, Commonwealth and its outer parts gradually .disappeared,, by various stages it was replaced, by something , else, something in keeping with ,»e new status of the Dominions as- fully self-governing: countries. There was indeed a period when' the old machinery had gone and the new machinery had not been fully set up. Even a-few years ago it could truthfully be said that the British Government was much . more closely ih touch with aflalrs ' in foreign countries—Germany, for instance—through the system pdf ambassadors and consuls ana special missions and so on; than it was with affairs in the Dominions themselves, countries of ] its own flesh and blood. . "Some people make that criticism still, but there is now a fairly ample j system of communication - and consultation between the different Countneß ] of the Commonwealth in place of the old centralised control- An important part of that new astern is formed by the High Commissioners Of the .Dominions »and of the United Kingdom. Long ago the Dominions appointed High Commissioners 111 London to look after their interests in this country. To begin with, the High Commissioners were mainly concerned With trade matters, with helping y is ** tors from the Dominions who got into trouble with the law dr Wanted their daughters presented at court, or things of that kind. They had no direct con - - tact With the British Government, and they Were scarcely concerned at all with political issues. But as the Dominions grew up; to full; self-gdveim-ment, political affairs, and even foreign policy, began to loom larger and larger in the work of the Hlgh Commissioners. They have become virtually ambassadors for their Dominions In this country.”