MISCELLANEOUS.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 4282, 18 April 1885, Page 2 (Supplement)

MISCELLANEOUS.

LORD GREY'S PROPOSAL FOR A

COLONIAL COUNCIL

Bi-.Mk Reginald 'ii. Biutt, M.P

I am not a very profound believer in Imperial Federation, because I have never yet seen a proposal to bring it about which appeared to me to possess the elements of success, but. neither do I share tho views of Mr Bright and IWr John Morley, that because no practical scheme of federation has yet been propounded, our present, system of colonial government is the best possible. Lord Grey's proposal docs not, I admit, contain the germ of federation as it is understood in Germany or (Switzerland. His suggestion is, however, to my- mind an: important one, and it has been undervalued by Mr Morley and niisunderslcod by Mr Bright. Mr Morley appears to think that because a Consultative Council consisting ofthe Colonial Agents - General would havo no executive po.wer, it would necessarily be of no serious importance. In this I think he is mistaken, as I will presently try to show. Mr Bright, on the other hand, holds that a Colonial Council, having, like the Indian Council, executive functions, wouid bo mischievous and dangerous. But this, 1 think, could bo admitted wUhout in any measure affecting Lord Grey's, proposal. ; It is true that, the Indian Council has certain executive functions. , Its powers are to some extent, especially on fiiianeiul'quostion., independent of the :Secretary of State. - On the other baud, the Secretary .of State can under certain circumstances overrule his .Council.' There are also , matters of: supreme importance, ; qu.c3tions ; of foreign or high ii> . terjial policy, which thoSecretary of- State can.and habitually.docs, withhold, from the [Consideration, and even from the.knowledge,; of his Council as awhcle. Mr Morley would say,: if, as I suppose him to he, he is con-: si-tent,- that a Council... whose, powers are thus.limited would not be a ; body upon which " the successful in advonturc and enterprise would eare ; to serve. But 1 think, jf he looks at the roll of illustrious names of' Indian. Councillors, he will scarcely be able to prove his inference. . Limited, authority, thoi-eforo, would not necessarily debar able, men from wishing to serve upon Lord Grey's Colonial Council. I think it would bo' found that if the executive functions 'of the-

Indian Council were to bo eliminated, and it was to become a purely consultative body, it would still be an object of ambition to men of first-rate ability. Such a Council would, as Mr Bright justly thinks, be a better in- 5 struuient of government than is the present Council. Its members would individually gain rather';-thaii lose authority ; for the Secretary of -State would •be able upon special points to act more often upon, the advice of those Councillors- with special knowledge of them than he can do now, when lie is frequently" forced to acquiesce in the decision of a comparatively ignorant majority, overruling a positively competent minority. Mr Bright is probably right in thinking that in their executive capacity tho India Council do moro harm than good. But as a consultative body, both individually and collectively, their value to a Minister cannot be overrated. And I think everyone who has had experience of the India Office will admit th,-tc it is difficult to imagine any State Department in the world in wliieh the Minister has at his beck and call a body of advisers so competent and helpful. It is a council such as this-of men, cornpotent to advise, but powerless to enforcethat is the ideal Colonial Council in the minds of those who caught at Lord Grey's suggestion. Mr A'iorlcy, it.is to be hoped, will soon learn by personal experience that a non-parliamentary official is by no moans powerless because he has no powor. It would be difficult, for example, to estimate the influenco which Lord Hammond or Lord Tenterden exerted upon the foreign policy of this country. This is the kind of influence which an ngcnt-gcimral, if ho wr.s a man of experience and character, would inevitably possess were ho to be established at tho Colonial Office. It may not appear much to Mr Morley, and it is, perhaps, irrational, but an agent-general sitting in Victoria-street can never enjoy the same influence and power as tho samo agent-general sitting in the Colonial Office, his functions remaining, nevertheless, the samo. .As an illustration of the importance, both to a colony and to England, of Lord Grey's suggestion, let us consider for a moment what would have occurred if during the past year there had been at the Colonial Oflicc an official specially charged with the affairs of the Capo Colony and important enough to influence his Colonial Government on the one hand and tho Colonial Secretary on the other. Is it to be supposed for one moment that under those circumstances Prince Bismarck would ever have been able to furnish for the edification of Europe tho Angra Pequcua White-book ? Tho representative of the Cape Colony living in Westminster, however anxious ho may havo been, was not in a position to make his anxiety.sufficiently felt. He might have called every day at the Colonial Office for six months, but he would simply have been looked upon by everybody, from tho doorkeeper to Lord Derby, as a bore. His persistence would have defeated rather than secured his end. But had ho been established at the Colonial Office withall the prestige and opportunities of such a position, it is incredible that with the certain knowledge of tho dangers of .delay, which familiarity with tho correspondence passing on tho subject' must havo given him, he should have used his personal influence with success.

It is unnecessary for me on this occasion to work out this conception in more elaborate detail. A council of colonial representatives located at the Colonial Offico, members of the Privy Council, some of them even of the House of Lords, collectively and individually advising tho Secretary of State upon questions'relating .to the colonies respectively, and their relation to the empire as a whole, must inevitably further, by reason of their.special knowledge, tho wants of the colonies ; and by their obvious interest in obtaining tho earliest consideration for their demands .they would materially assist in making more secure the bond between tho colonies and tho mother country. —Pall Mall Gazetto.