OUR IMPROVED CONSULS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3352, 20 December 1926, Page 8

OUR IMPROVED CONSULS.

(Bv Aurelius Corrie.)

It needed tin* war to bring home to Us the importance and potentialities at the consular service. In pre-war day.the service bad little prestige and win badly organised, many of the lessen posts being filled by foreigners or by British subjects of foreign extraction Tin* war lias changed all that. The consular service is now an entirely British affair, and has been reorganised on a proper basis. The- more important unpaid posts have been converted into career appointments, and it is .strictly laid down that every consul must be n British-horn subject and of British pa rent ago. ft would be a great mistake to think that the work of a consul is confined to looking after the small British community in bis district and to getting British, travellers out of a hole---though certainly, in places frequented by tourists. 11;ioccupation alone might well he a whole-time job for any consular offlcei. But be has other and wider activities. A capable and energetic consul will make himself an expert in local conditions. He will study the industrial, commercial, and agricultural conditions of tlie country or province in which he is stationed, and lie will thus be in a position to advise trade circles at home of new openings for British speculation and enterprise, u.s well as to render inestimable service to British travelling agents who visit his district. His good work will not end here. He will make it his business to promote a good understanding between the Englishman and' tin* foreigner, and by bis tact and initiative in this respect lie will, in a quiet way. do a great deal of useful propaganda. Fortunately our Foreign Office is fully alive to the growing importance of the consular service and much has been done in recent years to increase its efficiency. Further reforms are needed, however. It should no longer have to play second liddlo to the Diplomatic Service, but should bo co-ordinated with it. and its emoluments increased accordingly. Something, too, should be done to improve the position of the “pro-con-sul” (i, the consular clerk who deputises for the- consul when he is away) who is at present employed on a temporary basis, and is. as a rule, scandalously underpaid. These posts should he made Civil Service appointments, and rank, as regards pay and pension, with second division clerkships at the Foreign Office; and in special circumstances they might servo as stepping stones to the consular service proper.