FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 107, 7 May 1923, Page 6

FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE

The " unconventional suggestion " of the Duke of Devonshire, that the officials of the Colonial Office should be sent on a tour of the Dominions to gain first-hand knowledge. of commercial, financial, and industrial conditions, is not so unconventional as his Grace would have had his hearers believe. He might have gone farther and emphasised the need for members of the British Cabinet to lead the way. In addressing the London Chamber of Commerce on this subject, the Duke was speaking to a body that was very well aware of the great value attaching to business tours in the British Dominions, Crown Colonies, and Protectorates. For some time now, especially during the past two years, responsible representatives, or the heads of British firms themselves, have been making strictly business tours of this country and Australia, but in their own particular interests. The Duke of Devonshire would have the general British Imperial interest's so represented, hence his " unconventional suggestion, I which is also a com-mon-sense suggestion. The only way to understand the Dominions, Crown Colonies, and Protectorates is to obtain knowledge of them on the spot. Not only the official heads of the Colonial Office, but Ministers of the Imperial Government, we venture to believe, would gain a clearer and more accurate knowledge of overseas conditions, aspirations, difficulties, potentialities, and resources by coming and seeing for themselves, and meeting face to face the men who are directing the affairs of the Over-, seas Dominions, than they can ever hope to do, by conferences with officials or the absorption of blue books and white papers. True, the Imperial Conferences held in London from time to time have made clear much that was obscure,* and have removed many misconceptions ; but they would be of far greater value than at present if Ministers of the British Government, when discussing Dominions' , problems with overseas representa-

tives, had some first-hand knowledge of overseas conditions. The suggestion of the Duke is most commendable, but it should have included some Ministers to be really effective.