CHATHAM HOUSE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 113, 9 November 1937, Page 7

CHATHAM HOUSE

FUNCTION IN EMPIRE

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

(By "Sencx.")

Behind the announcement that the Boyal Institute of International Affairs •will be holding a conference in Australia about the middle of next year, and' that New Zealand will-be represented,at this gathering, lies a story of important undertakings by a distinguished body. The Hoyal Institute of International Affairs, or "Chatham House" as it is frequently called, was founded in 1920 when, after the Peace Conference,. an organising committee was set up in London. Lord Kobert Cecil was in the chair, Mr. Lionel Curtis was secretary, Lord Eustace Percy, Mr. P. J. Noel-Baker, Sir John Tilley, Mr. G. W. Protherp,. Mhd Mr.- Geoffrey Dawson were members, and Sir Abe Bailey provided the. preliminary expenses. As it finally came, into existence the institute was devoted to the study of politics, with its" membershiplimited to British subjects and with, the rule ■ that it does not-offer any opinion on public policy; its work is primarily factfinding, observing, and educational. Since those days it has grown from two,, rooms in Horseferry Road, London! to possession of freehold ■ pro- ' perty in St. James's Square, with a membership of 2400, independent institutes in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and India, eleven committees which meet almost continually and a paid staff of 74 persons. It has received many benefactions," was granted £8000 a year for five years by the Rockefeller Foundation, has absorbed the information service on foreign affairs of Mr. J. W. Wheeler-Bennett, and gained its Royal Charter in 1926. . ■ A DISTINGUISHED LIST. Today the presidents of the Royal Institute of/International Affairs, are Earl; Baldwin, Mr. Ramsay Mac Donald, Viscount Cecil, Mr. D. Lloyd George, and Mr. J. R. Clynes, its honorary presidents consist of the Viceroy of India, the Prime Minister of Great Britain,'and the Prime Ministers of the various Dominions, its council, among others, holds Viscount Astor, who is the chairman, Mr. A. V. Alexander, Sir John Power, Sir Norman Angell, Mr. Lionel Curtis, Commander Stephen King-Hall, the Earl of Lytton, Lieuten-ant-General Sir George McDonough, Lord Meston, Mr. Harold Nicholson, Sir Arthur Salter, and Professor Sir Alfred Zimmern. Up to the end of •la si >'year the institute had published. 102 volumes. The first to be published was the six-volume "History of the Peace Conference," edited by Dr. H. W. Temperley. and the next publishing project to be undertaken was the annual "Survey of International Affairs" by' Professor Arnold Toynbee, . the continued production of -which has been financed by a gift of £20,000 from Sir /Daniel Stevenson. The institute has' also begun -what may be a new series of volumes with Professor W. K. Hancock's "Survey of British Commonwealth Affairs." In addition, it is bringing out the "British Year Book of International Law," as well as various .special works which are the result of the efforts of study groups of the institute. These have been on: such subjects as "Abyssinia and Italy," . "Sanctions," and "Raw Materials and Colonies." Another important series is comprised* of handbooks on foreign problems. New works will be the outcome of the special studies of the varir , ous countries of the Empire now be-ing-prepared for the Sydney confer- . ence. - ■ ... ■■.. ;•• \ [ UNOFFICIAL MEETINGS. In; the past unofficial .conferences have been held representatives of as many as twenty/other nations, and as; a; result1 there-came into being the Internatipnal -'; . Conference, meetings '.of which . are- always£preced«d Jbjri'j.a Hong period of ,preparation on the part of individual scholars and-which;7shas added practical 'cooperation1 - .in ; research' to its! other activities. .The Studies Conference has devoted about three years to work in preparation for its various meetings on' "State Intervention in .Economic Life^" "Collective Security," and "Peaceful Change." The first conferences of the institute was on British commonwealth relations, and was held in' Toronto in 1933, the second is to be held in Australia in 1938, and the New Zealand, representative at the first, meetings was Mr. W. Downie Stewart, chairman of the group in this Dominion and today president of the New Zealand branch of the-institute. The;.'1 institute also ( , participates in the work of thfj Institute of Pacific Relations, and sends a British group to eacli of the conferences of the 1.P.8. In Britain and the Dominions the institute devotes itself; to the creation :of an informed public opinion on international affairs, and strives to provide a background of well-founded knowledge. NEW ZEALAND WORK. As part of its contribution towards this, work the New Zealand branch has published a report' on "Western Samoa:; Mandate or German Colony," which was prepared by a study group of the Dominion organisation. Today Chatham House has an annual income of more than £30,000 a year.1 It maintains a' library staff which gives : substantial aid to those who are working on foreign affairs, it is seeking an : endowment of £250,000, and it is plan- i ning, to_ establish, three research pro- '•; ■f^ssorships on British commonwealth I relations, international law and insti- i tutions, and Far Eastern affairs. It re- { cently established another- such pro- \ fessorship—a chair on international \ economics, endowed for seven years ' with'a gift of £20,000, and the pro- \ fessor appointed was Dr. A. G. B. i Fisher, formerly of Otago University. I