Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS THURSDAY, MAY 2, 1929. COLONIAL CIVIL SERVICE.

There is much food for thought in Mr. Amery's statement to the House of Commons concerning colonial affairs. Its references to territories, natural resources, trade, communications and native peoples make the spacious panorama of the British Empire vivid to the mind's eye, and especially impress the value of its distant lands, tucked away in corners of the earth and developing in their several ways toward mature status in the wide family circle. Thought of the past is induced, thought of the vigorous days when even the adult Dominions were no more than tiny children of the Motherland, not even as important as some of the colonies now treading close on the heels of the stalwart countries having self-governing responsibilities. Out of that past come, one after another, these products of the British wanderlust, emerging from vague activities in trade and venturous planting of national institutions, until they get distinct places on the map and in the records of the Colonial Office. Mere spheres of influence at first, then getting chartered recognition of rights to protection and support, and so becoming at length Crown Colonies, these offshoots of the family tree arise and grow, until the wisdom of granting them an enlarging measure of political freedom no longer needs argument, and they gain increasing administrative selfdirection. It is an alluring picture, flecked with many a bright incident, amid the passing shadows. This Greater Britain has become one of the most impressive wonders of the modern world, and bids fair to remain the most interesting of all human efforts to distribute humankind across the face of the earth. But there is one touch in Mr. Amery's recital that has particular impressiveness. It is his announcement that he has set up a committee to consider the existing system of appointments to the public services of the dependencies not yet in possession of responsible government. This brings reminder of the important fact that all this marvellous development, far from complete as yet but characterised by many notable happenings, is due in the main to the human factor. Every territorial addition to the British realm owes its origin to the adventurous spirit of some man or group of men who left home and kindred at the impelling urge to seek life under a foreign sky, not often because they were thrust out by irksome conditions but as a rule by an inborn eagerness to find new expression in another clime for ideas begotten at home. There was many such a "little grey company before the pioneers," thi'eading a way through a trackless waste ere followed those whose task it was to build the bridge and drive the road ; and when these successors had played their part there were needed those others of whom Mr. Amery has spoken—the bringers of law and order, and the fashioners of the links that make up the administrative chain holding the Empire securely together. What they have done makes a tale worth someone's telling. Little bits of the story are scattered through the annals of British colonisation. They do not all make pleasant reading, wonderful as the total achievement undoubtedly is; and there is room to wonder a little that so general a success has attended administrative development. In one outlying dependency, India, there has been accomplished, on the whole, a marvellously uniform result, good in spite of whatever cause remains for native murmuring abroad and harsh criticism at home. When the vastness and the variety "of the task are given due heed, it must be owned that the Indian Civil Service has abundantly merited the high reputation it has established for ability and tact and earnestness. Elsewhere there has not been so marked a success, although the difficulties have been less taxing on mental and moral resource. Not long ago, to take a case in point, an investigating commission, sent to British Guiana, reported that there had been established in that remote possession '% plantocracy of government of sugar, by sugar, for sugar," which had inevitably restricted general development, and the official Government "had never been allowed to govern." It is not difficult to find occasion of failure in Africa, and there are instances in Pacific history giving point to a need for overhaul. The very fact that the general record is so good makes these things the more regrettable. There is created a conviction that such blemishes need not have occurred. What Mr. Amery's committee is appointed to do should lead to their removal in the near future. Underlying his statement of this committee's task is the fact that, not generally but much too often, appointments have been made to the public services of the dependencies without adequate scrutiny by the Colonial Office itself. Positions have been filled by some in authority on the spot, or by others in departmental authority in Britain, without searching investigation of the mental and moral qualities of those appointed. A number of misfits, or worse, has been allowed to occur here and there; and matters so vitally important as the health and education of the native inhabitants of the territories have passed into the hands of undesirable —and so really unqualified—officials. No general indictment can be drawn; nevertheless, even the exceptions have been too numerous to be lightly regarded by a nation priding itself, and praised by others, on account of its skill and care in ministering to untutored dark-skinned races. It

is well that the whole matter is to have attention. With the model of the Indian Civil Service as an inspiration, the colonial service should be brought up to the highest possible standard, so that the utmost assurance will be forthcoming that the ranks of officials, even subordinate officials, shall be filled with competent and trustworthy servants. This will entail strict control of entry to the service and fully adequate oversight of work after appointment. It is not too much to expect in an age that is awakened to a sense of responsibility in governing what were once outlying parts of the Empire, but are rapidly ceasing to be seriously remote.

This article text was automatically generated and may include errors. View the full page to see article in its original form.
Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19290502.2.31

Bibliographic details

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20244, 2 May 1929, Page 12

Word Count
1,025

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS THURSDAY, MAY 2, 1929. COLONIAL CIVIL SERVICE. New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20244, 2 May 1929, Page 12

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS THURSDAY, MAY 2, 1929. COLONIAL CIVIL SERVICE. New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20244, 2 May 1929, Page 12