THE IMPERIAL INSTITUTE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22126, 2 December 1933, Page 19

THE IMPERIAL INSTITUTE

A NEW ZEALANDER’S SUGGESTION. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, October 9. As a New Zealander who appreciates fully the unobtrusive but effective part that the Imperial Institute has played in the field of education for Empire—and the Empire is still a very real responsibility of the self-governing peoples at Home and overseas—Colonel E. ff. W. Lascelles writes to The Times: — “ I hope that means may be found to enable the institute to do its work. But I dissent emphatically from the idea that either the Colonial Office or the Board of Education should be entrusted with its direction. 1 am one of those who hope that the dominions will continue to contribute to the maintenance of the institute, but I cannot imagine them doing so if any mere Ministry of the Mother Country is to direct it. The Colonial Office is regarded as heir to the traditions of the ‘bad old days’ of dictation froin Downing Street; the Board of Education as a purely domestic concern. Here, surely, is an opportunity to create something more in accord with the spirit of the times. Why not follow the very successful precedent of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research and entrust control of the Imperial Institute to a committee of the Privy Council, presided over by the Lord president of the Council and representative of the United Kingdom, the dominions, India, and the colonies? ”